and business management training Picture: SUPPLIED
The department of public works held a entrepreneurship and business management training workshop recently to assist students who had passed the accelerated professional and trade competency development programme . APTCoD learner and carpenter Sivuyile Kala said the training was beneficial as some of the students already had businesses.
“I have my own company and have now learnt about various organisations such as the department of trade and industry (DTI), as well as the Small Enterprise Development
Agency (Seda) that help entrepreneurs with funding and drawing up business plans,”
Kala said.
He said the training helped him understand his strengths, weaknesses and how to best
deal with competition when running a business. Community-based businesses also helped fight crime by employing youth and reducing poverty, Kala said.
Expanded public works programme (EPWP) deputy director Nontembiso Masela said students benefitted from gaining a broader knowledge of business operations and the
processes of starting a business.
“The new venture creations training aims to equip APTCoD students with information that will assist them to better understand the dynamics of starting a business and we also
want to promote entrepreneurship among students,” she said.
Masela said the decision to run the workshop came about after she noticed that when
students left the programme, they had nothing to fall back on.
“After completing the programme, we noticed that students were still faced with the
sad reality of unemployment.
“We identified entrepreneurship that would serve as an intervention to assist
them financially,” she said.
She said once a student started a business, they could create employment opportunities for others as well. Amandla Consultancy Services facilitator Akholelwe Hanabe said they assisted students with relevant information needed before venturing into the business world and educated them about the roles different organisations played in helping
entrepreneurs.
He said they had faced the challenge of some students being on the cellphones and not
switching them off after they were told to do so. He said dividing the students into two groups would make managing them easier in future.
