SMME NEWS - MAY 2018 ISSUE

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SMME NEWS May 2018 2 UCEC, Empowering communities SMME News Team Contact us: 031 307 1988 Send us your opinions or news: news@smmenews.co.za Advertise with us: sales@ smmenews.co.za Tinky Ogle: Publisher - tinky@ smmenews.co.za SMME Staff Reporter The Umngeni Community Empowerment Centre (UCEC) is a non-profit public benefit organisation aimed at uplifting the society through a range of services such as counselling and skills development. This organisation has been in existence for 15 years and has eight flagship programmes under its belt, namely; the salt of the earth – Serving lunch to over 1000 homeless beneficiaries monthly, Early childhood development – Through one of their projects, Impumelelo crèche and pre-school, UCEC caters for eighty children mostly whom are orphaned or HIV positive and Vukuzenzele – where they help beneficiaries to a self-sustained life. UCEC is currently running a sewing and beading class as well as fine arts. These are just a few programmes ran by UCEC, others include Student internship, light of the world and the anti-human trafficking campaign. The latter is, according to Gloria de Gee, their biggest programme and they work with various government, civil society and social parties to create awareness and prevent new human trafficking cases from occurring. This awareness reaches up to 10-thousand people a year. “We are big against human trafficking, we host an annual walk against human trafficking. This year we will host it on the 6th of October” said Gloria. UCEC has been in existence for 15-years without any funding from government. The organisation also has a soup kitchen where they cook for their beneficiaries. Apart from feeding the stomachs, UCEC also helps to boost the self-esteem of its beneficiaries through counselling and rehabilitation. “Before every meal, we try to talk to them and offer them support, we tell them that they can still pick up the pieces and get their lives back on track” said Gloria before adding that they also help unemployed youths find jobs. Gloria recently established a recycling company called Oasis 828 to help fund UCEC. The organisation also has a few companies which help to keep it going, namely; SA Shipyards, SA home loans, Transmed shipping and 3C technology. Contact UCEC on 0318247951/61 or via email, gloria@ucec.org.za Fanele Mpanza Marketing Manager Marvellous Zondi: Journalist & Content Manager Mandisa Magadla Research & Admin Intern Kgosi Kgalegi Business Development Community development breeds community growth Marvellous Zondi Community development projects are instrumental in changing the livelihood of the people and enhancing the economic growth of an area. Over the years, the government has played a huge role in ensuring that previously disadvantaged communities have access to clean water, electricity and that they are accessible through constructing black top roads and bridges. Most recently, Maphumulo Municipality announced that there’ll be a construction of a black-top road which will join the D1530 with the R74 Highway. Currently at Macambini Area, there is an electrification project in ward 8 which goes concurrent with housing projects in other wards. Such projects ease community members of a lot of burdens and enable them to think of ways of improving their lives, be it through business or skills development. Earlier this month MEC for Department of Transport, Mxolisi Kaunda visited three completed uThukela river bridges. Facing crocodiles and the possibility of drowning while crossing Uthukela River will be a thing of the past for school learners of KwaDukuza and Maphumulo in the Ilembe District following the MEC Mxolisi Kaunda completion of three major bridges across the stretch of the biggest uThukela river. The community is now able to safely use Nyakana, Mabhobhane and Mvumase bridges to access important amenities such as schools, clinics, taxi ranks and to connect to the nearest towns. The Nyakana Uthukela River Bridge, constructed at an investment of R89.5 million with a provision for pedestrian crossing, serves learners and communities from Mankenganeni community on the northern side of the river. It links Umlalazi and KwaDukuza Local Municipalities. Previously, the communities had relied on the services of a Good Samaritan, Amos Dludla (65), who used his boat over the years to help the learners cross safely every morning from Mankenganeni to Emdlebeni. Mabhobhane Uthukela River Bridge links Umlalazi and Maphumulo Local Municipalities and assists school learners attending Inkonjane Primary School, Embusweni Primary School, Inkonjane Secondary School, Phandaphansi Primary School and the Mpungeni Primary School. These projects are very important as they also enable swift business exchanges, improves accessibility, communication and wellbeing of the people. Jabulani Khumalo Sales & Distribution Manager Siyabonga Sikhakhane Graphics and Sub-editing Bongani Dlamini Media Production & IT Mandy Zithutha Public Relations Intern 5th floor Smart Xchange building, 5 Walnut Road, Durban, 4001 M : +2771 710 7943 T:+2731 307 1988 www.smmenews.co.za SMME NEWSPAPER subscribes to the South African Press Code that prescribes news that is truthful, accurate, fair and balanced. If we don’t live up to the Code please contact the Press Ombudsman at 011 484 3612/8, fax: 011 4843619
