The Department of Trade and Industry will launch the revised Black Business Supplier Development Programme (BBSDP) at Burgers Park Hotel, Pretoria on Wednesday, 28 July 2010.
The BBSDP is a cost-sharing grant, which offers support to majority black-owned enterprises in South Africa, whereby the Department of Trade and Industry (the dti) and the approved applicant both partially contribute to the qualifying cost of a project.
Minister Rob Davies approved the revised guidelines in the last financial year, prompting the need to step up measures to enhance the competitiveness of local, black-owned Small Medium Enterprises (SMEs).
Minister Rob Davies says the scheme provides enterprises with access to enterprise support services that will assist them to improve their core competencies, upgrade their managerial capabilities and restructure their processes to become more competitive in the mainstream economy.
"Since the BBSDP was established in 2002, significant funding and human resources have been ploughed into the programme. In its short period of operation, the number of grants awarded increased from four in the 2002/03 financial year to over 9 500 to date.
"The total amount disbursed also increased from R3 million to over R186 million in the same period and out of 9 663 approved projects since inception, 5 025 of these were women owned," said Davies.
Enquiries:
Director: Sidwell Moloantoa Medupe
Tel: 012 394 1650
Cell: 073 522 6801
E-mail: MSMedupe@thedti.gov.za
