Opportunities for small businesses
NEWTOWN – Eskom and Thebe Reed Exhibitions come together for the launch of the Small Business Expo.
The Eskom Development Foundation and Thebe Reed Exhibitions came together for the launch of another instalment of the Eskom Business Investment Competition and the Small Business Expo.
The launch took place in Newtown and saw various stakeholders and entrepreneurs come together for the event.
Speaking at the launch was acting chief executive officer of the foundation, Cecil Ramonotse, who explained the foundation’s passion for helping businesses develop. “We’ve been actively involved in helping small, medium and micro-sized enterprises grow and [in turn] create employment.
“The business competition, together with the expo, is one way the foundation uses to recognise and reward the contribution small businesses make to the economy.”
The competition, open for entries until next month, focuses on recognising and awarding substantial prizes to black-owned businesses in the manufacturing, engineering and construction field, agriculture and agri-processing services, and trade industries. The expo will assist entrepreneurs to meet and network with like-minded business owners. Ramonotse added that the focus was on contributing to the growth and success of these businesses, something the foundation was passionate about.
Adding to this was Carol Weaving, managing director of Thebe Reed Exhibitions, who explained the collaboration with Eskom was due to the passion shared by both to grow and develop small businesses and entrepreneurship. She explained that the upcoming expo was an ideal platform to achieve this, as it would allow like-minded business owners to meet.
“The Small Business Expo is the ultimate platform for entrepreneurs and small businesses to take advantage of opportunities that will help them grow and nurture their entities,” she said.
“We have an exciting line-up of capacity-building sessions, knowledge-sharing opportunities and high-level networking with pertinent stakeholders in the South African business landscape.”
The small business expo will run from 8 to 10 September at the Ticketpro Dome and will also feature the finalists of the competition and afford them an opportunity to network.
The expo will feature a variety of stalls, seminars and workshops and is open to the public.
