Fostering New Networks and Collaboration in the Free State
Training incubation facilitator, Innovator Trust, recently hosted a SMME Connect Session in Bloemfontein, Free State, seizing the opportunity to engage with local ICT SMMEs and entrepreneurs interested in tech entrepreneurship.
The event is the first in a series of SMME connect sessions to be hosted across the country. These sessions aim to empower and raise awareness about the Innovator Trust's initiatives. The programme for the day included discussions on topics such as Barriers to Market Entry, Coaching and Mentorship, and Strategies for Enhancing Market Access, the event revealed insights into the unique challenges of SMMEs in the Free State region.
Tashline Jooste, Chief Executive Officer of the Innovator Trust, opened the event with a passionate address highlighting the numerous challenges facing entrepreneurs from interest rate hikes, to loadshedding and the aftermath effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. “Challenges are what define us as a people, they test our mettle, ignite our creativity, and propel us to new heights. In the realm of ICT, where innovation knows no boundaries, it is our duty as a facilitator of incubation programmes, to ensure that SMMEs have the opportunities and support they need to flourish,” she said.
With a little over six years to go before South Africa’s National Development Plan is set to come to fruition in 2030, where the SMME sector is expected to generate over 9-million jobs, Free State SMMEs and leaders from industry expressed their concerns and recommendations on barriers to entry that prevail in the province. “Starting a business in ICT, in a place like the Free State is challenging. After all these years, I am still one of the only fully functional ICT, women-owned businesses here,” shared Lerato Rampana, CEO of Kathabo Technologies.
Challenges Facing Free State SMMEs
One of the issues raised by Mokgosi Legae, founder of Botshabelo Digital Hub which focuses on ICT skills development in Botshabelo, one of the biggest townships in South Africa, highlighted the problem of pre-existing stigma around the province. “As a province, we tend to wait until something has been successful elsewhere before we implement ourselves, hence much of the talent and entrepreneurs decide to go to Joburg to start their businesses. The existing system must change.”
Considering the alarming statistic that 70-80% of start-ups fail within the first five years of operation, the event emphasized the collective responsibility to support effectively run, skilled, properly funded, and supported small businesses that are capable of not just feeding themselves, but the larger community too. Talking on the lessons of growing an ICT start-up within the manufacturing sector, Katlego Malatji, founder of ProjectOne Engineering, believes “you must be diverse as an entrepreneur in South Africa, even if you are playing in the tech space. We’ve broken our process down into different product and service offerings to make it palatable for the market.”
The event concluded with an integral discussion on Strategic Solutions and Market Access, focusing on township economics and the success of "kasi" businesses in creating business models that work within their ecosystem. “Partnerships and collaborations have provided me with access to markets, knowledge, technologies and strengths that ordinarily I cannot penetrate and that has allowed me to accelerate the growth of my business and access markets outside of ekasi,” shared Free State export Ntumbuluko Maluleke, Operations Manager for SIMA Digital.
After the success of the first SMME Connect Session, the Innovator Trust is set to plan similar engagement for the future, exposing local SMMEs to support opportunities, new networks for market access and collaboration. “Across the Free State, there are several entrepreneurs and SMMEs in the kasi who need a helping a hand. I would encourage all entrepreneurs to go out there, seek the help you need from places like the Innovator Trust and push on,” concluded Larry Smith, Executive Director of Udynet, local network service provider focused on bridging the digital divide within townships in the Free State.
Previous
