News / Local
Council converts beer hall to business school
19 Jan 2014 at 03:30hrs | Views
THE Bulawayo City Council is converting one of its beer halls into a business school as the local authority strives to come up with innovative ways of boosting the performance of the city's industrial sector.
Bulawayo has over the years suffered from serious de-industrialisation which has seen over 90 companies either closing or relocating and over 20 000 people losing their jobs.
As part of efforts to revive the sector, council is converting one of its beer gardens - Ikhwezi in Pelandaba - to a business school that will see entrepreneurs and informal traders receiving training on key business strategies that will help them grow and contribute to the city's economic well-being.
In an interview with Sunday News, the city's town clerk, Mr Middleton Nyoni, revealed that renovations of the beer hall were already at an advanced stage and were expecting the centre to be operational soon.
"One of our priorities this year is the issue of economic revival in the city. As you might know, the issue of de-industrialisation affects us severely as the people who lose their jobs or do not get paid are our residents who we rely on to pay their rates so that we provide satisfactory service delivery for them.
"This is why we will have to carry out a thorough study for us to find out what really is happening and what it is we need to do to assist in the revival of the industrial sector in the city. Already we have set in motion some of the intervention measures to help in this challenge, this being the issuance of incentives to businesses in the city," said Mr Nyoni.
The town clerk revealed that the turning of Ikhwezi Beer Hall into a business school would help cater for informal traders who over the years have been overlooked yet they had the capability of contributing to both the city and country's economy.
"We have since realised that there is a need for us to train the community at large in business, give them the necessary skills to run a successful business and also being innovative. That is why we decided to turn Ikhwezi into a centre that will provide all this and better still its location will be convenient as it is located where the people are. I must also confirm that renovation work has already started at the centre and we expect it to be operational anytime this year.
"Our main goal is for us to formalise the informal sector as this is one sector - if managed properly - that has the capability of largely contributing to the city and country's economy. We will also be registering these traders at this centre as part of the transition to formalise the sector," he said.
The town clerk further revealed that not only would the centre be catering for the business community but it would also be training council officials, mainly in the finance and procurement sections so as to best equip them on the best strategies to come up with innovative measures in the handling of the city's financial affairs.
Bulawayo has over the years suffered from serious de-industrialisation which has seen over 90 companies either closing or relocating and over 20 000 people losing their jobs.
As part of efforts to revive the sector, council is converting one of its beer gardens - Ikhwezi in Pelandaba - to a business school that will see entrepreneurs and informal traders receiving training on key business strategies that will help them grow and contribute to the city's economic well-being.
In an interview with Sunday News, the city's town clerk, Mr Middleton Nyoni, revealed that renovations of the beer hall were already at an advanced stage and were expecting the centre to be operational soon.
"One of our priorities this year is the issue of economic revival in the city. As you might know, the issue of de-industrialisation affects us severely as the people who lose their jobs or do not get paid are our residents who we rely on to pay their rates so that we provide satisfactory service delivery for them.
The town clerk revealed that the turning of Ikhwezi Beer Hall into a business school would help cater for informal traders who over the years have been overlooked yet they had the capability of contributing to both the city and country's economy.
"We have since realised that there is a need for us to train the community at large in business, give them the necessary skills to run a successful business and also being innovative. That is why we decided to turn Ikhwezi into a centre that will provide all this and better still its location will be convenient as it is located where the people are. I must also confirm that renovation work has already started at the centre and we expect it to be operational anytime this year.
"Our main goal is for us to formalise the informal sector as this is one sector - if managed properly - that has the capability of largely contributing to the city and country's economy. We will also be registering these traders at this centre as part of the transition to formalise the sector," he said.
The town clerk further revealed that not only would the centre be catering for the business community but it would also be training council officials, mainly in the finance and procurement sections so as to best equip them on the best strategies to come up with innovative measures in the handling of the city's financial affairs.
Source - sundaynews
