Women should be at the centre stage of innovation and technology so that they can have access to wider markets and networks. This was said by the Deputy Minister of Trade and Industry, Ms Elizabeth Thabethe at the Technology for Women in Business (TWIB) Conference held in Mahikeng, North-West today.
The TWIB conference, which is attended by more than seven hundred women entrepreneurs from different provinces, aims to encourage and promote the culture of technology utilisation in business.
Thabethe said technology can bring about change and create new markets and businesses for international and regional collaboration, thus enhancing the social and economic standing of women to rise.
“Investing in women is not only the right thing to do but also the smart thing to do, because women’s economic advancement promotes economic growth. This is why is it so important that business women are taught how to integrate technology into their businesses and take advantage of the programmes offered by the Department of Trade and Industry (the dti),” she added.
Thabethe also said the dti has programmes that were being rolled-out along with financial incentives to support the utilisation of technological innovation in enterprises, especially those that are owned by previously disadvantaged people.
She urged all women entrepreneurs to be informed of these programmes and submit the necessary applications to access them.
Thabethe added that the dti and the Small Enterprise Development Agency (Seda) currently have the Seda Technology Programme (STP) which provides both financial and non-financial technology transfer assistance, and have 42 business incubation centres in different provinces to support small enterprises. She said the department also runs the Support Programme for Industrial Innovation (SPII) and the Technology and Human Resources for Industry Programmes (THRIP) that supports enterprises that invent and develop high tech prototypes and products.
The North-West MEC for Economic Development, Environment, Conservation and Tourism, Ms Motlalepula Rosho said it was encouraging to see women entrepreneurs gathered in one place to share information and knowledge.
“We must translate the economic resolutions taken by Government and align them to the National Development Plan (NDP) which seeks to include and integrate previously disadvantaged people into the mainstream economy,” said Rosho.
According to Rosho, the North-West Provincial Government is creating a conducive environment for women businesses to thrive and be sustainable.
Enquiries:
SidwellMedupe, Departmental Spokesperson
Tel: 012 394 1650
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E-mail: MSMedupe@thedti.gov.za
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