First workshops will encourage youth to see business as an opportunity.

The Eastern Cape Development Corporation (ECDC) has today begun a series of workshops which will be held throughout the Eastern Cape in a bid to build the capacity and competitiveness of small businesses.

The first of these workshops is being held in Aliwal North in the Joe Gqabi District Municipality where small businesses will be helped with building networks with development agencies as well as marketing skills.

The workshops will also encourage the youth to see small businesses as an opportunity to improve their livelihoods.

"Most youth in the area do not realize the potential of small business as a source of self employment so we want to broaden the base of entrepreneurship within the youth," says ECDC's business advisor Ncedisa Goniwe.

The workshop currently underway in Aliwal North is aimed at fostering linkages between small business operators and small business service enterprises as well as to promote entrepreneurship among the youth.

Youth will get guidance on avoiding pitfalls that lead to failure of small businesses such as over-reliance on tenders which sometimes do not provide a steady stream of income.

"The outcome we aim for is that youth will be able to identify and react to opportunities. In this area most youth are not taking full advantage of the opportunities that entrepreneurship presents. Even those who have registered CCs rely on tenders," says Goniwe.

The workshops will open the space for views and debate on the challenges youth in business have to contend with, says ECDC enterprise development services programme head Mpumi Fundam.

"We aim to stimulate debate and discussion amongst young people on matters affecting youth in business; and discuss the latest entrepreneurship models and success stories," Fundam says.

Among the stakeholders expected to attend are representatives of the Joe Gqabi District Municipality and the Department of Economic Development and Environmental Affairs (DEDEA).

The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) and the ECDC will make presentations of Co-operative Finance while other invited stakeholders are the Small Enterprise Development Agency (SEDA) and Khula which offer non financial support to small enterprises.