‘Black bank to help small businesses access market’

ANC treasurer-general Zweli Mkhize has called on the party to seriously look into opening a bank that will cater for the financial needs of black people.

Speaking on the third day of the ANC policy conference in Nasrec, Soweto, Mkhize said it was hard for small businesses to access markets and finance.

“We need a black bank to cater for the needs of the small and medium enterprises.”

Mkhize said the government needed to look into more creative ways to ensure that big businesses assisted small businesses.

“We must look into giving them tax incentives for working with small businesses.”

He said small and medium businesses should be some of the biggest employers.

This was echoed by Minister of Small Business Development Lindiwe Zulu, who said they were calling on the private sector to support the government

“We believe that big business are not doing as much as they should.”

She added that trust between business and the government needed to improve.

Zulu also called for the centralisation of support for small business, admitting that there was poor co-ordination of financial institutions such as the CIDA Empowerment Fund and the Small Enterprise Finance Agency.

“There is poor co-ordination between the financial development agencies and the department. I think the department should be at the centre of the support given to SMMEs in need of having funding.”

Zulu said that if the funding was centralised, it would be easier for businesses to know where to go and be led to better growth.

She stressed that the government was working hard to ensure that businesses did not bear the dire consequences of the struggling economy.