Skip to main content

Comment on the Draft Business Support Policy

The City of Cape Town intends to revise the Business Support Policy. The City recognises the critical role of micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) in driving inclusive economic growth, job creation, innovation, and spatial transformation. The core purpose of the policy is to drive economic growth in the City of Cape Town through the enablement of MSME development and access to market. The current process aims to refine the existing policy by adding provisions and removing administrative barriers to MSME advancement. Part of the process is that the public be afforded the opportunity to make representation and or give input on the Business Support Policy. Notice is hereby given in terms of Section 17 of the Local Government Municipal Systems Act, whereby Council is affording the public and interested parties or groups the opportunity to submit comments, recommendations or input to the municipality for a period of 30 days. The 30-day comment period commences on 15 June 2026 and concludes on 15 July 2026.

Comments, input and recommendations in respect of the proposed policy can be submitted in any of the following ways:

By email to Business.Support@capetown.gov.za
By written submission delivered to the Economic Growth Directorate, 12th Floor, Civic Centre, 12 Hertzog Blvd, Foreshore, Cape Town, 8001
by Clicking the Add a comment Button

Special assistance will be given to people who cannot read or write, people with disabilities and other disadvantaged groups who are unable to submit written comments, to have their inputs or comments recorded and submitted to the Municipality. For such purpose, members of the above-mentioned groups may contact the City of Cape Town Public Participation Unit: For general public participation: Mbuthokazi Kubashe at 021 400 9808 or Mbuthokazi.Kubashe@capetown.gov.za, or disadvantaged groups’ assistance:

Enquiries relating to the draft Business Support Policy can be directed to the Economic Growth Directorate at 021 417 4043 or email: Business.Support@capetown.gov.za

Kindly note that the draft Business Support Policy will be available for viewing on the City of Cape Town website: http://www.capetown.gov.za/haveyoursay, at sub-council offices and at City libraries.

DRAFT BUSINESS SUPPORT POLICY English.pdf

(113.6 KB)

DRAFT BUSINESS SUPPORT POLICY Xhosa.pdf

(114.9 KB)

DRAFT BUSINESS SUPPORT POLICY Afrikaans.pdf

(101.1 KB)

Draft_v0.71_Business Support - Policy number 46489 (2).pdf

(462.2 KB)

