SO ENTERPRISING
Driving plans for partnerships
THE small Enterprise Development Agency is expanding and partnering with municipalities and private business under the direction of its East London-born CEO Mandisa Tshikwatamba.
Sponsoring last week’s successful Daily Dispatch Customer Innovation Summit was a salient element of this strategy, since it is well placed to communicate not only with the agency’s potential clients but also the region’s business sector.
“We don’t have communication channels to the public but we have information that the public is yearning for,” said Tshikwatamba, 50, who is based in Pretoria.
“The cost of communication is expensive but media houses already communicate to that same public, so we wanted to partner with the Dispatch as a media and promotional channel.
“We also wanted to link up with the delegates and speakers at the summit.
“The summit was a starting point and we will continue to be partners with the Dispatch. We are working together on between four to six programmes of different events.”
Tshikwatamba, who has an honours in public administration and became Seda’s CEO two years ago, said the agency’s strategic framework was based on “nonfinancial support for small business”.
Seda supports and incubates micro, small and medium enterprises, as well as cluster enterprises, but will step in financially to help fulfil various aspects of clients’ business goals.
“We don’t call it funding; these are incentive instruments.
“So for example, if you have a product and it needs to be tested and certified by the South African Bureau of Standards, we will hold your hand and might pay for some of that process,” she explained. “Also, you have to have a business plan, but if, in order to do this, you need technical input, then we will pay for a business adviser for you. Our incentive is part of our development path with you.” Seda, which operates under the Department of Small Business Development, is not sector specific and can be accessed by contacting any one of its 54 branches countrywide. Tshikwatamba said she encouraged potential small business startups to phone the branch closest to them – in this region these include branches in East London, Mthatha, Komani, Mount Ayliff and Port Elizabeth – where they will be asked to attend an information session followed by a formal assessment.
“To us what is important is if you are operating and trading. If you are making an income from economic activities, then you are a client.
“Also, those who are employed and have skills and want to use them to be self-employed are clients. This could apply from retail to manufacturing to buying and re-selling. It could also be selling skills as a consultant.”
For Seda, the other side of the business spectrum are the big corporates who have BEE frameworks in place, but need help to fulfil enterprise development scorecards.
“Their scorecard says they have to do enterprise development but this is not their core business. If they want to hook up with us, they won’t have to invest in [training] programmes because Seda already has them.
“We have the training content but corporates have the training platform.”
Now that Seda is in “an expansion phase”, Tshikwatamba wants to ensure the agency has a highly professional team of business advisers “to ensure our standards are not compromised”.
“We are also interested in taking entrepreneurship into schools because this aspect is in its infancy compared to other countries.”
Seda is already operating at Lovedale College and other training centres.
“We have an 18-month entrepreneurship programme at Lovedale of 30 mostly final-year students and we also have an incubator at the East London IDZ.
“We don’t want an output of job-seekers but of business start-ups.” —
We have information the public is yearning for . . . so we wanted to partner with the Dispatch as a media and promotional channel