Date: 09/05/2003
Source: Deputy Ministry of Trade and Industry
Title: Hendricks: Swedish South African Business Partnership Fund
SPEECH BY THE DEPUTY MINISTER OF TRADE AND INDUSTRY, LINDIWE HENDRICKS, AT THE ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING OF THE SWEDISH SOUTH AFRICAN BUSINESS PARTNERSHIP FUND, Tau Room - The Hilton Hotel, Sandton, 9 May 2003
Your excellency the Ambassador, Chairperson and members of the Board, Programme Director, Ladies and Gentlemen.
Thank you for inviting me here today for the Annual General Meeting of the Swedish South African Business Partnership Fund.
The business environment in South Africa has changed considerably over the past few years and there have been a number of improvements in the levels of support that are given to small businesses from both the public and the private sectors. The support that is offered by the private sector has jumped leaps and bounds and today we find that there is a multitude of business services, financial products, computer packages, and office locations that are available to small businesses. From the side of the government there are numerous incentives, subsidised business support and advice centres, assistance with loan finance, assistance to access international markets, and procurement opportunities.
Despite all the support that is available to small businesses there are still a number of challenges that face businesses and many businesses are not even in a position to access this support. There are a number of gaps that exist in our support framework and we as government in co-operation with other organisations are continually searching for new ways to assist the business community and ensure that the majority of businesses or aspirant entrepreneurs are able to benefit in some way from this framework.
The first gap that we have identified is that of lack of access to finance and the cost of finance. Despite the numerous banks, venture capital funds, credit guarantees, and retail financial intermediaries that are in existence many small businesses are still unable to access finance to start and grow their enterprises.
The second gap is that of business support to micro enterprises. Such businesses often do not even have the opportunity to access private sector service providers because of the costs of these services. The government faces a lot of challenges in this sector as many of the businesses are unregistered and often the sheer number of these enterprises makes it difficult to reach and support them effectively. Increasingly the government is doing work to try and support these enterprises and ensure that they have access to finance and business support services. There is also a need to bring them into the mainstream of the economy.
The third gap is in the area of market access for small businesses, however, this is one area where a lot of work has been done. We have been able to address this gap through our procurement policies and practices as well as through the procurement practices of state-owned enterprises, which target both SMMEs and BEE firms. In addition, the government has made it very clear to the private sector, especially corporates, if they want to get government contracts and get licences to operate in certain industries they must procure a percentage of their goods and services from small businesses and from black owned enterprises. There has also been a lot of work done to assist businesses get access to international markets.
There are other gaps that exist for small businesses such as education and training, management skills, affordable premises, technological ability, etc.
It is therefore important that there are continually new initiatives that seek to close some of the gaps that exist in our SMME support framework. The Swedish South African Business Partnership Fund (SSBF) is one such initiative. The work done by this programme to assist small businesses overcome the challenges that they find themselves in, is commendable. I am impressed that they have structured the programme so that the support provided is flexible and is dependent on the needs of the enterprises; for example, it might address gaps of access to international markets, technology transfer, risk capital, management support, new product development and much more. This flexibility is unique in that it comes in the form of a partnership arrangement with a Swedish company.
Bringing two companies together from different continents with very different cultures and experiences is hard work and it is inevitable that mistakes and errors will happen. It is important that organisations providing business support services are able to learn from their mistakes and grow from the experiences. It is often the case that in the provision of such services there is no business model that can uniformly be applied from one country or situation to the next - this is unlike the financial services sector, which has been able to develop such models successfully. It is therefore through the experience that is acquired over time that business support organisations are able to become successful.
The SSBF must therefore be commended for managing to achieve a number of successes over the last year and I hope that in the future they are able to grow and provide more support and increase the number of businesses that they assist.
As you go into your AGM you must look back at the objectives that you had set for yourselves, look back at the targets that you had set for yourselves, and see how much of that you have achieved, and where you did not achieve your aims and objectives interrogate the reasons why, because unless you openly and frankly do that you will never achieve the purpose for which this fund was set up.