Phases

Phases overview

Phase 1: Have Your Say

Have Your Say

Have Your Say

15 June 2026 22:00 - 15 July 2026 21:59

6 comments

Gavilon Dean Basson3 weeks ago I welcome the City of Cape Town’s intention to revise the Business Support Policy and recognise the important role that micro, small and medium enterprises play in job creation, local economic development, innovation and spatial transformation.However, I respectfully submit that the policy must move beyond general support, training and information-sharing. For many emerging entrepreneurs, the problem is not a lack of ideas, discipline or willingness to work. The real barriers are lack of affordable premises, lack of start-up capital, difficulty accessing City-linked opportunities, complex compliance requirements, poor access to business support in local communities, and the fact that many people are excluded before their businesses are given a fair chance to prove themselves.The revised policy should therefore create a practical Business Starter Pathway for emerging entrepreneurs, especially those from Cape Flats, township and historically disadvantaged communities. This pathway should help small businesses move from idea stage, to pilot stage, to compliant operating stage, without being blocked at the beginning by the same requirements expected from established businesses.I recommend that the final policy include the following practical mechanisms:1. Affordable municipal micro-workspaces The City should identify underutilised municipal buildings, land portions, libraries, halls, transport nodes and civic spaces that can be converted into affordable micro-business spaces. These spaces should include shared utilities, internet access, secure storage, basic safety systems and access to customers. This would assist entrepreneurs who cannot afford private rentals but are ready to trade, manufacture, provide services or test business ideas.2. A temporary “right to test” business permit The City should introduce a 6-to-12-month pilot permit for emerging businesses. This would allow low-risk businesses to test their products or services legally while receiving compliance guidance. Instead of treating every informal or home-based activity as a by-law problem, the City should create a transitional compliance route where entrepreneurs are guided into formality.3. One-stop compliance support The City should create a single Business Compliance Desk that helps entrepreneurs understand all applicable requirements, including zoning, trading permits, health and safety, waste, water, electricity, signage, supplier registration and other relevant municipal processes. Entrepreneurs should not be sent from one department to another without a clear answer.4. Support for entrepreneurs without perfect credit or assets Many capable entrepreneurs cannot access traditional finance because they are unemployed, credit-impaired, asset-poor or still building income. The policy should require the City and its partners to assess business potential using more than credit scores. Assessment should include business viability, community demand, skills, training completion, references, pilot sales, discipline and ability to create jobs.5. City-backed micro-grants and first-contract opportunities The City should consider small start-up grants, equipment vouchers, shared tools, or first-contract opportunities for qualifying micro-enterprises. A small opportunity of R5,000 to R50,000 can be life-changing for a start-up if it is linked to mentoring, reporting and measurable outcomes. The City should also break suitable work into smaller packages so that micro-businesses can realistically compete.6. Community business hubs in the Cape Flats and townships Business support must be brought closer to communities. Entrepreneurs should not always have to travel into the CBD to access meaningful support. Local business hubs should be placed in areas such as Mitchells Plain, Khayelitsha, Delft, Blue Downs, Retreat and other high-need areas. These hubs should be staffed by people who understand entrepreneurship, not only administration.7. Safe modular enterprise nodes The City should pilot secure modular business hubs where small businesses can operate together with shared utilities, solar backup, lighting, CCTV, refuse management, sanitation, Wi-Fi and local management. This would support a wide range of lawful micro-enterprises while reducing crime, fragmentation, unsafe trading conditions and the burden of each entrepreneur having to secure separate premises and services.8. Digital Business Passport The City should create a digital Business Passport where each entrepreneur can store their CIPC documents, tax status, permits, training records, funding applications, supplier registration and compliance progress in one place. This would reduce repeated paperwork and help entrepreneurs move faster between City departments, funding partners and procurement opportunities.9. Measurable targets, not only intentions The policy should include clear annual targets, such as the number of affordable micro-workspaces created, the number of emerging entrepreneurs assisted into compliance, the number of businesses receiving pilot permits, the number of micro-enterprises receiving City-linked work, turnaround times for applications, the number of township and Cape Flats entrepreneurs supported, and the number of jobs created or sustained.10. A future-focused innovation pathway Cape Town should prepare for the next generation of small business. The policy should allow controlled testing of new, lawful and socially useful business models in designated environments where entrepreneurs can receive guidance, operate safely, meet basic standards, and gradually move toward full compliance. If the City creates safe testing zones and clear rules, entrepreneurs can innovate without being blocked before they start.My request is not for special treatment. My request is for a fair, practical and measurable pathway that allows ordinary residents with skills, ideas and discipline to become real contributors to the local economy.The City should not only support businesses that are already established, funded and fully compliant. It must also support the people who are trying to become compliant, trying to create income, trying to employ others, and trying to build something positive in their communities.I respectfully recommend that the final Business Support Policy include a dedicated Business Starter Pathway, affordable municipal micro-workspaces, transitional compliance mechanisms, local business hubs, credit-sensitive support alternatives, and measurable targets for implementation.This would make the policy more than a statement of support. It would make it a real bridge between unemployment, informal survival and sustainable small business ownership.

Lizelle van der Walt3 weeks ago Submission on the Draft Business Support Policy – Strengthening MSME Enablement Through Human Activation SystemsThis submission supports and builds upon several valuable themes already raised during the public participation process, particularly those relating to reducing administrative barriers, improving access to opportunity, and creating environments where MSMEs can thrive.An additional perspective is offered for consideration: while physical infrastructure, regulatory reform, and access to markets are essential, long-term economic inclusion also depends on structured human participation.Human participation as an enabling mechanismMany business support initiatives focus on providing infrastructure, funding opportunities, or business development services. These are important foundations. However, experience has shown that access to opportunity alone does not always translate into sustained participation or successful enterprise development.Communities often require structured pathways that help people move from disengagement to participation, from participation to confidence, and from confidence to economic activity.Recognising this progression within the policy would strengthen its practical implementation.RecommendationThe policy could encourage business support models that combine physical enablement with structured participation systems delivered through trained local facilitators and community-based implementation networks.Such approaches can:- improve participation in business support initiatives;- create consistent engagement within communities;- strengthen local implementation capacity;- support inclusive economic participation for people with different levels of readiness; and- generate measurable participation and development outcomes.These systems are complementary to infrastructure investments and can increase the long-term value and sustainability of municipal business support programmes.Proposed Policy AdditionConsider including wording such as:«"The City may support integrated MSME development approaches that combine access to infrastructure, business support services, and structured community participation systems to improve inclusive economic participation and sustainable enterprise development."»ConclusionThe Draft Business Support Policy represents an important opportunity to strengthen Cape Town's MSME ecosystem.By recognising both the physical and the human dimensions of economic participation, the City can create more resilient and sustainable pathways into entrepreneurship, employment, and community economic development.StimSmart welcomes the direction of the draft policy and looks forward to contributing practical implementation approaches that support inclusive participation, measurable outcomes, and long-term community impact.

