The Durban Chamber of Commerce and Industry under the auspices of its Women in Business Forum
is continuing to champion development of rural women entrepreneurs. The Faranani Rural Women Training Initiative is a joint project with PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) that provides a week long business skills training programme.
Now, in its second year, the initiative’s focus is to equip rural women entrepreneurs with essential business skills to assist them in developing and moving their businesses forward. While the focus for 2014 was on business planning, the key focus area this year was financial management. The two day training was facilitated by Pheneus Thovhakale and Kamugelo Mokoka of Business Skills for South Africa
(BSSA). Upon completing the training the women received a certificate, which was handed to them at cocktail ceremony by PwC’s partner in charge of the Durban office, Kishore Kooverjee. Janette Englund of PwC highlighted the role women play in the economy and how important it is for women to become entrepreneurs. Many businesses running in rural areas do not have a competitive advantage and cannot survive as people do not have the necessary skills and expertise to develop and sustain their
businesses. “You are never too old to learn and it is important to learn so your business will always grow”, these were the words of Joyce Ncanana, 2014 winner of the Ilembe Chamber Entrepreneur Competition. Ncanana is the owner of Just Meats a butchery she opened when she was retrenched from her employment in 2009.
She encouraged the audience saying that to be in business means sacrifice and having the hunger to succeed.