Cape Town - Because of the many challenges that entrepreneurs and small businesses face, James Vos, the Mayco member for economic opportunities and asset management, has called on Cape Town’s small businesses to sign up for the City-funded “productivity efficiency programme” which assisted in improving work-flows.
Vos said 40% of enquiries to the City’s business help-desk, the Business Hub, were related to small businesses and entrepreneurs looking for support such as business plans, access to funding, access to new markets and opportunities and marketing.
Thus, as a further initiative to address this, the productivity efficiency programme was implemented and facilitated by Productivity South Africa to assist.
“The day-to-day challenges of starting a business and then keeping it running are immense and it can often feel as if one is putting out fire after fire just to keep the doors open.
“What we and Productivity SA are doing with this programme is helping businesses see how they can turn their operations around so that those fires are less likely to even start, allowing them to focus instead on growth,” said Vos.
They saw small businesses, with between 15 to 50 workers, assessed and then given a detailed strategy that illustrated how to improve productivity and efficiency by identifying financial hurdles, streamlining operations, and ultimately improving work-flows.
So far the programme has assisted 12 businesses, which employed 418 people, with improvements in organisational structure, operational layout, minimising waste, reducing rework or rejects, as well as ongoing support for continuous improvement by Productivity South Africa.
This call followed a recent visit to two local companies in Epping that went through the programme – Lanpack, a paper production manufacturer, and Ecogift, a clothing manufacturer.
After their assessment, Lanpack said it had already begun to see changes in its workplace.
“We are grateful for all the resources that we have been given. We have already seen a difference that will help us going forward,” said the paper bag manufacturing company.
Another successful business that went through the programme was Imvusa Plastics – a bottles, containers and closures manufacturer in Atlantis.
As a small business, operations director Carlo Geduld said they faced various challenges such as access to funding, competitive raw material pricing, excessive electricity costs and lack of skilled employment.
Geduld said the programme allowed them to implement better and more efficient working systems that improved productivity, better production and less wastage.
To join the programme, businesses must be based in Cape Town, complete an application form and submit supporting documents including company documents, financial statements or management accounts for the past three years.
Vos said this programme was in addition to many other initiatives aimed at making life easier for businesses and entrepreneurs.
Applications for the programme would be accepted until May 2022 and those wishing to find out more were encouraged to email the Business Hub on business.support@capetown.gov.za.
kristin.engel@inl.co.za