Taz Cassim1 month ago Executive Summary and Strategic AlignmentThis submission presents a formal response to the City of Cape Town's invitation for public comment on the Draft Business Support Policy. The policy correctly identifies the critical role of micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) in driving inclusive economic growth, job creation, and spatial transformation.The primary administrative and physical bottlenecks preventing informal micro-enterprises from scaling in historically disadvantaged areas remain land zoning constraints, fragmented trading locations, security vulnerabilities, and delayed municipal utility connections. To remove these administrative barriers effectively, the final policy text must explicitly recognize and accommodate open-platform modular infrastructure frameworks.The WerkBase platform is a universal modular infrastructure model engineered specifically for the South African municipal delivery context. It provides a highly scalable blueprint for how the City can execute its spatial transformation and economic enablement mandates.2. Key Policy Interventions and Recommendations2.1 Standardized Infrastructure as a Regulatory Safe HarborThe draft policy aims to remove administrative barriers to MSME advancement. For an informal trader, navigating individual applications for electricity connections, water meters, and waste management services represents a prohibitive bureaucratic hurdle.The City should update the policy to support the deployment of integrated, multi-tenant modular hubs. A multi-tenant modular node houses up to fifteen micro-enterprises within a single pre-engineered structural footprint. By providing centralized off-grid utilities such as solar power, rainwater harvesting, and integrated sanitization, the platform acts as a regulatory safe harbor. The municipality can issue a single master site permit rather than processing dozens of complex individual utility applications. This mechanism dramatically accelerates market access for local entrepreneurs.2.2 Execution of Spatial Transformation Through the "Civic Quad" DesignSpatial transformation requires moving beyond fragmented, vulnerable pavement stalls that expose informal traders to environmental elements and criminal activity. The policy should actively incentivize the clustering of micro-enterprises into secure, inward-facing layouts.Arranging modular units to face an integrated, secure public space creates a self-policing civic nucleus. This approach leverages Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design (CPTED) principles by centralizing high-intensity LED lighting, continuous closed-circuit television (CCTV) monitoring, and localized foot patrol routes. Transforming trading spaces into highly visible, secure zones protects vulnerable traders and creates a resilient micro-economy capable of attracting mainstream consumer foot traffic.2.3 Fiscal Sustainability and Co-Governance FormatsTo ensure long-term operational viability, the infrastructure backing the City's business support initiatives must not rely solely on continuous municipal operational expenditure grants. The policy text should explicitly advocate for public-private-community co-governance frameworks.Under the WerkBase operational model, assets are managed locally by a formal community trust. Commercial elements within the cluster generate consistent revenue to fund a dedicated community resilience reserve. This reserve covers ongoing structural maintenance, specialized biweekly servicing of sanitation loops, and proactive asset protection. Integrating a structured consequence ladder ensures that if a local node breaches predefined operational or safety milestones, the physical asset can be retrieved, refurbished to factory standards, and redeployed to a compliant community on a public waiting list. This introduces market-driven discipline into public asset management.2.4 Data-Driven Policy ValidationThe final policy framework should prioritize the deployment of smart infrastructure capable of empirical tracking. Integrating digital learning and enterprise hubs directly into modular nodes allows the Economic Growth Directorate to monitor real-time economic performance metrics. The City can track localized job creation, digital financial inclusion rates, and small business growth curves without costly manual audits. This data provides immediate empirical feedback to validate and refine the City's broader economic interventions.3. Proposed Text Amendments for Inclusion in the Final PolicyTo give operational effect to these recommendations, it is proposed that the following clauses be incorporated into the final revision of the Business Support Policy: Under Strategic Mechanisms for Enabling Market Access: "The City will actively explore and support the deployment of shared, multi-tenant modular infrastructure platforms to lower capital entry barriers and consolidate utility access for informal and micro-enterprises in spatial transformation zones." Under Administrative Barrier Reduction: "The Economic Growth Directorate will establish an expedited, single-window approval process for off-grid, self-sustaining commercial nodes that conform to approved factory-certified engineering, sanitation, and safety specifications." Under Public-Private Collaboration: "The City will partner with academic institutions, local community trusts, and innovative infrastructure developers to establish co-governed enterprise hubs that blend commercial viability with developmental community mandates." 4. ConclusionThe Economic Growth Directorate has produced a timely and highly necessary draft policy. By linking the progressive intentions of this document with open-platform modular utilities, the City of Cape Town can transition from passive business support to active, resilient economic enablement. The WerkBase team remains fully prepared to present its technical engineering frameworks, independent research data, and pilot cluster designs to the City's portfolio committee to help operationalize this vision.

