Business incubator to boost skills, jobs

Durban - The eThekwini Municipality on Tuesday launched a multi-million rand furniture manufacturing incubator in KwaMashu – with hopes of ­creating jobs and skills for hundreds of jobless youths.

Officials hope the R45-million furniture incubator will stimulate and develop small businesses that will become manufacturers in the Phoenix, Inanda, Ntuzuma and KwaMashu (Pink) areas.

Deputy head of the Economic Development and Investment Promotion Unit, Takalani Rathiyaya, said: “The planning started three years ago. We went to the city to ask for the authority to do this, and they gave it to us. This will help with regards to the township’s economy and renewal.”

The Pink furniture incubator received nearly R45m investment after a partnership between the city and the furniture sector, Furntech.

eThekwini Municipality provided R35m in funding and the Furntech Trust nearly R10m.

Furntech Trust’s chief executive, Michael Reddy, said the incubator would help small businesses.

“We train people with the skills on how to make furniture, and thereafter they are able to manage their own businesseses,” he said.

The small businesses will have access to workshop space, meeting rooms, machinery and other facilities that will make business easy for them.

Sazi Gumede, an entrepreneur who hopes to turn his love for carpentry into a business, said the incubator would have enormous benefits for people like him.

The 21-year-old Springfield man, who opened a small woodwork company, Design By Choice, said the incubator would give him access to tools and other machinery that would otherwise have been too expensive to purchase while running a small business.

“Now we have the opportunity to grow our business with the support of having tools and other facilities available to us,” Gumede said.

Deputy city manager, Musa Mbhele, said the furniture incubator would be a catalyst for jobs in Durban.

“The furniture manufacturing industry creates job opportunities. It is significant to the country’s economy. People who have businesses here will have a secure market,” he said.