Cisco, the global IT, networking and cybersecurity solutions company, has launched an incubation hub to help grow small and medium-sized businesses, and to speed up their market entry.
Located in Pretoria, South Africa, the ZAR10 million ($700,000) hub, named the Cisco Edge Incubation Centre offers workspace, internet connectivity and boardroom facilities.
The centre also gives small businesses access to Cisco technology and a variety of training and enablement programmes.
The centre will be run together with the Innovation Hub in Pretoria and the State Information Technology Agency (SITA).
Companies based out of the centre will have the opportunity to connect with Cisco teams to develop business ideas.
At least 30 small businesses will be trained annually and given the necessary skills to help them compete in the market.
In the coming months, Cisco plans to establish similar centres in Gauteng (Tshimologong), Eastern Cape (East London Industrial Development Zone) and KwaZulu-Natal (Dube Trade Port).
“The hub is designed to impart business knowledge and technology skills along with collaborative opportunities. Our goal is to help prepare SMMEs for the digital economy and ultimately lead to job creation,” said Cisco General Manager for Sub-Saharan Africa, Clayton Naidoo.
“As a global company, we want to enable SMMEs to have access to our resources no matter where these resources sit in the world.”
By: ClaraDoku/techvoiceafrica.com
