#ICYMI: Calling on all small businesses, Riversands Incubation Hub is for you

With many developments in the Fourways area, one that seems essential for business enthusiasts is the Riversands Incubation Hub that has been in support of small businesses in the area since its inception in 2015.

In a sit-down interview with Fourways Review, the chief operating officer (COO) Tafadzwa Madavo said, “Being the COO of the hub is a privileged but it is something that has to be taken with an element of humility on my part because of the responsibility that I have in relation to this particular platform and its mandate of supporting small to medium businesses.”

Madavo added that seeing the hub being able to support small business to become better than what they were before, meant a lot to him as the number one priority to help create jobs for people living in the area.

Also read: Essential digital tools for small businesses

Riversands Incubation Hub is a large-scale business incubator established in March 2015 through a partnership between Century Property Developments and The Jobs Fund.

The hub is home to more than 157 small businesses with many more entrepreneurs supported through business development and support services offered. “Seeing these small businesses that we have here in the hub come right business-wise, gives me self-gratification as that’s the main aim of this hub,” Madavo said.

Speaking on the location of the hub, Madavo expressed that he felt the hub was decently placed as the initial arrangement put together by Century Property Developments and The Jobs Fund was an idea to facilitate access to economic participation for the Dieplsoot community.

“It helps a lot that you have your very affluent people right next door and the job for the hub is to try to bring both these communities together in the means of business.”

The hub is located in the centre of the Riversands Commercial Park. The primary intention of the incubator is to create a strong, enabling ecosystem, which fosters the development of high-potential enterprises.

Madavo believes that the hub has made a huge difference for people in the community. “We have quite a number of businesses which hire directly from the people of Diepsloot, as a lot of these businesses cannot pay a lot of money to labourers. Most of them walk to the hub, which makes it much easier for employers.”

Madavo reiterated that the entire developmental idea of the hub was to facilitate job creation for people who are generally isolated from economic participation because of their location.

“What I hope in the next five years for the hub is to have a national footprint, I do not necessarily mean having premises all over the country but to have the learnings, the offerings and being accessible to anyone in the country for our service offering, basically being able to teach more on entrepreneurship to people across the country.”

What more do you think Riversands Incubation Hub can help with? Share your views on the Fourways Review Facebook page.