More than 200 delegates from the business community gathered at the summit, where the mayor invited them to become social partners of the metro, in order to leverage one another’s capabilities and resources for the benefit of local companies and residents.
“The issue of job creation and employability improvement continues to occupy our agenda as the City of Ekurhuleni, in view of our high unemployment rate of 38 per cent overall,” said Gungebele.
“Our resolve remains that, in order to really provide a better life for all, unemployment and poverty eradication must be systematically and unapologetically tackled head on.”
According to Gungubele, this goal can be attained only by establishing strategic working relationships between business, organised labour, civil society and other spheres of government and state owned companies and entities.
“These strategic partnerships are meant to incentivise our social partners to adopt a ‘hands on deck’ approach to job creation, through creating a favourable business climate to promote and attract job creating investments,” he explained.
This is the second Job Summit that the metro has hosted and follows the Career Expo, which was held in Alberton, recently.
“The 2013 Ekurhuleni Career Expo and Job Summit have opened our eyes to the harsh reality with which many of our young people are confronted,” the mayor said.”As a government we have a role to play, however, we remain resolute that the private sector is the cornerstone of job creation, as it accounts for 90 per cent of all jobs in the developing world.”
Speakers at the summit will tackle topics such as public interest in job creation; business opportunities in the metro; improving and up-scaling initiatives for youth employment; enhancing job creation through SMME development and industrial sectors as key drivers of job creation.
The event will also include the experiential learners’ conference and the Business Recognition Awards.
