KwaZulu Natal, with its rich cultural heritage, offers numerous opportunities for growth for small, medium and micro enterprises (SMMEs).

Some of these opportunities for growth in the tourism industry were recently highlighted by Executive General Manager of Impact Investments at Business Partners Limited, David Morobe.

He explained to Tourism Update that, because the sector was a labour-intensive industry and thus drove the creation of jobs and skills, SMMEs would always have an opportunity to establish themselves and grow.

Tourism KZN (TKZN) has a mandate to ensure it facilitates transformation in the province’s tourism sector and has invested in SME development. Acting CEO of Tourism KwaZulu-Natal, Phindile Makwakwa, told Tourism Update that TKZN had an Enterprise Development programme, with a number of initiatives already implemented.

“Initiatives such as the Capacity Building & Training, Skills Development, Business Linkages & Networking, and Market Access support are already in place,” said Makwakwa. “In partnership with established tourism business, TKZN is also assisting emerging and black-owned enterprises with market-readiness programmes.”

Induna (headman) at Khula Village and Director of Veyane Cultural Village in St Lucia, Philip Mkhwanazi, said he had received support from TKZN. “KZN Tourism has trained us to do marketing online, they did brochures for us and they booked the table stand in the Tourism Indaba.”