The national small business summit is an assessment process aimed at taking stock of the progress made thus far in the development of the small, medium and micro enterprises (SMME). This was said by Deputy Minister of Trade and Industry, Ms Elizabeth Thabethe at the opening of the two-day national small business summit currently being held at the Ingwenyama conference and sports resort in White River, Mpumalanga today.
The summit aims to provide a platform for stakeholders using the mandate of SMME development in order to engage on government SMME programmes and find solutions to challenges facing small enterprises in South Africa. “So far we acknowledge that there has been some progress especially on policy and development of support infrastructure for SMME.
We do however still need to encourage further development and growth of SMMEs and co-operatives as a vehicle for job creation and for the development of the country,” said Thabethe. She also said the dti was in the process of implementing the recommendations of a 2010 to 2011 review of government SMME support.
“The review proposes a number of interventions in the short and long term and some are already being implemented and were reported on in last year’s summit. In terms of the gains made thus far, I am proud to announce that we have managed to amend the Co-operative Act, wherein we make provision for the establishment of the Co-operatives Agency, Co-operatives Tribunal and the Co-operatives Academy for training,” added Thabethe.
MEC for Economic Development, Environment and Tourism in Mpumalanga, Ms Yvonne Phosa highlighted the importance of inter-governmental cooperation in maximising government’s impact on economic development.“The province has a youth unemployment rate of 43%. This figure clearly indicates that we have a sizeable task ahead of us in combating the triple challenges of unemployment, poverty and inequality,” said Phosa.
According to Phosa, the provincial National Macro Policy injunction has developed in line with the National Development Plan (NDP), New Growth Path and IPAP an economic trajectory known as the Mpumalanga Economic Growth and Development Path (MEGDP) which seeks to facilitate the creation of 720 000 jobs over a decade.
The summit which is held under the theme “The role of Small, Medium and Micro Enterprises in South Africa’s industrialisation path”, is attended by more than 600 entrepreneurs and small business policy-makers from the three spheres of government, as well as 50 exhibitors.
Enquiries:
Sidwell Medupe, ddepartmental spokesperson
Tel: 012 394 1650
Cell : 079 492 1774
E-mail: MSMedupe@thedti.gov.za
