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False Bay College's Centre for Entrepreneurship and CHIETA, celebrating a successful SMME training programme

On 10 November, False Bay College in collaboration with Chemical Industries Education & Training Authority (CHIETA) celebrated six months of entrepreneurship training at the college's central office in Muizenberg. The entrepreneurs who graduated completed an intense entrepreneurship six-month programme which is designed to upskill the candidates in managing and sustaining their small businesses. Many of these business owners hail from previously disadvantaged areas, and they all responded to a call for emerging and aspiring economy entrepreneurs (grow your green ICT, cleaning, recycling or energy business).
Mhonk Godze
Mhonk Godze

The programme began in March 2022 and concluded end of September 2022. The programme forms part of the many similar projects that the college is running through its Centre For Entrepreneurship Rapid Incubator (CFERI), which is currently based at Westlake Campus. The centre incubated small businesses and gives access to its incubates to a diversity of, Maker; s space, Mini-factory, in Technology space, Drone acceleration, office space accommodation (boardroom, auditorium) and connectivity).

False Bay College's Centre for Entrepreneurship and CHIETA, celebrating a successful SMME training programme
False Bay College's Centre for Entrepreneurship and CHIETA, celebrating a successful SMME training programme

In motivating the entrepreneurs, the college invited Mhonko Buyelwa Godze (Bhomela), who is an avid businesswoman, and a managing director: Mhonko's Waste And Security Services. Godze shared her decades of experience and wisdom running an enterprise. She emphasised key important tools of the trade and navigating the markets, the importance of resilience, the ability to endure business challenges that comes with business ownership more so when you are a businesswoman, the importance of legal compliance in business, putting your own skin in the business and focusing on achieving your goals. The college’s deputy principal of innovation and development Christiana Nel was also in attendance, and in her welcoming speech, she quoted Martin Luther King Jr. “If you can't fly then run, if you can't run then walk, if you can't walk then crawl, but whatever you do, you have to keep moving forward.” This, she said, is an example of an entrepreneur with a purpose, plan, and vision.

False Bay College's Centre for Entrepreneurship and CHIETA, celebrating a successful SMME training programme
False Bay College's Centre for Entrepreneurship and CHIETA, celebrating a successful SMME training programme

In expanding the college’s entrepreneurship strategic vision, the college has embarked on an ignition café to ignite entrepreneurship with its staff, students and communities within its footprint. This initiative has been part of the college's strategic vision for some time, and the recent focus is but one of the college’s direct and purposeful initiatives to address socio-economic challenges by alleviating the plight of unemployment and poverty within the communities.

False Bay College's Centre for Entrepreneurship and CHIETA, celebrating a successful SMME training programme
False Bay College's Centre for Entrepreneurship and CHIETA, celebrating a successful SMME training programme

The campaign is designed to provide entrepreneurship training and business development skills through Centre For Entrepreneurship using Falsebay college campuses as access points. These stations will be allocated in False Bay campuses and will be accessible to community members with entrepreneurship goals. This will include community members with business ideas, which require development, to established businesses that require access to markets, business development services, coaching, and mentoring. The centers will initially open on certain days of the week, which are yet to be confirmed, up until there is permanent space made available and staff to man the access points at our five campuses:

Fsh Hoek
Mitchell's Plain
Khayelitsha Campus
Muizenberg Campus
Swartklip Campus

The campaign will see CFERI launching the Ignition café at these campuses in the next couple of weeks. This will culminate in the bigger launch which will include community members, in order to make them aware of the business support services available to them, at no cost.

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