City gives small business a boost with container mall
Scenery Park site connected with electricity, water
The Buffalo City Metropolitan Municipality on Friday handed over a container mall to the value of R3.4m to informal traders in Scenery Park.
The donation is intended to uplift SMMEs and the informal sector.
BCMM executive mayor Xola Pakati conducted the ceremony which will benefit 17 beneficiaries in the area.
The projects are said to be community-owned and intended to generate economic value to contribute towards the City’s economic growth.
“The container mall, comprising of designed, repurposed and stacked containers, consists of the following traders: cooked food, hair salon, internet café, shoe repairs, arts and craft and the printing shop,” said Buffalo City spokesperson Samkelo Ngwenya.
“The city’s Business Development unit first rolled out the Informal trader’s infrastructure programme in 2018 in Berlin, Mdantsane, Zwelitsha and Bhisho,” he said.
“Due to the success of the programme, the municipality is continuing to implement it in different areas within the city including Scenery Park.”
The municipality said it chose this type of structure because it was easier to move in time of emergencies.
“The site for the temperaturecontrolled container mall has been connected with electricity, water and signage. Fencing of the site has been done in order to eliminate vandalism and for the safety of the traders that will be operating in the mall,” he said
Pakati said: “This is our commitment towards sustaining the township economy and it ensures that our entrepreneurs have a reliable business hub to operate from.
“This is another initiative by the municipality to fight unemployment in our city,” Pakati said.
One of the beneficiaries, Thabo Sabetshu, the hair salon container owner, said: “I’m so thankful to the metro because now we have a safe place for our businesses . . .
“The City has now taken us from nowhere to somewhere.”