SMALL BUSINESSES REAP REWARDS AT BUSINESS FAIR
Sixteen small businesses from South Durban were offered an opportunity of a lifetime recently when they were sponsored to exhibit and market their offerings at the annual Durban Business Fair.
The businesses were offered the opportunity to exhibit at the Fair free of charge by SAPREF as part of the refinery’s Enterprise Development programme. In addition to carrying the costs for exhibiting, SAPREF assisted the businesses with materials to market their business effectively. These included business cards, brochures and banners.
Although the businesses that took up the opportunity varied widely – from engineering firms to wedding planners – all of them reported that the Fair had been a valuable platform to learn, to network and to sign up new clients. Lynette Ganesan of Guilty Pleasures, a specialized confectionary business from the Bluff, was one of them. She says the exposure her products received had been incredible. “Over the three days of the Fair I sold all the stock I had with me. In addition, I had a lot of queries from people wanting me to teach them baking and cake decoration. This presents an opportunity to share my skills with others to enable them to start their own confectionary businesses.”
Patience Serenje of Paty Lue Designs, a fashion design business in Merebank, was equally overwhelmed by the response to her stand at the Fair. “I’m going to have my hands full over the next couple of weeks trying to meet the 33 orders I generated at the Fair. It’s the first time that I’ve had an opportunity to showcase my business on such a large scale,” she said.
SAPREF was just as pleased with the response to the SDB stands at the Fair. Says Sustainable Development Manager Lindiwe Khuzwayo: “We are very pleased that the SMMEs made full use of the platform that we provided to them. The overall objective of SAPREF’s Enterprise Development programme is to assist the community by strengthening small businesses as they have huge capacity to create jobs. The 16 South Durban businesses that were part of the SAPREF pavilion at the Fair prove that with the right support and encouragement small businesses can thrive.”
For more information please contact:
Cindy Govender
Communications Officer
SAPREF
Tel: 031 480 1303 or 082 885 2909