Ehlanzeni TVET College looks to the future
The college is proud to join hands with small enterprise development agencies to confront the ills surrounding entrepreneurship and business
It has been almost three decades now since South Africa gained independence, but the material condition of young people and vulnerable communities are improving at a strikingly slow pace. In some communities, they are not moving at all.
Unemployment rises from time to time.
Young graduates, women and the LGBTQI community are marginalised by some systems, and small enterprises struggle with sustainability. The persistence of entrepreneurs’ challenges is perpetuated by enterprise development services being inaccessible most of the time. Entrepreneurship is one of the best attempts for South Africans to combat job shortage. Ehlanzeni TVET College is proud to join hands with small enterprise development agencies to confront the ills surrounding entrepreneurship and business through the establishment of a Centre for Entrepreneurship and Rapid Incubator (CfERI) situated at the Barberton Campus. The college has realised the importance of expanding its education and training mandate to the real world of work. Given the high unemployment rate and slow economic growth in South Africa, coupled with skill scarcity, it makes business sense that the college join other government entities to achieve the government’s vision of a skilled and capable workforce!
Supporting potential and existing entrepreneurs is important, as it has the ability to improve standards of living and to create wealth, not only for entrepreneurs, but for related businesses, too.
CfERI’s main objectives are to develop and implement an entrepreneurship programme that will provide college graduates and youth in the community entrepreneurial skills; to support existing SMMEs for growth and sustainability; to establish and develop an innovation centre; to develop partnerships and maintain good stakeholder relations to support SMMEs; to ensure continuous business excellence concerning good corporate governance; and to develop investment and funding network for entrepreneurs.
CfERI services are divided into two functional areas; the Entrepreneurship Development and Support Programme (EDSP) and Business Incubation Programme (BIP).
The EDSP is fortified with the following subprogrammes: entrepreneurship training, events, exhibitions, access to market, link to finances and strategic partnerships, and so forth. These are largely short to medium-term interventions to create awareness on entrepreneurship and to provide enterprise support.
BIP is a soft land and hand-holding platform for aspiring and emerging entrepreneurs. The key purpose of BIP is to minimise the fatality rate of small and emerging enterprises. The business incubation programme is a structured 12-to-24month one. The structure and execution of activities and interventions are “incubatefocused” and ensure that enterprises that graduate out of the programme have a profitable and sustainable future that will contribute to economic growth and job creation. CfERI is coordinated by Donald Pako, the interim centre manager, and his assistant, Mbalenhle Lubisi. The project is centred around the development of entrepreneurs and their enterprises. Entrepreneurs have unlimited but controlled access to the centre to receive services for free and they can also access office space when available.
Some of the centre’s programmes include outreach events, exhibitions, market days, and celebrating World Entrepreneurship Day and Week, as well as Women Entrepreneurship Day. Students of Ehlanzeni TVET College across all campuses receive training on entrepreneurship by registering for it at the centre or through their student support offices.
Prospective entrepreneurs can apply to be part of the CfERI programmes by sending through their business profiles via email or by visiting the centre.
Supporting potential and existing entrepreneurs is important, as it has the ability to improve standards of living and to create wealth