Web portal to foster small business growth
West Coast SMMEs will be more visible to companies, parastatals
SMALL businesses in Saldanha Bay were urged to register on a new web portal for small, medium and micro-sized enterprises (SMMEs) in order to be seen, heard and developed. This was the message from Martin Feinstein, the managing director of Traction, a small business development firm based in the Western Cape, at the Grow-Net stakeholder briefing in Saldanha Bay yesterday.
Grow-Net is an initiative aimed at improving SMME’s access to business opportunities through a co-ordinated, multi-stakeholder approach.
The initiative is funded by the Western Cape government and the Department of Trade and Industry, in partnership with the Saldanha Bay Industrial Development Zone.
It is supported by a number of companies that operate in the area, including ArcelorMittal, Transnet, Duferco, Sea Harvest, Lucky Star, Kropz, PPC, Tronox, Oceana and BidPort, as well as by the Saldanha Bay municipality, local businesses, and SMME forums and associations.
Feinstein invited small businesses in the area to register on the Grow-Net website, which will be in operation from Monday.
The website will allow SMMEs in the Saldanha region to be “visible” online to local state-owned enterprises and companies, as well as to primary-infrastructure contractors looking for local suppliers. The website will enable SMMEs to set up and maintain online profiles, which will be categorised according to their capability and track record.
Buyers and procurement departments will be able to identify potential suppliers and issue requests for proposals and requests for quotations to groups of SMMEs based on industry, size, black economic empowerment status or other criteria.
Feinstein said the key principles driving the Grow-Net approach were inclusivity, accessibility, localisation, capacitation and partnership.
Feinstein said that, for the first time, all parties involved in Grow-Net will be able to engage on one database.
SMMEs should register on the portal, because they will receive news and be notified about relevant events.
“If you are not profitable, you can’t create the jobs we so desperately need,” he told stakeholders.
John Peters, the chief director for the Western Cape government’s integrated economic development services, said the project would make a significant contribution to economic growth in the region and specifically to the development of SMMEs.
“Speaking to some of the locals, there seems to be a buzz with regards to this initiative, and that is really welcome,” Peters said.
Elmondo Paulse, the enterprise development manager for Transnet, said the common objective was to develop the local economy. “As a collective, we can add more value to suppliers. We must give opportunities to start-up companies. Only we in the West Coast can make a success of this concept.” –