Mogamat Salih Davids1 month ago The draft policy correctly identifies the shortage of affordable business premises, excessive regulatory burdens, and the harmful impact of enforcing by-laws against home-based enterprises without alternatives. However, the policy remains largely aspirational. It should contain measurable commitments to provide affordable municipal workspaces, developmental support for necessity-driven entrepreneurs, transitional compliance mechanisms for informal businesses, and specific support for entrepreneurs who are excluded from traditional finance due to unemployment, lack of assets, or impaired credit records. Economic inclusion cannot be achieved if only those who already possess capital and premises can access the opportunities created by the policy.

Mogamat Salih Davids1 month ago The greatest barrier facing many emerging entrepreneurs is not the absence of ideas, skills, or willingness to work. It is the absence of affordable premises, access to startup capital, and a regulatory environment that often treats survivalist enterprises as compliance problems rather than economic opportunities. The revised Business Support Policy should specifically address the realities of unemployed, credit-impaired, and asset-poor entrepreneurs who seek a pathway into sustainable economic participation.

Sivu Watermeyer1 month ago I am very happy that the city is looking into this. As an entrepreneur, I have a fully registered business. I own a digital transformation company that is focused on Internet Service Provision and Cybersecurity. I am in the process of obtaining my ICASA licenses in order to start operations. I am also enrolled into a cybersecurity course starting end of June, for now we do POPIA advisory and Cybersecurity Consulting.As a ward committee member, as a business sector representative in my Ward, I speak to many business people and the sentiment and frustration is that it is VERY difficult doing business with the City. I was told to register with the Western Cape because it is actually easier to work with the Western Cape Government than the City of Cape Town. I understand that the City has to follow strict protocols and procedures, but as mentioned, it is us the SMMEs that will be creating the jobs desperately needed. I read a sad article that mentioned that roughly 6% of SA citizens have registered businesses, the rest are all looking for jobs. I know that the city is probably in the lead when it comes to this but more can be done. It is frustrating as an entrepreneur, to have to consider employment because the "system" seems to be working against me. Entrepreneurship should be made an alternative. The schooling system is already failing us by producing employees, whom are mostly not even employable. Entrepreneurship is the key to lifting people out of poverty and building local economies. In Khayelitsha, very few entrepreneurs benefit from the highly lucrative local economy. Big business is extracting value and leaving locals to fight for scraps.One of the best ways to help us entrepreneurs is to bring business services closer to where we are based. I am based in Khayelitsha, and I am yet to see any business support services in the area that are City of Cape Town's. In 2 years, I have had 1 interaction with The Business Hub in Khayelitsha. Promises were made that the team would return. I was told that I needed to travel to the City in order to get the service I need. Local structures are NOT built for entrepreneur or business support, because they are run by employees who do not understand nor have the capacity to assist entrepreneurs. Entrepreneurs should be represented by entrepreneurs, not employees. Another way is to get SMMEs involved in the City's huge BPO investments. A large percentage of the people who work at these BPOs are based in the Cape Flats, how about we bring a BPO or two to the communities where the employees live, so that we also get the convenience of working where we live. Entrepreneurs can bridge this by being the local support. This will also go a long way in developing our local economies. Townships need to stop being places of extraction and rather places of investment. The potential that lives in the Cape Flats and surroundings is HUGE, it only needs commitment. Please help entrepreneurs make it, so that we can create all those highly needed jobs.

Filters

Total posts: 6

There are 6 projects available.

No values available.

Selected zero tag filters.