Sixty women entrepreneurs will walk away with the tools to grow their businesses on Monday, as Small Business Development Minister Stella Ndabeni leads the Women in Business Symposium at The Station in Durban, KwaZulu-Natal.
The gathering, taking place on 14 September 2026, is an initiative of the Department of Small Business Development (DSBD) and the Small Enterprise Finance and Development Agency (SEFDA), and it comes with a clear and encouraging mission: to help women-owned businesses move from survival to sustainable growth.
Practical Support, Real Connections
Rather than another talk shop, the symposium has been designed around the practical needs of women running businesses on the ground. According to the department, the day will connect entrepreneurs directly with the people and institutions that can open doors for them.
“The session will bring together women entrepreneurs and key stakeholders to provide practical support and facilitate access to finance, markets, business opportunities and networks,” the DSBD said.
Access to funding and markets are consistently cited as the biggest hurdles facing small enterprises, and women-owned businesses in particular. By putting financiers, market players and government agencies in the same room as the entrepreneurs themselves, the symposium aims to shorten the distance between a promising business and its next big opportunity.
Sixty Businesses Get a Head Start
The most tangible good news of the day belongs to 60 women entrepreneurs who will receive productive assets through the Informal Micro Enterprise Development Programme (IMEDP) to support the growth of their businesses.
The IMEDP hands over working equipment rather than promises, giving informal and micro businesses the physical tools they need to produce more, serve more customers and take the next step towards formal, sustainable operations.
For the recipients, the handover is more than equipment. It is recognition that the businesses women build in townships, small towns and city markets are engines of local employment and community resilience, worthy of real investment.
Building on Momentum
The Durban symposium forms part of a broader national push to place women at the centre of South Africa’s small business economy, pairing finance and market access with hands-on development support through agencies like SEFDA.
With Minister Ndabeni at the helm and 60 businesses better equipped by the end of the day, Monday’s gathering at The Station offers a welcome reminder that when support is practical and targeted, small businesses, and the women who run them, can do remarkable things.
Photo: sanews.gov.za
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