The Minister of Tourism Derek Hanekom today launched the Tourism Enterprise Development Incubator at the Mphebatho Cultural Museum in Pilanesberg, North West.
“Of critical importance, the success of our programmes is dependent on quality leadership as well as a stable and willing community that is hungry for success, which will create opportunities for our people. I am glad to say that this is one such community”, said Minister Hanekom.
The Tourism Enterprise Development Incubator will be a virtual vehicle used to facilitate the provision of business support interventions to tourism enterprises, clustered along a thriving tourism node in the country. This model will enable enterprises to obtain all business support services offered without being located in the incubator.
The programme will focus on viable existing Small Micro and Medium Enterprises (SMMEs) at the selected tourism nodes. The SMMEs must be affiliated to a local tourism association and be operational. There is no turn over requirement for participation by SMME’s but the official description of what SMMEs in line with the Small Development Act will be considered in the evaluation of suitability for inclusion in the Incubator.
“One of the issues that has risen in policy prominence and within our NDP over the years has been an issue of establishing a network of business incubators to nurture particular groups of emerging small enterprises. This business incubator model is a vibrant tool for nurturing innovative ventures regarding economic development and job creation as critical components of entrepreneurial infrastructure. It is going to assist growth of emerging and small start-up business enterprises into financially and operationally independent business ultimately”, said the MEC of Tourism in the North West Desbo Mohono.
The 2015 winner of the Tsogo Sun Entrepreneur of the year award Nomsa Mazibuko, who started as a housekeeping staff at one of the Tsogo Sun establishments encouraged the incubatees to maximise the opportunity that the Department of Tourism has afforded them.
In his closing remarks, Kgosi Nyalala Pilane, the Kgosi of the Bakgatla tribe, re-emphasised the importance of this programme and encouraged participants not work in silos.
“This incubator is not just about tourism, it has many other elements across the tourism value chain. Incubatees need to interact and link up with other programmes in other sectors”, concluded the Kgosi.
Enquiries:
Mr Trevor Bloem
Chief Director - Communications
National Department of Tourism
Telephone: +27 (0) 12 444 6607
Cell: +27 (0) 82 771 6729