Able entrepreneurs despite disability

Disability Month

A host of services are available to level the playing field for entrepreneurs with disabilities.

Disabled entrepreneurs from KwaZulu-Natal forgot about their disability for a while and shared ideas that can move their businesses to another level at the Disability Engagement Session held in Pinetown recently.

More than 200 disabled people gathered at the event, hosted by the Department of Small Business Development in collaboration with various stakeholders. The primary focus of the two-day workshop was to outline services available to entrepreneurs living with disability. The entrepreneurs were given a chance to talk about challenges experienced in accessing services so that they can be addressed by the authorities.

Department of Small Business Development Spokesperson Cornelius Monama said, “We believe that disabled people can contribute massively to the economy of this country if given support and information about services available to them. Living with disability does not mean that you cannot be a successful business owner. There are plenty of resources available to level any disadvantages disabled individuals may have," he said. 

“What we are communicating to them is that regardless of disability, it’s important to develop a tangible business plan and have a marketing and growth strategy before you begin your endeavour,” said Monama.

Monama said the second day of the workshop provided an opportunity for entrepreneurs with disability to participate in a ‘Pitch session’ to talk about their enterprises as well as priority interventions needed to take them to the next level.

Following each pitch, government stakeholders their committed to do whatever they could to help the entrepreneur overcome their challenge through available support services.

One of the entrepreneurs, Mduduzi Jijana, said that they were grateful for the opportunity to grow their business.

“People have a perception that we, as disabled people, need grants to survive, but all we need is the government to provide us with support to build ourselves," he said.  "The most common challenge that we experience as disabled entrepreneurs is that people in the business sector have less trust in us. If we apply for funding from big companies, we are turned down because they do not think we will be able to repay them. We are glad that government can help us with funding,” he said.