Trust gives local business a helping hand

Wednesday, May 24, 2017

After receiving substantial grant funding recently from the Ekurhuleni Peermont Chambers of Commerce Trust (EPCoCT), a BBBEE vehicle within the Peermont Hotels, Casinos and Resorts group, a business which was based in Selection Park in Springs has been able to expand requiring a move to bigger premises in Dunnottar.

The enterprise, Kwatsaduza Laundry and Cleaning Services, received funding of R98 017 which has helped the owner, Sibongile Nkosi, purchase new laundry equipment resulting in the expansion.

Kwatsaduza Laundry, which was started in 2010 by Nkosi, currently provides dry cleaning and laundry services to the man in the street and to bigger clients like the South African Police Services, Thokoza Station and the Ekurhuleni Metro’s Customer Care Centre in Springs, Duduza and Brakpan.

Thanks to the Trust funding Nkosi could purchase four new washing machines and two dryers which will enable her to tender for bigger contracts and increase productivity and profits.

Apart from the dry cleaning and laundry services Kwatsaduza Laundry also do garment alterations and offer regular home pick-up and delivery services.

While the business currently has five fulltime employees Nkosi is confident with bigger contracts she will be able to create more jobs.

“One of the main aims of the EPCoCT and the grants we allocate is to create jobs and make a positive impact on the lives of the people of Ekurhuleni which is one of the reasons we have assisted Kwatsaduza Laundry,” say the Trust’s Administrator, Makomane Ntabo.

Apart from this concern the Trustees of the EPCoCT have granted funding of a further R467 000 to three other community-based small business projects which fall in the Emperors Palace catchment area, during the past year. Furthermore the Trust has also given R3-million in funding to the EMM-EPCoCT Business Facilitation Network (BFN) over the past two years as part of its five year partnership with the Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Municipality (EMM) in the BFN project.

This brings the total funding provided by the Trust since inception to R25-million with 55 small and micro businesses assisted.

BELOW: Ekurhuleni Peermont Chambers of Commerce Trust (EPCoCT) Trustee, Bafana Smith helps Kwatsaduza Laundry and Cleaning Services’ Sibongile Nkosi load laundry into one of the new washing machines she could purchase thanks to a grant of just over R98 017 received from the Trust during a recent Trustee visit to the business in Dunnottar.