It is indeed an honour for us as the Department of Economic Development and Tourism to be part of this year's Royal Show, an annual event and KwaZulu-Natal's Premier Agricultural and Commercial exhibition.
Programme director, as all of us know, this year's exhibition is special owing to the fact that it comes at the time when euphoria has gripped the country as we all wait with bated breath for, what is perhaps the greatest moment in our lifetime, the 2010 FIFA Soccer World Cup.
As we meet today, we are left with exactly 13 days before kickoff and the teams have started arriving. The question that we all need to answer is: will we be like a suitor who courts a beautiful girl for years only to fail to impress when the occasion demands or will we be able to rise to the occasion?
The answer is simple and I am sure we all know it. We have no doubt that when that hour comes we will, as we have done in the past, rise up to the occasion and give the world the most spectacular and successful soccer world cup in history.
The Royal Show is the second largest in the country and is increasingly attracting international markets. At this juncture, we wish to express our appreciation for the partnership that exists between our department, the Pietermaritzburg Chamber of Business and the Royal Show Agricultural Society which has resulted in the KwaZulu-Natal Hall of Business Growth exhibition as an anchor and key feature of the Royal Show for the past three years.
It is gratifying to note that the government, private sector and the community are working together to address our developmental needs. The reality is that the enormity of the challenges facing our country and indeed our province cannot be addressed by government working alone. It is only when we work together collectively that we can tackle all the challenges facing our province.
Programme director, as a department which plays a critical role in driving growth in the province, we believe that the small business sector has an important role to play in the development and growth of the economy.
In KwaZulu–Natal, we are striving to create a competitive small business sector, and in the 2010/11 provincial budget we provided resources in support of the small, medium and micro-enterprise (SMME) development, cooperatives and project development. One of our objectives is to support our people and give them an opportunity to step up the economic ladder.
In KwaZulu-Natal, the support for SMMEs and cooperatives by our department remains one of the vehicles through which we want to accomplish this. In this regard, our department:
- Has developed the KwaZulu-Natal Integrated Business programme which forms the basis for the development and promotion of small enterprises in the province.
- Has established the SMME cooperative one stop shop business support centres in all districts.
- Continues to improve integrated business support services to existing and new SMMEs and cooperatives:
(a) In 2009/10 financial year, 981 SMMEs received training in business management and basic computer skills in partnership with Further
Education Colleges (FETs) in KwaZulu–Natal.
(b) In partnership with the Department of Education, has developed and trained 73 school nutrition cooperatives and they received funding of R8 million through the Cooperative Development Fund managed by Ithala.
These cooperatives have signed a contract with the Department of Education to the value of R52 million for the provision of school nutrition to 369 primary schools. This partnership has seen 438 jobs created.
(c) Our department is working flat out in preparation for the establishment of the KwaZulu-Natal cooperative development academy which will focus on improving the necessary skills and knowledge for a vibrant cooperative movement in the province.
In this regard, the suitable premises for the academy have been identified and the negotiations regarding the leasing of the premises are currently underway.
(d) To ensure the success of cooperatives and SMMEs, we (as government) are exploring ways to improve our procurement systems to offer market opportunities to the small businesses and cooperatives.
We have no doubt that government's assistance will go a long way towards helping many cooperatives and SMMEs to realise their potential. However, the biggest challenge facing all of us is to ensure that these small enterprises are weaned from government assistance and become self sufficient. This will contribute immensely towards creating jobs and ensuring that we extricate our people from the mire of poverty and hopelessness.
The official opening of the KwaZulu-Natal Hall of Business Growth exhibition therefore represents the effectiveness of the partnerships and linkages we have created in support and the promotion of small enterprises in the province of KwaZulu-Natal.
Ten cooperatives and 13 SMMEs will exhibit at this hall. We have no doubt that this will open a number of opportunities for them to grow their businesses and in turn create much needed employment for our people.
May the official opening of the KwaZulu-Natal Hall of Business Growth inspire many of us especially, the SMMEs and cooperatives, to start and run successful businesses.
In conclusion, I urge all of you gathered here to support our national team Bafana-Bafana and to ensure that this world cup becomes a run-away success. We need to confound all the critics who have been claiming that we cannot hold a successful world cup. All of us are hosts. Therefore it is incumbent on all of us to make this world cup one of the best in history. Let us keep all those South African flags flying proudly in our cars and in our homes.
I thank you.
Source: Provincial Treasury, KwaZulu-Natal Provincial Government
