The Gauteng provincial government (GPG) in April launched the Mohlakeng Enterprise Hub, in the township of Mohlakeng, near Randfontein, in Gauteng.

This hub was the second to be established as part of the GPG’s township enterprise hub programme, the first of which was the Winterveld Enterprise Hub: Automotive, which was launched in February.

The GPG’s township enterprise hubs were aimed at stimulating entrepreneurship, revitalising township economies, fostering skills development and reducing youth unemployment.

“Entrepreneurship is the way to go for job creation and skills development and for inclusive growth,” Gauteng Premier Nomvula Mokonyane said recently.

Addressing the media at the launch of the Mohlakeng Enterprise Hub, she explained that this programme was all-inclusive, involving skills development and access to finance.

She said at least three financial institutions had already “come to the party” as the project was credible.

The GPG spent R19-million on infrastructure and equipment to establish the Mohlakeng hub and planned to spend another R7.2-million over the next three years on the facility’s management and functionality, Mokonyane added.

The hub would incubate 36 cooperatives and small businesses specialising in the light manufacturing subsectors of carpentry, sewing and tailoring, baking and confectionery, construction and steelworks, and, at a later stage, car seat and toilet roll manufacturing.

The entrepreneurs that would be incubated, for a period not exceeding three years, had already been identified through the Gauteng Department of Economic Development and the Gauteng Enterprise Propeller (GEP).

“The businesses chosen for the hub . . . were already in touch with the GEP. “They had also made their own applications to their municipalities and are in our database,” Mokonyane explained.

She added that the people chosen were “ordinary South Africans who have been trying on their own” and were now being given the infrastructure, capacity and exposure to the market needed to be sustainable.

Further, the Mohlakeng Enterprise Hub would also provide open access to other entrepreneurs in Randfontein and the surrounding areas.