DURBAN – The Durban Chamber of Commerce and Industry (DCCI) was very keen on ensuring that local businesses increased the economic participation of a lot of businesses in the city to start being part of the mainstream economy.
DCCI chief executive Palesa Phili said that other businesses had been dependent on government tenders. “We are trying to encourage a lot of businesses to look at opportunities within the business and corporate sectors. Businesses should also do business-to-business transactions with each other,” said Phili.
She spoke on the sidelines of the business-to-business engagement organised by the eThekwini Municipality and the chamber.
The DCCI said that it had made a call to members to start working on programmes of enterprise supply development to give opportunities to the small-, medium- and micro-sized enterprises into the mainstream economy. This was to bring the businesses in the city to work together to grow the economy.
Phili said it was important for local businesses to also start thinking beyond Durban and seek opportunities beyond South Africa.
“This is a start to what we want to do in future, which is to open more opportunities for local businesses in other parts of Africa. The prospects are absolutely huge with opportunities for infrastructure, public transport, lots of goods and services that both businesses can benefit from taking products to and from and vice versa.”
The chief executive said it was important to promote mutual trade by being in a position to export goods and services.