The Department of Small Business Development has been allocated R1.3 billion for the 2016/17 financial year. Of this allocation 17 percent goes to administration and personnel. The remainder, which is 83 percent goes to the core business of the department, strengthening small businesses and cooperatives.
The Black Business Supplier Development is allocated R245 million and for cooperatives incentive scheme we have allocated R75 million. For National Informal Business Upliftment Scheme the allocation is R96 million and the Enterprise Incubation Programme is allocated R46 million. For the craft sector, the department has allocated R10 million.
The department has allocated R634 million to the Small Enterprise Development Agency (seda) of which R140 million will go to Technology Support Programme, and R13 million to capacity building for small businesses. The Small Enterprise Finance Agency (sefa) has been allocated a budget of R213 million for the current financial year.
Consistent with the undertaking made by Minister Lindiwe Zulu last year, sefa will, over the next three years approve a further R3,4 billion of loan financing facilities to SMMEs and Co-operatives. During this period, sefa will fund 157 000 SMMEs and Co-operatives.
“Sefa is determined to expand access to credit and finance to informal and micro-enterprise sector. We will increase the level of economic activity of survivalist, informal and micro-enterprises, particularly those operating in rural and peri-urban areas, through the provision of access to credit, finance and business support”, said Minister Zulu.
The Emerging Enterprise Development Programme will provide support to Women, Youth and People with Disabilities in order to increase their capacity to access economic opportunities and enhance their competitiveness. The programme offers a cost-sharing grant to a maximum of two hundred thousand rand (R200 000) to eligible applicants. The grant may be used to acquire machinery, equipment, tools, raw materials and commercial vehicles.
The Business Rescue Strategy will be implemented for small businesses in distress, which will help to reduce the mortality rate of small businesses. The department is working with sefa on the modalities of developing and implementing the strategy. As an initial investment, R84 million has been set aside for this initiative
Seda, the department’s agency, continues to demonstrate remarkable success in assisting potential and existing small enterprises and cooperatives. The agency’s 74% of assisted clients have indicated that their turnover had increased following Seda’s interventions and 51% indicating that they now employ more people. Seda partners with numerous organisations that offer complimentary services, both in financial and non-financial support, and this enables the entity to provide a comprehensive support service to small enterprises and cooperatives.
Ten thousand, six-hundred and seventy nine (10 679) clients that received Seda interventions during the 2015/16 financial year.
As at the end of March 2016, the 57 Seda-supported incubators housed 2,492 small enterprises, and created 2,331 permanent jobs during the 2015/2016 financial year. The sectors that contributed the most to this performance are the labour absorbing sectors of Agriculture, Construction and Manufacturing.
Enquiries:
Cornelius Tanana Monama
Tel: 012 394 3027/082 578 4063
E-mail: CMonama@dsbd.gov.za
