The Minister Department of Small Business Development, Ms Lindiwe Zulu and the Premier of the Northern Cape, Ms Sylvia Lucas will address delegates from across the province at a Provincial Small Business and Cooperatives Summit that will be hosted at the Social Centre, in Galeshewe, Kimberley on Wednesday, 25 March 2015 starting at 8h00.
The theme of the Summit is Radical Economic Transformation through Small Business and Cooperatives
More than 250 Small, Medium and Micro Enterprises (SMME) practitioners, industry associations, academia, policy and decision-makers within the private and public sectors, chambers of commerce, relevant private sector institutions and other relevant stakeholders will attend the Summit.
“The Summit will provide both the national, provincial and local governments with a platform to share concrete ideas with key role players on the ways and means of strengthening policies and strategies that are aimed at boosting small business and cooperatives sectors,” says Minister Ms Lindiwe Zulu.
She adds that her department decided to embark on a series of provincial summits throughout the country in order to familiarise itself with specific challenges that small businesses and cooperatives still encounter, as well as opportunities that they have identified and need government assistance to explore them.
Minister Zulu says the summits are also part of her department’s concerted efforts to engage key stakeholders in the provinces to build strategic partnerships for small businesses and cooperatives within the public and the private sectors.
“The provincial summits are part of the build-up to the annual Small Business Summit where solutions to pertinent issues as highlighted by each province will be outlined. It will also assist the department to communicate its mandate and the role that different spheres of government are supposed to play,” adds Minister Zulu.
Premier Sylvia Lucas says the Summit will give key stakeholders in the Northern Cape an opportunity to engage with both the national, provincial and local government political leadership on issues pertaining to the development of the SMMEs and cooperatives. These will include access to finance and markets, government procurement, regulatory constraints and informal and township enterprises.
“We will also be using the Summit to encourage intergovernmental and public-private partnerships with an intention to enhance small enterprises and cooperatives. The impact of provincial small business and cooperatives development programmes or interventions within the past twenty years will be assessed. In addition, the role and contribution of the SMMEs and cooperatives in achieving the objectives of the National Development Plan and assisting the country to realise radical economic transformation will also be brainstormed,” adds Lucas.
In his State of the Nation Address last month, President Jacob Zuma announced a strategic nine-point plan aimed at igniting growth and creating jobs. The plan includes “unlocking the potential of SMMEs, cooperatives, township and rural enterprises.”
Enquiries:
Cornelius Monama (Department of Small Business Development (DSBD)
Tel: 012 394 3027
Cell: 082 578 4063
E-mail: CMonama@dsbd.gov.za
Thandi Modibela (Department of Economic Development and Tourism (DEDAT)
Cell: 082 373 8656
E-mail: TModibela@ncpg.gov.za
