This week, the Mayoral Committee Member for Economic Growth, Alderman James Vos, engaged food and beverage businesses at the City’s third round of Growth Coalition gatherings around market access opportunities. Read more below:

‘For businesses to function, they need to be able to get their products to buyers and consumers, both local and international. From our previous Growth Coalition engagements with businesses, we learned that market access was one of their biggest priorities, particularly for SMMEs needing to grow. That’s exactly what the Growth Coalition is for – it’s an opportunity for the City to speak one-on-one with industry players and to share information on our programmes and platforms geared towards their prosperity,’ said Alderman Vos.

The session also included a panel discussion with business owners and trade specialists on their experiences with market access and the challenges and opportunities within the industry.

Alderman Vos highlighted the City’s support systems for business, including a series of enterprise development programmes and the online Cape Town Entrepreneurship Academy.

He also shared details of the Cape Trade Portal, a digital marketplace hosted by Wesgro for Cape-based producers that connects them directly with buyers and additionally serves as a dedicated centre of training resources and information on upcoming trade exhibitions. Through the site, assistance is provided with regulatory and compliance requirements as well as issues related to trade barriers.

'We implemented this trading platform to help achieve ease of doing business. The portal launched a year ago already has over 3 500 local products listed and more than 550 verified exporters.

‘Research last year indicated that South Africa stands to generate up to R840 billion by fully capitalising on export agreements under the EU-SADC Economic Partnership Agreement with foodstuffs such as fruit, dairy goods and canned foods making up a significant part of that.

'If we can help businesses to take advantage of the potential gains under such trade deals, we can realise more jobs and economic growth for Capetonians,’ said Alderman Vos.

For information on the trade portal visit www.capetradeportal.com

and Growth Coalition platforms, contact: Growth.Coalitions@capetown.gov.za

Source: City Of Cape Town