The City has given the green light to R800 000 in funding for the inaugural Khayelitsha Festival – the largest event of its kind in the city.

The community event is scheduled to take place over four days during October or November this year at the Oliver Tambo Hall in Lansdowne Road, Khayelitsha and the City sees it as a golden opportunity to promote small business development.

The focus areas of the Khayelitsha Festival are in travel and tourism, health, beauty and fashion, food, beverage and nutrition, leisure and lifestyle.

Mayoral Committee Member for Economic Development and Tourism, Simon Grindrod, said the festival aims to celebrate entrepreneurship, leadership, empowerment and cultural creativity.

He was commenting after motivating successfully in today’s Mayoral Committee meeting for the City to fund the festival.

“These goals are in line with the City’s Business Support Policy and complements other City initiatives such as our highly successful Small Business Week,” said Grindrod

Khayelitsha is a Presidential Urban Renewal node with over 400 000 inhabitants and over 100 000 residential units.

About 26% of Cape Town’s unemployed are located in Khayelitsha, while 2.5% are employed in the formal sector and 6.7% in the informal sector.

“It is imperative that access to business information, career guidance, promotion of work opportunities and the stimulation of an entrepreneurial culture be promoted through the Khayelitsha Festival,” said Grindrod.

The festival is aimed at becoming Khayelitsha’s hallmark event to help build the community’s social and economic fabric and draw together business, SMMEs, youth, community organisations and consumers to celebrate Khayelitsha’s richness and diversity on an annual basis.

The Khayelitsha Festival:

Date: 24 - 26 October 2008
Venue: Khayelitsha
Location: Cape Town

“The Khayelitsha Festival has the potential to become a powerful renewal and transformation vehicle because it is based on the goals of economic and social transformation and development.

As the largest event of its kind in the Western Cape, it could act as a powerful force for bringing the first and the second economies of Cape Town together", said Grindrod.

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