NAFCOC in the Eastern Cape holds conference to help women in business

As Women’s Month concludes, the National African Federated Chamber of Commerce and Industry (NAFCOC) in the Eastern Cape held a conference in Gqeberha, looking at the challenges faced by women in business. Many have reported that they are having a hard time recovering from the impact of COVID-19.

The conference, attended by a number of female delegates was aimed at celebrating Women’s Month under the theme, “Strengthening economic recovery and reconstruction, resuscitating the business space”.

Deputy Minister of Trade Industry and Economic Development Nomalungelo Gina says the objective is to uplift women and ensure equality in the business sector.

The goal behind this conference is to assist business women to get back on their feet. More and more women are joining the business sector, but the economy of the country post COVID-19 poses a great challenge. The pandemic has left many businesses crippled and some unable to recover.

“Our businesses were severely affected by COVID-19. Some of them were able to resuscitate, some of them died. So we feel that this engagement will help assist those that are trying to get up so that we expose them to funding opportunities that will help their businesses,” says NAFCOC’s Chwayita Zituta.

Some have felt the pinch of the tough economic conditions first-hand, losing a lot of profit during the pandemic and almost giving up. But that hasn’t stopped government from making strides to attract more women to the sector.

“We have a policy framework that looks at women owned enterprises. We are looking at how many companies owned by women. We are looking at management but more about the access to finances when it comes to women and opening up the market,” says Gina.

Collaborative efforts have been made to minimise the severity of these challenges. Funding, upskilling, and involvement are some of the issues getting attention.

“There were a lot of interventions from the government. We worked very closely with entities especially the national empowerment fund, and IDC where we said what can we put together to make sure that those businesses that are hardly affected can put together something. In 2021, we launched the women empowerment fund based on loans and grants. To make sure that whatever they get, these women enterprises were getting an interest of 2%. Making sure that they are able to access these loans and are able to push these businesses,” Gina added.

President Cyril Ramaphosa had previously pronounced that government would set aside 40% of public procurement for women-owned enterprises. The Deputy Minister says this has been a win, though COVID-19 has made it hard to monitor.

VIDEO: NAFCOC in the Eastern Cape hold a Women’s Conference in Gqeberha [embedded content]