Ekasi Entrepreneurship Conference

Young township business owners will get a boost next month [ed: Sept] when The eKasi Entrepreneurship Conference comes to Khayelitsha.

A conference to empower and encourage youth entrepreneurship in the townships will be held in Khayelitsha, Cape Town, on 28 September 2012. The meeting brings together entrepreneurs, business organisations, NGOs and experts from the UCT Graduate School of Business, to share the latest thinking around growing micro enterprises.

Small businesses are praised for their potential to create jobs and grow the economy but young entrepreneurs face the challenges of access to resources, knowledge, support and guidance. The eKasi Entrepreneurship Conference aims to inspire and engage young entrepreneurs through talks given by leading entrepreneurs and business thinkers.
Conference co-organiser and entrepreneur, Luvuyo Rani, says the idea is to unlock an entrepreneurial mindset and to impart knowledge of how to access finances and support.

“Through engagement with speakers and successful entrepreneurs, these young township entrepreneurs will see how others succeed. The hope is that this helps young business-minded people realize their potential while igniting their interest in entrepreneurship or encouraging them to take their businesses seriously,” he says.
The conference, designed and organised by Founders@work, is for start-ups that already employ three to four people. According to Rani, 300 entrepreneurs are expected to participate.

Rani says that entrepreneurship in townships is very complex as people become entrepreneurs for different reasons. But they have one thing in common: They are hungry for assistance and ideas for growth.
“We find that people start businesses out of a survivalist need, while others identify opportunities to capitalise on,” he says. “You have entrepreneurs looking for tenders, sub-contractors, semi-formal business owners, and those looking to expand their businesses.”

And he says the major problem is that there is no alignment between the national business development and the township entrepreneurs, creating a lack of access to information and a disconnect between entrepreneurs and opportunities to strike up relationships with bigger business organisations.
“We want to act as a bridge for people to come and see how to do business, how to judge the market, how to approach partnerships,” he says. “But, we also want to encourage bigger businesses to consider partnerships with small township business, as there are many opportunities for growth in these areas.”

Rani will be talking at the conference about his experiences of starting his township Internet Café business, Silulo Ulutho, and understanding the market for growing a business.
Also involved in the conference is Elvis Sekhaolelo founder of Founders@work and Eliada Nwosu, an entrepreneurship lecturer and researcher from the UCT Graduate School of Business’ Bertha Centre for Social Innovation.
“My work is in the development of micro enterprises and I get very excited when I see how these enterprises overcome the thresholds that are traditionally seen to hold them back,” she says.
According to Nwosu, small enterprises are often unable to access resources and support but she says she has noticed that entrepreneurs running these businesses are very innovative at networking with other enterprises, organisations and community entities to collaboratively access all they need.
“I look forward to hearing these entrepreneurs’ stories, about how the successful ones have overcome the obstacles that plague small businesses in this country,” she says.
Community impact can only be driven from inside that community and this conference allows stakeholers to drive the agenda, says Nwosu. The GSB has always aimed to ensure that any research has an immediate social impact.

And that’s why this meeting is unique: “The message of this conference will be delivered within the social, traditional and cultural norms of those business people operating in Khayelitsha,” she says. “It will make a much richer contribution in this way.”

Other speakers to be at the conference include motivational speaker Mr Vusi Thembekwayo, Ms Linda Dlova Executive Communications Management of the NYDA, Ms Maloti Mothobi Founder of Strato Wear, Siyabulela Xuza who NASA named a planet after, Ms Viola Manual, Executive Director of the Cape Chamber of Commerce, Mr Mokena Makeka Founder of Makeka Designs, Mr Guy Lundy Former CEO of Accelerate Cape Town, Simphiwe Ntlantsana Founder of Ntlantsana Accountant and Auditors and many more.

This conference is proundly sponsored by the National Youth Development Agency (NYDA) and in partnership with the University of Cape Town Graduate School of Business, Silulo Ulutho,Spier, TSIBA, The Raymond Ackerman Academy.

The organizers of the conference Mr Elvis Sekhaolelo and Mr Luvuyo Rani are fortunate to be associated with organizations such as Endeavor, The Power of Youth, and The Global Shapers community – an initiative of the World Economic Forum

The eKasi Entrepreneurship Conference will be held on September 28th September 2012 and To find out more contact Elvis Sekhaolelo on ekasi@foundersatwork.co.za call him on 074 561 0064.

Get your ticket(s) to the conference here on Webticket

The Conference is themed Inspire – Learn – Engage and Activate

Article written by Rothko Marketing, Design and PR