By Puleng Maphisa – 07 March 2023

VUT business clinic attendees

On Friday, 3 March 2023 at the Isak Steyl Stadium VIP Lounge, the Vaal University of Technology (VUT) Business Clinic held the first of many workshops to be presented to local existing small, medium and micro enterprises (SMMEs).

The VUT Business Clinic was established following the signing of a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) which was signed between VUT and Gauteng Enterprise Propeller (GEP) in November 2022 to provide business development training to SMME’s in the Sedibeng region. A brainchild of Dr Johan van der Westhuizen and overseen by the Department of Human Resource Management in the Faculty of Management Sciences, the objective of the VUT Business Clinic is to develop local SMME’s, create a dynamic, diverse and thriving local business environment and to inspire a culture of entrepreneurship.

These half-day workshops will be presented to five existing small businesses identified by GEP once a month where various business-related topics such as business management skills (Entrepreneurial Skills), basic financial management skills, pricing and costing, tendering skills, sales and marketing, will be offered. The project will also form part of the community engagement programme for the Faculty – something which is underpinned by one of the University’s strategic objectives of embedding the scholarship of engagement through which relations amongst scholars, academics and communities are fostered through reciprocal and mutual learning for the benefit of social humanity.

To benefit immensely from the first instalment of presentations, Zilindile Ncibi, Smart Link Wireless; Georgina Tsimane, Johqeo Trading Enterprise (PTY); and Boitumelo Qobolo, Reqhuneng Secondary Cooperative, attended the workshop. A shared sentiment echoed by participants was that they benefitted from the presentations, describing them as insightful.

Dr Van Der Westhuize said they look forward to sharing their skills and expertise with these small business owners for the next coming months.