Registering for Jozi@Work gaining momentum

17-10-2014

 

The staff of The Business Place, an advisory agency that assists SMMEs to establish themselves, will have their hands full again next week when the registering of small companies and cooperatives for the City of Johannesburg’s Jozi@Work Programme gets into full swing.
 

Jozi@Work, the City of Joburg’s response to the poverty, unemployment and inequality challenges confronting the city, continues to generate massive interest among communities. More than 7 000 people have already attended its information-sharing sessions since the rollout of its roadshows began.
 

The City is collaborating with The Business Place to provide residents with a free registration service in readiness for the programme.

Region D will host its registration drive at Naledi Hall in Naledi, Soweto, over two days – on Monday October 20 and Tuesday October 21.
 

On Thursday October 23 the focus will shift to the Orange Farm Multipurpose Hall, southern Johannesburg, where The Business Place personnel will again be on hand to assist would-be small business owners and residents interested in forming cooperatives to register their entities.
 

The process will be repeated at the same venue the next day.

If similar sessions held over the past week are anything to go by, attendances at these two venues will be overwhelming.

Jak Koseff, of the City’s Priority Projects, has explained that residents who have already legally registered their small businesses and cooperatives need not attend these registration sessions.
 

“[This] is a formal company registration drive to allow those who do not have companies or cooperatives legally registered to establish themselves so that they are ready to take part in Jozi@Work when the regional forums begin,” Koseff said.
 

Under this dispensation, the first of its kind in South Africa’s local government, ordinary residents will be able to provide a variety of services to the city, including refuse removal, street cleaning, landscaping, repairs and maintenance, construction, grass-cutting and garden services.
 

Initiated by Johannesburg Executive Mayor Councillor Parks Tau to address, the project is expected to grow in monetary terms from R1,1 billion in the 2014-2015 financial year to R3 billion in the 2016-2017 financial year.