DTI holds rural and township business forum

Township and rural entrepreneurs will on Monday gather in Durban for a consultative meeting with government aimed at boosting their business potential, the department of trade and industry (the dti) said.

The forum comes ahead of the July presidential summit on the Rural and Township Economies, which will be hosted by the dti together with the Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment Advisory Council in the Eastern Cape.

The Minister of Trade and Industry, Rob Davies, said township economies were affected by a number of growth limiting challenges, including logistics, infrastructure and access to funding.

“In response to this problem, a strong industrialisation focus must be introduced through the support of government to improve these areas,” he said.

He stressed that there was an urgent need to ensure that the rural and township economies formed part of the mainstream economy, saying  they had the potential to drive economic growth.

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The forum will be a collaboration between the dti, Department of Economic Development, Tourism and Environmental Affairs, eThekwini Metropolitan Municipality and Ithala Development Finance Corporation.

According to Davies,  the meeting would also provide a platform for emerging business owners to receive guidance from big business leaders and government institutions.

The development of small businesses is seen as one of the key areas that could be used to boost economic growth and alleviate the country’s stubbornly high unemployment rate, especially among the youth.

Official figures put the unemployment rate at 26.7 percent, although the figure is believe to be much higher.