The De Aar Solar Power funded Mobile Business Unit launched in the rural town of Hanover last week. The unit hopes to address the unique challenges faced by entrepreneurs and micro businesses in rural areas of our country.
The custom-designed unit, the first of its kind in the Northern Cape, provides access to business and administrative services to Hanover, Britstown, Philipstown and De Aar.
This mobile business unit forms part of a bigger initiative, the Big Shake-up Accelerator programme, a rural training programme that aims to equip women and youth participants with the basic opportunities and skills of running a business, regardless of their education level.
“Considering that youth make up 32.4% and women 50.5% of the total population in the Pixley Ka Seme district, we are looking to predominantly support these marginalised groups through our enterprise development programmes,” said Hlengiwe Radebe, Economic Development Director for De Aar Solar Power.
In collaboration with Angels Resource Centres, the branded mobile business unit, which is the first of its kind in the Northern Cape, offers business registrations, Central Supplier Database registrations, BEE affidavits, tax clearance, bookkeeping services and other supporting services like printing, scanning, email and photocopying. Furthermore, business advisers will travel with the unit to help entrepreneurs with business advice and mentoring, as part of the Big Shake-up Accelerator programme.
In line with the country’s focus of looking to boost growth through entrepreneurship, as an alternative to formal employment, this programme seeks to create sustainable rural communities that are empowered and upwardly mobile. With statistics showing that only 15% of people over the age of twenty have a matric certificate in this region, alternatives that are suitable to this country’s unique landscape and its circumstances are required.
“We are very excited about the partnership with De Aar Solar Power on the mobile unit. It certainly will make a big difference to so many entrepreneurs who often find it difficult to get to an e-Zone for their business needs,” said CEO of Angels, Lizelle Coombs.
The unveiling of the unit took place on Tuesday, 5 March in Hanover. For more details about the unit and the Big Shake-up Accelerator programme, please contact Annemarie Mostert or Eddie Kampher at Angels Resource Centres on 0861 111 950 or email angels@angelsinc.co.za.
