Remarks by the Minister of Small Business Development at the Gala Dinner Hosted by SBDI as Part of the National SMME Policy Colloquium
I am delighted to be speaking to you once again after a successful start to our three-day colloquium. The passion and enthusiasm that was displayed by all participants throughout the day has energised me and my team to redouble our efforts as we discharge the mandate.
I came here with an open mind to listen to your views and advice on how we can move South Africa forward through SMMEs and co-operatives. I am here to identify issues that must inform our interventions.
We are, indeed, encouraged by the unprecedented level of support and enthusiasm from various sectors of our society to join hands with our department. It is this partnership that holds the key that will unlock our country’s economic potential, thus affording us a golden opportunity to launch a sustained onslaught on poverty, unemployment, inequality and underdevelopment. Indeed, all of us must accept that we carry joint responsibility to achieve economic justice for all.
We continue to count on the collective wisdom and energy of all our people and their organised formations. We believe that sharing ideas with practitioners and those operating in this policy environment will enable us to develop appropriate strategies and interventions. The truth is that government, acting alone, will not be able to achieve all the goals that it has set for ourselves.
There is no doubt that working together with experienced people and building partnerships is key to our successes. The nation expects our department to make urgent and decisive interventions to grow the economy. It is self-evident that to defeat the triple challenges of poverty, unemployment and inequality requires radical and bold steps.
It must trouble our collective conscience as a nation that, twenty years since our freedom, the participation of black people in the country’s economy still leaves much to be desired. This is largely a result of constraints and obstacles placed in the way of black and women economic empowerment. My department carries a responsibility to help correct this historical injustice.
Our key mandate is to enhance support to small businesses, informal businesses and cooperatives, with emphasis on programmes that would advance entrepreneurship amongst women, people with disabilities and youth, to effectively contribute to job creation, economic growth and economic inclusion.
We are convinced that if we are to make an impact on the job creation front, the common problems faced by SMMEs must be addressed. We will work with all our partners to address, among other challenges, the lack of access to markets and procurement, lack of access to finance and credit, low skills levels, lack of access to information.
We will also make it easier and faster to register businesses by ensuring that all services are provided under one roof. One-stop shop for business registration will go a long way to easing some of the burdens on the shoulders of small businesses.
I want to see small businesses and co-operatives spending the bulk of their time on doing actual business rather than on filling too many forms and going from one government office to another. Compliance is critical, but it must not be a burden.
In line with the action plan on radical economic transformation, we will focus on providing effective support to small businesses and to ease the regulatory and compliance burden on the part of small businesses and to expand access to economic opportunities for historically excluded and vulnerable groups.
We will review the current policy and legislative environment governing the small business sector in order to remove whatever constraints that undermine their success and to open the way to co-ordinated and integrated support to small businesses.
In fulfilling our mandate, we will seek to promote a co-ordinated and integrated support across government spheres and institutions for SMMEs. We will pursue an aggressive entrepreneurship drive and create an enabling environment that will make it easy for South Africans, particularly the youth, to start and sustain their businesses.
In this regard, the department will focus on enhanced support to Small Business and Cooperatives development with an emphasis on programmes to advance entrepreneurship amongst women, people with disabilities and youth to effectively contribute to job creation and economic growth. Support mechanisms will include access to finance, business skills development, market access, competitiveness, easing regulatory environment, advancing localisation, leveraging on public procurement.
The department will also foster financial inclusion as well as create market access for small business and co-operatives. Through enhanced co-ordination and transversal agreements, the department will advance localisation, leveraging on public procurement while ensuring measurable accountability of state institutions in support of small business.
We are painfully aware that the democratic breakthrough would be meaningless if it is not accompanied by a vibrant and growing economy that benefits all our people. The struggle for liberation was a struggle for political and economic emancipation of all our people. Today, let us lead a struggle to unleash the full economic potential of our land, its people and resources. Let us create opportunities for all our people so that they, too, can have the possibility of tasting a better life.
The dawn of democracy and freedom in our country has unlocked our capacity as a nation to work together to address common challenges. This colloquium is a concrete reflection of a nation at work to create a better life for itself. Our gathering here tells a story of a collective effort by government and its partners to address the challenges of economic growth and development in our country and to help improve the quality of our people’s lives.
Ladies and gentlemen, the call to action is clear and unambiguous! Each one of us has a responsibility to change the economic landscape of South Africa so that it can benefit all. All of us must work together to give flesh and content to the radical economic transformation agenda that we are pursuing. If we are all committed to turning our economy around and creating more jobs, we have a duty and responsibility to invest in small businesses and co-operatives.
I thank you.
