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The Gauteng government along with all its municipalities will convene a province-wide summit with township entrepreneurs and small businesses on Tuesday, 07 October 2014 at Orlando Stadium in Soweto.
The Summit was preceded by consultative engagements with township businesses across Ekurhuleni, Sedibeng, Tshwane, the West Rand and Johannesburg since 21 July 2014.
Through theseengagements, the MEC for Economic Development Lebogang Maile transversed over fifty townships and had direct interaction with approximately 50 000 township based entrepreneurs.
The roadshows targeted township-based businesses ranging from construction, brick making businesses, bakeries and confectionaries, welding works, panel beaters, fresh produce, small-scale farmers, couriers, transport, restaurants, informal traders, small-scale restaurants and aspirant entrepreneurs.
This campaign was born out of the State of the Province Address (SOPA) delivered by Gauteng Premier David Makhura in June 2014, which placed the need to revitalize the economy of our townships at the center of our economic discourse.
Through these roadshows and the subsequent economic summits that were held in every region across the province, a bottom-up economic strategy to foster economic development and support productive and labour intensive economic activities in our townships.  The Summit is expected to discuss and endorse this strategy, which will guide Gauteng’s township economic development agenda.
Several pillars underpin this strategy, which is aimed at addressing the main challenges faced by township entrepreneurs. These include access to land, industrial space and economic infrastructure; funding and technical assistance; manufacturing and production as well as market access and competitiveness.
In attendance will be 1200 delegates comprising of entrepreneurs, small businesses, cooperatives, government leaders as well as private sector partners. Delegates to the summit have been democratically elected through regional summits convened in all Gauteng regions recently.
The Summit will be convened as follows:

Date:                          Tuesday, 07 October 2014
Time:                          09H00
Venue:                       Orlando Stadium, Soweto

Premier Makhura, Johannesburg Executive Mayor Parks Tau and MEC Maile will address the summit.

Issued by Gauteng Government