It was a day of jubilation for Small, Medium and Micro Enterprises (SMMEs) and informal traders who today benefited from equipment and cash injection support from His Worship the Mayor of uMngeni Municipality, Chris Pappas.
Mayor Pappas handed R1.5 million worth of equipment, materials and vouchers to SMMEs from agricultural, construction, catering, beauty salon, funeral services, physiotherapy, garden services and detergent production sectors.
The Mayor also handed over to 24 informal traders vouchers worth R2000 each. While an additional 12 informal traders received R5000 worth of equipment each.
The Mayor said that the programme was a municipal employment Initiative intended to create job opportunities and stimulate economic growth through financially supporting SMMEs. The programme, was undertaken in partnership with the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Economic Development, Tourism and Environmental Affairs and the Department provided a grant funding to the value of R1 million. This grant was then co-funded by the Municipality to a value of R500 000.