Welcome boost for Ndlambe SMMEs
Minister hands over much needed equipment to 68 beneficiaries
Dozens of small, medium and micro business owners gathered in the Titi Jonas Multipurpose Centre on Thursday November 2 to receive much needed tools of trade.
Minister of small business development, Stella NdabeniAbrahams, addressed the gathering.
Other guests present included Small Enterprise Development Agency (Seda) board chairperson Xoliswa Daku and infrastructure portfolio chair in the Sarah Baartman District council, Athenkosi Diniso.
Members of the ANC caucus of the Ndlambe council were there to welcome the VIP entourage.
Local economic development (PED) manager for Ndlambe Municipality, Qawekazi Mampana, explained how the handover came about.
“In Ndlambe, two priority sectors drive the local economy – agriculture and tourism,” Mampana said.
“Neither is performing fully and so we have looked at
SMMEs for our development focus.”
Mampana said the project was a partnership with small businesses, supported by the national department of small business development.
It included providing tools of trade for informal traders.
“Informal traders are often neglected, yet they make a large contribution to the economy,” Mampana said.
The process of selecting beneficiaries started in March, when informal entrepreneurs were invited to a workshop.
“There, they indicated what tools of trade they would require to run their businesses effectively.” There were applications from people practicing a variety of trades including motor mechanics, catering, grass cutting and spa treatments.
Of more than 100 applications, 68 were selected to receive equipment, which was laid out across the centre’s large floor area.
The range of equipment included a tool set, angle grinder, air compressor, dough roller/cake mixer, gas cookers, fridges, stoves, wirless printers, an industrial sewing machine, deep freezers, a chain saw, wheelbarrow, brush cutter and lawnmower.
With each individualised equipment cluster was documentation that included a contract the recipients had to sign.
“The recipients have to sign a contract that they will use the equipment for the purpose intended and not sell it when times get hard,” Mampana said.
She said her department would be monitoring the beneficiaries’ operations.
Construction contractor, Mzimkhulu Michael Shoba, spoke on behalf of the recipients. He referred to the National Development Plan’s (NDP’s) vision for 2030, which includes that SA needs to have created about 11 million additional jobs by 2030.
Referencing figures cited in the 2016 Seda-commissioned Bureau for Economic Research (Ber) document, “The small, medium and micro enterprise sector of SA: Research Note”, he said 2.5 million SMMEs employed eight million people
It was clear SMMEs were crucial to achieving the NDP goals, he said.
Port Alfred was one of Ndabeni-Abrahams’s stops in a tour of the Eastern Cape last week that government communication services said was part of her ongoing nationwide programme to support small businesses and informal traders.
She handed over business equipment to several small businesses in Makana and Winnie Madikizela-Mandela local municipalities as part of the department’s Informal and Micro Enterprises Development Programme (IMEDP).
“IMEDP seeks to grow informal and micro enterprises to their full potential,”a government statement explained.
“It is also an intervention that helps address challenges relating to sustainable livelihoods, unemployment and inequality.”
On the same day as her visit to Ndlambe, the minister launched the Crudastar Incubator in Makana Local Municipality.
“The department seeks to create an enabling environment for the growth and development
of small enterprises with a bias towards rural and townshipbased start-ups owned by women, youth and persons with disabilities,” the statement read.
Scheduled later on Thursday was the finals of the Eastern Cape Pitch for Funding competition.
Pitch for Funding is a platform for SMMEs to showcase their ideas, innovations, and business cases to the department of small business development and its partners. It facilitates their
access to both financial and non-financial support.
According to the Ber report, published in 2016:
Number of SMMEs: 2, 251, 821
Number of formal SMMEs: 667,433
Number of informal SMMEs: 1, 497, 860
SMME owners as percentage of total employment: 14%
Percentage of black-owned formal SMMEs: 34%.