BACKGROUND OF THE PROJECT
In 2014, the City received an invite from the Mayor of New Orleans, a Sister City in the United States, to visit and experience the Essence Festival. The Deputy Mayor with other delegates from the City then attended the festival in July 2014.There were then discussions between the Essence Festival’s organizers (Essence team) and the City delegation during their stay. It was resolved that the Essence team will be invited to the City (Durban) for further engagements. Upon their return, the Essence team was invited to the City during the 2014 Durban Business Fair in September. The Essence team presented their concept and proposal to the City Manager and Senior Management. Administratively, there was an agreement to host the Essence Festival in 2015, in principle. Subsequently, there was a letter from the City Manager’s office to Essence informing them about the City’s intention to partner with them in the 2015 Essence Festival.

Part of the agreement was that EThekwini Municipality would develop the Business Plan before the MoU is signed.

EThekwini Municipality (Business Support) awarded Phendula Training and Consulting a contract to compile the Business Plan outlining the full plan to implement ESSENCE Durban Festival 2015 and 2016. It included but not limited to the executive summary, mission statement, objectives, and keys to success, market analysis, budgets, and cash flow projections. It was going to be used for management and planning and are was also going to be used by stakeholders such as partners, sponsors, investors etc.