Premier talks up SMME resilience

TSHIAME – Detea‘s Enterprise Development support officer, Modise Sihularo, has encouraged SMMEs and young unemployed graduates to unite and work together in order to attract large funding.

Sifularo said this while addressing SMMEs and young unemployed graduates at Tshiame stadium on Tuesday, an event that was also attended by Free State Premier Sefora Ntombela and Destea MEC Makalo Mohale.

“Opportunities require people to cooperate and work as unit in order to access large funding. When you run a business, you must be a hustler who will create jobs for other people.”
Endorsing these sentiments, Mohale said the purpose of their visit was to find out if service reached the people.

“I have listened to your complaints when you said small towns are overlooked and our engagements focus only on big towns; that is why we are here in Tshiame. We will come up with policies to ensure we provide a conducive environment because small business has proved to have the capacity to employ and bridge the gap of unemployment. We work with our municipalities. We do not want to see business collapsing.”

Mohale, however, cautioned that many business collapse due to poor marketing strategies and business management.
He said the department has various entities established to respond to all the challenges that businesses are faced with.
“Economy and education are intertwined; we need to focus more on agriculture and encourage our youth to venture into it. Farming responds to both food security as well as job creation.”

Ntombela encouraged young unemployed graduates and SMMEs not to give up on their dreams.
“You must work hard to achieve your dream. Once you have a dream, do not sleep over it; execute it to the fullest, no matter how difficult it is.”

At the same occasion, the Executive Mayor of Maluti-a-Phofung Gilbert Mokotso, admitted that poor water and electricity supply remained a challenge that has collapsed many businesses in the area, but made an assurance that both are being addressed.

“We have received several complaints from big companies threatening to close shop due to frequent power cuts and unreliable supply of water. That is why we have agreed that Eskom must take over and assist us to address this problem. We also have Bloem Water handling our water crisis through the national Department of Water and Sanitation.”

The Executive Mayor of Thabo Mofutsanyana district, Conny Msibi, emphasised the need to ensure that government employees are accountable and serve community.
She also announced that the district would be visiting Greater Intabazwe on Wednesday, where they would give details on how the district development model operates.