From left, are acting director of the City’s urban waste management directorate Phila Mayisela, entrepreneur Funeka Mpetha and mayoral committee member for urban waste management Grant Twigg. Picture: Supplied
More than 70 small-business owners have completed a three-year entrepreneurship course run by the City and UWC.
The programme provided online and in-person training on business analysis, coaching, growth strategies and more, according to the City.
The participants received certificates during a ceremony at UWC on Saturday November 16.
One of the graduates, Funeka Mpetha, 51, of Khayelitsha, who runs a catering and fuel supply company, said she had been shocked to learn in 2019 that she owed R18 000 to the South African Revenue Service (SARS). That had caused her business to stop trading as she could not get tax clearance, she said.
With support from officials and the entrepreneurship trainee programme, she had managed to settle the debt and get the tax clearance, in June 2022, she said.
“We were able to secure tax clearance, reactivate trading and lay a foundation for stronger compliance practices,” she said.