Chairman of the Soweto Investment Conference 2023 Thato Mothopeng says the two-day event gave business people an opportunity to sell their products to the broader market with great networking opportunities to investors between local and private businesses.
The conference was hosted by the Soweto Tourism and Business Development Association at Nasrec Expo Centre Johannesburg.
This was the second conference expo to be hosted at Nasrec and government officials were conspicuous by their absence although they were invited. But they did however send representatives.
The expo was lively and interactive as entrepreneurs exhibited their products ranging from traditional food, paintings, loans, newspapers subscriptions, fashion and many more innovative ideas.
“Our aim is to create an enabling environment that attracts domestic and foreign investment, ultimately leading to increased employment, improved infrastructure and a better quality of life for our residents. The conference plays a pivotal role in achieving these goals.
“The Soweto Investment Conference 2023 is more exciting. We have brought thought leaders who have benefited from the Soweto economy this year. We had banks, funding agencies that were there to support the conference,” he said.
Mothopeng said the conference provided a networking environment and collaborations between local businesses and private businesses.
Co-founder of clothing brand Sbhiva, Siyabonga Matengu, was upbeat about the conference and what was achieved over the two days.
“We have already shown people our quality products and how committed we are about it. We started it to express the love for our product and the for the
Beetle (The name Sbhiva is derived from an all classical Volkswagen called Beetle),” said Matengu.
Another exhibitor Mbali Zwane complained about load shedding and Covid-19 saying it killed her ice cream business.
“I used to make a lot of money from selling ice cream. I would pay my house bond with the profits but after lockdown, then it was load shedding. I had to close it and focus on designing clothes and earrings as you can see but load shedding also slowed me down,” she said.
