West Rand-based kota business owner Nora Ruele has spoken out against what she calls selective funding practices by the Gauteng government, accusing it of prioritising youth-owned enterprises. She criticised the government’s rhetoric, saying that it did not match the reality of the state’s actions. Ruele is the owner of Olekea Enterprises, which makes and sells kotas in Kagiso.
The business also sells pap and stew, pap and steak, dagwoods and other traditional food dishes. According to Ruele, she started the business in 2016 because she was unemployed. She received a tender to deliver food for feeding schemes in Kagiso, and after the tender came to an end, she focused on making and selling food in the township. However, due to Covid-19, Ruele’s business hit a roadblock.
She encountered difficulties after trying to apply for funding programmes made available by Mogale City in 2021. “Covid-19 hit us really hard, so when Mogale City hosted seminars to boost small businesses in the areas, I wasn’t able to attend because I am over the youth age bracket,” she told Vutivi News. “I find this treatment to be unfair because we too deserve to be funded in spite of our age.”
Ruele, who is in her early 50s, said that she and businesspeople in her age group deserved to be funded because of their experience in different sectors. “I believe that some of the young people around us are not as hungry as we are, and we have more to lose than them since we have families to feed,” she said. Ruele said that her business was suffering because of the lack of access to funding. “I attended the previous Kota Festival (in Soweto) as an attendee and not as a seller because I wanted to see what my business needed in order to grow,” she said.
“I realised that, compared to my competitors, our prices are too low and as a result, we are not growing. “Most of our customers are primary and high school children and they only buy cheaper products on our menus,” she said. Ruele said that if she had access to funding, she would be able to strengthen her marketing and invest in improving her menu and her business image so that she could match her competitors.
She also called on the government to stop focusing its support on the same sectors. The Gauteng government held an event on the new Township Economic Development Act at the Kagiso Sports Complex last week. Its purpose was to explain the financial and non-financial support the state will give to make township retail stores profitable. However, Economic Development MEC Parks Tau assured entrepreneurs from other sectors that they would not be left out in the cold.
“In November we have committed to hosting an expo where we will call all township-based entrepreneurs that produce products, and at that expo, we will bring agencies that test for standards so that we support township businesses in ensuring that their products reach the standards needed for their products to be procured,” he said.
