JOHANNESBURG - Five fashion designers have won a business incubation prize worth more than R100,000 as part of efforts to support young entrepreneurs in the Ekurhuleni municipality, the city council said on Monday.
In a statement, the city of Ekurhuleni said it had, though its youth directorate, partnered with "The Hook Up Dinner Ekurhuleni (THUD Ekurhuleni) and other stakeholders like the National Youth Development Agency to render both financial and non-financial support to young entrepreneurs.
The network sessions take place once a month, with young people pitching their ideas to experts and their peers and getting advice on how to improve and grow their businesses.
“THUDEkurhuleni gives young people in business a chance to network with their peers, experts, potential funders and customers. These sessions give young people access to the market, especially in the SMMEs (small, medium and micro-sized enterprises) sector,” head of the Ekurhuleni youth directorate Modise Koetle said.
Well known fashion designer David Tlale urged the young entrepreneurs to master the basics, identify their skills and refine them.
“Go to fashion schools and companies that teach and produce, respectively, the line of fashion you want to pursue and learn how they do what they are doing. Know the types of material they use and the purposes for which they use them,” Tlale said, urging the young designers to also make use of mentors and learnership programmes.