Western Cape launches online tool to help businesses find financial support

The Western Cape has launched a support programme to help
businesses survive the economic devastation sown by the coronavirus pandemic.

Most recently, Western Cape Premier Alan Winde said on Wednesday that Wesgro and the City of Cape Town had developed a new tool to help businesses locate and apply for the financial support available to
them. 

Winde said the tool would ask users five questions, rank the answers according to pre-determined criteria, and provide a list of relief measures the business could apply for. The tool can be accessed at www.supportbusiness.co.za/covid-19-support-finder.

The Department of Economic Development
and Tourism, meanwhile, has focused on a longer-term plan to protect and nurture the province’s economy. Fin24 spoke to the department’s’s Deputy Director-General, Rashid Toefy, who said the strategy would roll out in three phases.

Toefy said: “We have a very clear,
three-staged process [to help businesses]. The first step is looking at how we support businesses
during the ‘containment phase’. This is during lockdown, and businesses are
taking a very hard hit right now for the sake of everybody’s lives.

“The second stage is around how do businesses adapt,
during a lockdown and a post-Covid world. 

“And then the last stage will be around recovery. How
can we as government – national and provincial, and even municipal – support
businesses in their recovery. So we’re calling it the ‘CAR’ strategy (contain,
adapt, recovery).”

“I think you’ll see all the industries are adapting for
their own survival, and also realising they’ve got to play a part. 

“It’s been incredible, I think we’re going to have a
level of co-operation in our economy hat we’ve never had pre-Covid,” Toefy
said. 

 


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