Durban — As Youth Month draws to a close, the Daily News reached out to the community and inspired those who were previously disadvantaged to rise above their challenges during the Daily News Youth Month entrepreneurship discussion held at The Link Lifestyle and Shisanyama in KwaMashu M Section on Thursday.
Daily News editor Ayanda Mdluli said the purpose of the event was to reach out to the community in true Independent Media style – which are the values of the Independent Media that prides itself in transformation, empowerment, and unlocking opportunities for young people.
The publication invited local business owners and youth to take part in a discussion of entrepreneurship and tapping into the tourism market on Thursday.
Hlengiwe Dube, a senior Durban Tourism manager, said the role of tourism for visiting untapped places was that there were a number of opportunities that come from tourism and job creation. She said for tourism to be a success, there had to be collaboration and there had to be local collaboration.
“There is so much more to tourism than staying at hotels and flying. There is also heritage tourism, tour guides, transport and township tourism. It is a key driver in creating employment,” Dube said.
Nomfundo Khumalo from the Claremont Arts and Flea Market Project said that unlocking the township economy was important.
She built her business “without any funding but there had been red tape that made it challenging to get support from the government”.
She also said the township market revenue was bigger than the R60 billion it was reported to be and could amount to trillions of rand, yet many local businesses did not benefit from it.
“I have to push my businesses with no funding from the government and I have many businesses that have failed under my name. The role of the tourism sector should be to collaborate with the townships in bringing events,” she said.
Fakazile Myeza, who is from CA FM, challenged the mindset of the black community. She encouraged people to support local business and for the government to focus on safety to grow the township economy.
Sibusiso Cele, who owns Sweet Sbu, a manufacturing business in Claremont, suggested that tourism could assist communities in the manufacturing sector.
Marcus Mkhasibe, a designer and clothing manufacturer, said the textile industry was hard hit by importation and this had resulted in the retrenchment of over 500 workers at the company he worked for. He also said the biggest challenge for him was having to be a co-student and he had to borrow money from his family to start his business and have 30% supported by funders.
He said that his clothing brand had succeeded because it showcased history and that had attracted international markets. He said international buyers had recently purchased products worth R500 000.
Ntokozo Myeza, from KwaDabeka, who is a student at the Mangosuthu University of Technology, said the discussion was informative and eye-opening, especially about entrepreneurship.
Dube encouraged business owners to remain authentic to themselves because international tourists looked for the African feel when visiting communities.
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