WHILE public and private sector entities acknowledge the role small and medium enterprises (SMEs) play in the economy, little effort is made in fostering an environment suitable for them to thrive.

In many ways this year represented a decisive break from this; SME funding has increased and is scheduled to increase threefold next year, according to Absa’s head of enterprise development, Sisa Ntshona.

In the 2012/13 financial year, the Small Enterprise Finance Agency and the National Empowerment Fund, disbursed a joint total of R1.5billion compared to R1.3billion the previous year, effectively creating thousands of jobs.

The private sector is also starting to move decisively in contributing to the development of SMEs.

This year, we have seen more big businesses not only talking about supplier development programmes, but implementing them, and as a result, procurement from SMEs by big businesses is on the up.

The banking sector has also fully taken on its role in creating a more conducive environment for SMEs.

For example, in the past year Absa has rolled out nine walk-in entrepreneurship centres and earmarked R250-million towards SME development.

Several others are doing the same.

In the end, this year has been a positive one in terms of reinforcing the importance of SMEs.

Next year will be shaped by how we move beyond issues related to the creation and development of SMEs, to generating a sustainable environment for SMEs. It is not so much about funding. It’s about access to markets and the requisite skills that small business owners need to develop. Capacitating small business owners with skills such as legal knowledge, the compliance environment and business acumen remains the greatest challenge in 2014.

Next year will also be dominated by policy and legislative developments, which could represent a great opportunity or stumbling block for SMEs.

The Davis tax review committee appointed by Minister of Finance Pravin Gordhan in July will have wide-ranging ramifications for the country’s taxing regime and, depending on its outcomes, may either bolster or stifle growth for small businesses.

The revised broad-based BEE codes will also start to have an impact on SMEs in the latter part of 2014, and while the new codes will affect contributor statuses of most SMEs, they will in the main contribute to meaningful supplier development, if properly implemented. Staff Reporter