Black industry gets big boost

The department of trade and industry (DTI) said yesterday government was engaging with the retail and automotive sectors to localise several commodities, to be manufactured by black industrialists in South Africa.

Minister of Trade and Industry Rob Davies said he was confident that the group of 27 black industrialists, whose projects have been approved for funding under the Black Industrialists Incentive Scheme, would succeed in contributing to the country’s radical economic transformation, economic growth and job creation.

The scheme is part of the Black Industrialists Programme, which aims to promote the participation of black industrialists as manufacturers in key sectors of the South African economy, as identified in the Industrial Policy Action Plan.

The DTI has approved R577 million in grants for 27 black industrialist projects, with additional forms of loan and equity financing being provided to the grant recipients by the Industrial Development Corporation, the National Empowerment Fund, the Public Investment Corporation and the Land Bank.

Davies said the companies were expected to create 5 235 direct jobs and 1 228 indirect jobs as a result of the funding.

Some of the sectors that received the bulk of the projected investments were plastics and pharmaceuticals, metals and agroprocessing.

“When we established the Black Industrialists Programme, we indicated that we were initiating a process of accelerating the quantitative and qualitative increase and participation of black manufacturers in the national economy, selected industrial sectors and value chains,” Davies said.

Davies also called on the private sector to collaborate and work with government to ensure meaningful transformation in the key manufacturing sectors of the economy.

SA needed meaningful transformation, he added. – ANA