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Classroom training
Business management, financial management, customer service, production and innovation, quality control, pricing of goods and services, and marketing.
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- Rural Enterprise Development
Turning traders into
registered businesses
Since 2008 the Rural Enterprise Development Programme has backed more than 645 entrepreneurs from the communities bordering the Park — with training, mentorship, equipment grants and a route into formal markets.
2008
Programme established by the iSimangaliso Wetland Park Authority
645+
Entrepreneurs supported through training and mentorship
220
Small business grants awarded, issued as business equipment
Programme history
Built for one of KwaZulu-Natal’s poorest districts
iSimangaliso established the Rural Enterprise Programme in 2008 to widen access to economic opportunity among neighbouring communities, as part of a tourism-led economic transformation strategy for the area.
uMkhanyakude is among the poorest districts in KwaZulu-Natal, with high unemployment, low literacy and slow economic growth. The programme addresses those inequalities directly: developing small, medium and micro enterprises is one of the Authority’s key interventions, in line with the country’s National Development Plan.
The programme prioritises businesses linked to conservation and tourism, infrastructure, and any environmentally compatible trade. Following the introduction of the biodiversity economy strategy by the Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment, iSimangaliso now also supports SMMEs working in the biodiversity economy.
Tourism inside the Park is the market these enterprises are being equipped to supply.
What you get
A package of business support
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Mentoring and field visits
Four individual mentoring sessions a year for every beneficiary, plus visits to participating businesses — used both to advise and to verify what entrepreneurs report about their trading.
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Equipment grants
iSimangaliso procures the equipment and business inputs a beneficiary needs to grow. Grants go to those who complete training and successfully pitch their business, and this component depends on available funding.
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Business hub and advice
A 24-hour support line dedicated to beneficiaries, plus technical assistance — assessing viable enterprises, and help with access to markets and to finance where funding allows.
Who can apply
Selection criteria
- Have a business idea — preferably already trading in some form.
- Be able to read and write.
- Have a risk-taking personality.
- Be driven by the need to run that particular business.
- Be from a community neighbouring the Park.
- Be committed to the learning process.
The programme is designed to take an ordinary trading community member and give them the skills to trade formally — registering with CIPC, SARS, the Central Supplier Database and for VAT where necessary. Formal registration is what allows these businesses to trade with government institutions and with conservation and tourism operators, and it introduces them to a range of buyers who need their services. As those opportunities grow, so does the number of people each business employs.
Interested in the programme?
Intakes are advertised through the Park’s community structures. Contact the enterprise development team to find out when the next round opens.