May 2018 Smart Xchange lauded for SMME NEWS 3 contributing to SMME growth Marvellous Zondi The Smart Xchange launched their 2017 annual review book during a stakeholder breakfast meeting at the Durban Country Club on 26 April 2018 by giving a much needed financial boost to in-house innovators. The Smart Xchange is an incubator whose core mandate is to provide enterprise development services to small, medium and micro enterprises (SMMEs) in the Media, Information Communication Technology and electronics sector. Speaking at this event, MEC for Cogta, Nomusa Dube lauded the contribution of the Smart Xchange in grooming young people and ensuring that they are included in the mainstream economy. Dube further commended “We are very pleased that as the province of KwaZulu-Natal, some of the incubators that we are continuously doing as well to try and improve the work of the SMMEs and also to try and bring particularly the young people within the mainstream of the economy but key to that we have been talking about the lack of capacity for us in the whole province to be able to reach out to as many of those small, Various stakeholder who were in attendance during the stakeholders meeting among which is, keynote speaker Mr. Barlow Manilal (Blue tie), MEC for Cogta, Nomusa Dube (cream white shoes), eThekwini Municipality Deputy Mayor, Fawzie Peer (Brown dress), Precious (Flowery dress) and Smart Xchange CEO Jonathan Naidoo (Mustard t-shirt) medium and micro enterprises , those young people who are hungry and energetic for any kind of support to be able to bring about their innovations to the mainstream of our economy” said Dube before commending big corporations who continue to support SMMEs. “It is encouraging to see well established commercial businesses and institutions giving back to the communities and helping to develop our human capabilities and capital” said Dube. Among those in attendance was Chief Executive of Technology Innovation Some of the innovators who were awarded with money during the Smart Xchange stakeholders breakfast meeting. Agency (TIA) Mr. Barlow Manilal who delivered the key note address and urged the stakeholders to broaden their reach to cater for youth, people with disabilities and mostly African women. Meanwhile, the Smart Xchange CEO, Mr. Jonathan Naidoo announced that they aim to join the Youth Employment Service (YES Programme) launched by President Cyril Ramaphosa earlier this year with the aim of creating 100 start-ups focusing on youth and women from Townships and rural areas. Furthermore; the innovators which were awarded with cheques to enhance their businesses include, Solar Cell, Online Tailor and RTMS Digital to mention a few. The story of the jewels of iLembe District there are plenty other spearheaded by the Enterprise iLembe. According to Enterprise iLembe board chairperson, Khanyisani Shandu it is this project and many others that the agency continues to support that have improved the lives of the people from iLembe District and also highlighted the importance of attracting people to come to this district. Enterprise iLembe CEO, Nkosinathi Nkomzwayo and Enterprise iLembe Board Chairperson, Khanyisani Shandu showing the Seventeen Eighty Seven wine which is made in Ilembe District. Marvellous Zondi The iLembe Vineyard and Winery project was funded by the department of Co-operative and Traditional Affairs (COGTA) and implemented by the economic development agency for iLembe District, Enterprise iLembe. Ten hectares of vines have been planted across three municipalities under iLembe District, Mandeni, Ndwedwe and Mapumulo and the winery is situated at the Sugar Rush Park just outside Ballito. The beautiful coastline and rich landscapes of the region provide a perfect location for the iLembe Winery. Local farmers grow and harvest the Villard Blanc cultivar vines with uncompromising attention to detail. The wine collection originally began with a trial that proved to be successful with the birth of the first bottle of Villard Blanc. This took three years to grow, however the brand of Seventeen Eighty Seven Wine has now been refreshed and cultivars expanded by bringing in other South African wines to compliment the brand and includes the following, Sauvignon Blanc, Chenin Blanc, Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon. This is not the only project under this region as Shandu also lauded the community for contributing and “The community of iLembe region have really welcomed our initiative of helping them, especially subsequent farmers, we have helped them to grow, we now have a new programme where we have opened doors for them to plant vegetables for the national school’s nutrition programme and also to equip them to be able to supply commercial markets” said Shandu before adding that the North Coast has a potential of being a tourist attraction. “When people come from all corners of the world they must not only come to Durban but they must know that also we are there as the North Coast particularly the municipalities such as Indwedwe where we have the Sibudu caves, kwamaphumulo we have Kwashushu hot springs, we have a lot of toursist attractions such as King Shaka’s grave at KwaDukuza. We also have UThukela River, one of the historical rivers running through Mandeni Municipality” said Shandu adding by urging investors and tourists to cast their nets to the north. Sarah Collins, founder of Wonderbag SA female entrepreneur honoured at the World Economic Forum SMME Staff Reporter South Africa’s Sarah Collins was awarded the “Woman of the Decade in Entrepreneurship” award at the World Economic Forum in New Delhi, India. Collins is the founder of Wonderbag, a product manufactured in Tongaat, on the north of Durban. This product is sold in 52 countries and has over 1.3 million users worldwide. These countries include the United States and Australia. The Wonderbag is a non-electric heatreaction cooker manufactured out of repurposed foam as its insulation, the foam is brought in from dumping sites and used in manufacturing the product. According to Collins, the Wonderbag has been a catalyst for female entrepreneurs. She said that the Wonderbag has led to 10 000 entrepreneurs starting their ventures like selling Wonderbags or catering businesses. This product was started in 2008 and has since grown to have manufacturing sites in East Africa, West Africa and in Turkey. According to the Wonderbag website, the price for a standard Wonderbag is R290.
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