The City of Cape Town is taking a bold step to empower aspiring entrepreneurs across the metro.
Speaking to an audience of local business owners and aspiring start-ups, James Vos, the City’s Mayco member for economic growth, announced a major push to increase participation in the Cape Town Entrepreneurship Academy, a free, City-supported online platform designed to equip residents with practical skills to turn ideas into income.
Launched in November 2022 under Vos’s leadership, the academy aims to break down traditional barriers to business education to support residents of Cape Town in starting or growing their businesses.
Fully online and free
Fully online and self-paced, it offers an array of structured courses covering everything from validating business ideas and understanding customers to managing finances and building resilience, all at no cost to participants.
Vos told the audience that the initiative is central to the City’s broader strategy of creating an inclusive, opportunity-driven economy. “The more people we empower with practical business skills, the stronger and more resilient our local economy becomes,” he said.
“This academy is about ensuring that anyone with drive and determination has access to the tools they need to move from concept to commercial activity. We want an economy filled with participants, not spectators,” Vos added.
The more people we empower with practical business skills, the stronger and more resilient our local economy becomes.
The initiative complements the City’s Business Hub workshops, which provide hands-on training in supplier development, small business procurement, and smart procurement practices, ensuring participants have both practical skills and direct support to succeed in the local economy.
The academy is open to aspiring entrepreneurs, side-hustlers, informal traders, students, unemployed residents seeking self-employment pathways, and existing small business owners wanting to sharpen their skills.
Participants who complete the courses receive certificates that help them build credibility and confidence in their ventures.
Vos encouraged Capetonians to take advantage of this free resource, emphasising that the City is committed to creating pathways for residents to participate meaningfully in the economy. By expanding access to practical business education, he hopes to stimulate enterprise development to nd support job creation across the metro. Residents can enroll and start learning immediately at https://www.thestartuptribe.org/pages/capetown.
