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OVERVIEW<br />
Development finance<br />
and SMME support<br />
Craft designers are preparing for US markets<br />
The <strong>Cape</strong> Town US Consulate General office is sponsoring an<br />
initiative to help creative businesses approach the US market.<br />
More than 80 <strong>Western</strong> and Eastern <strong>Cape</strong> businesses<br />
were exposed to a week-long programme of information<br />
sharing and networking in 2021 when the Craft and Design<br />
Institute (CDI) partnered with Aid To Artisans (ATA) to roll<br />
out the e-Market Readiness Programme (eMRP).<br />
On the programme, entrepreneurs learn about trends<br />
and the requirements of the US market through direct<br />
engagement with industry experts and retail buyers. For<br />
10 selected businesses there is a five-month <strong>Business</strong><br />
Intensive process.<br />
Jehan Jones-Radgowski, Acting Public Affairs Officer<br />
at the US Consulate, says, “The Expanding to Export<br />
Market Access Programme will prepare South-Africanbased<br />
entrepreneurs in the creative sector to enter the US<br />
handmade retail market.” Among the participants were<br />
Kingsdale Emporio and Dimzique Jewellery.<br />
Two of the <strong>Western</strong> <strong>Cape</strong>’s universities, Stellenbosch<br />
and <strong>Cape</strong> Town, are among the first collaborators with the<br />
University Technology Fund which aims to commercialise<br />
innovations and inventions coming out of tertiary institutions. The<br />
UTF has financial clout as it is a part of the South African SME Fund,<br />
an offshoot of the CEO Initiative which brought together 50 major<br />
corporations, the Public Investment Corporation, the Unemployment<br />
Insurance Fund and the Compensation Commission.<br />
Among the businesses receiving support from the SA SME<br />
Fund are Masisizane which helps black entrepreneurs buy petrol<br />
stations and Hyrax, a company which emerged from research<br />
done at the University of the <strong>Western</strong> <strong>Cape</strong> into which HIV-positive<br />
people were resistant to certain drugs.<br />
The National Department of Small <strong>Business</strong> Development<br />
(DSBD) has several programmes to assist SMMEs and cooperatives.<br />
The Small Enterprise Development Agency is an<br />
ONLINE RESOURCES<br />
Craft and Design Institute: www.thecdi.org.za<br />
SA SME Fund: sasmefund.co.za<br />
Small Enterprise Development Agency: www.seda.co.za<br />
Small Enterprise Finance Agency: www.sefa.org.za<br />
SECTOR INSIGHT<br />
University student’s<br />
bright ideas are getting<br />
business funding.<br />
Credit: Dimzique Jewellery<br />
agency of the DSBD and<br />
gives non-financial support<br />
to entrepreneurs through<br />
training, assistance with<br />
filling in forms, marketing and<br />
creating business plans.<br />
Seda runs a Rapid Incubator<br />
in partnership with the Centre<br />
for Entrepreneurship (CFE)<br />
at False Bay TVET College,<br />
Westlake Campus.<br />
Many startups find the cost<br />
of finding and hiring premises<br />
prohibitive. Flexible working<br />
spaces such as those offered by<br />
Workshop17 offer a solution. The<br />
company has sites in Paarl, the<br />
Gardens and at the Watershed at<br />
the V&A Waterfront. ■<br />
WESTERN CAPE BUSINESS <strong>2022</strong><br />
46
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