I would like to conclude by firstly advising the SSBF to look at the incentives and opportunities that are offered by government and its agencies and to find ways for the businesses that are in their programme to take advantage of these incentives. Secondly, I would like to thank the outgoing board members for the work that they have done over the past year and finally I would like to wish the new board the best for the coming year. I hope that they play an active and meaningful role in helping small businesses thereby creating jobs and economic wealth in South Africa.
I thank you.
Issued by the Office of the Deputy Minister of Trade and Industry, 9 May 2003
Source: Deputy Ministry of Trade and Industry
Title: Hendricks: Swedish South African Business Partnership Fund
SPEECH BY THE DEPUTY MINISTER OF TRADE AND INDUSTRY, LINDIWE HENDRICKS, AT THE ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING OF THE SWEDISH SOUTH AFRICAN BUSINESS PARTNERSHIP FUND, Tau Room - The Hilton Hotel, Sandton, 9 May 2003
Your excellency the Ambassador, Chairperson and members of the Board, Programme Director, Ladies and Gentlemen.
Thank you for inviting me here today for the Annual General Meeting of the Swedish South African Business Partnership Fund.
The business environment in South Africa has changed considerably over the past few years and there have been a number of improvements in the levels of support that are given to small businesses from both the public and the private sectors. The support that is offered by the private sector has jumped leaps and bounds and today we find that there is a multitude of business services, financial products, computer packages, and office locations that are available to small businesses. From the side of the government there are numerous incentives, subsidised business support and advice centres, assistance with loan finance, assistance to access international markets, and procurement opportunities.
Despite all the support that is available to small businesses there are still a number of challenges that face businesses and many businesses are not even in a position to access this support. There are a number of gaps that exist in our support framework and we as government in co-operation with other organisations are continually searching for new ways to assist the business community and ensure that the majority of businesses or aspirant entrepreneurs are able to benefit in some way from this framework.
The first gap that we have identified is that of lack of access to finance and the cost of finance. Despite the numerous banks, venture capital funds, credit guarantees, and retail financial intermediaries that are in existence many small businesses are still unable to access finance to start and grow their enterprises.
The second gap is that of business support to micro enterprises. Such businesses often do not even have the opportunity to access private sector service providers because of the costs of these services. The government faces a lot of challenges in this sector as many of the businesses are unregistered and often the sheer number of these enterprises makes it difficult to reach and support them effectively. Increasingly the government is doing work to try and support these enterprises and ensure that they have access to finance and business support services. There is also a need to bring them into the mainstream of the economy.
The third gap is in the area of market access for small businesses, however, this is one area where a lot of work has been done. We have been able to address this gap through our procurement policies and practices as well as through the procurement practices of state-owned enterprises, which target both SMMEs and BEE firms. In addition, the government has made it very clear to the private sector, especially corporates, if they want to get government contracts and get licences to operate in certain industries they must procure a percentage of their goods and services from small businesses and from black owned enterprises. There has also been a lot of work done to assist businesses get access to international markets.
There are other gaps that exist for small businesses such as education and training, management skills, affordable premises, technological ability, etc.
It is therefore important that there are continually new initiatives that seek to close some of the gaps that exist in our SMME support framework. The Swedish South African Business Partnership Fund (SSBF) is one such initiative. The work done by this programme to assist small businesses overcome the challenges that they find themselves in, is commendable. I am impressed that they have structured the programme so that the support provided is flexible and is dependent on the needs of the enterprises; for example, it might address gaps of access to international markets, technology transfer, risk capital, management support, new product development and much more. This flexibility is unique in that it comes in the form of a partnership arrangement with a Swedish company.
Bringing two companies together from different continents with very different cultures and experiences is hard work and it is inevitable that mistakes and errors will happen. It is important that organisations providing business support services are able to learn from their mistakes and grow from the experiences. It is often the case that in the provision of such services there is no business model that can uniformly be applied from one country or situation to the next - this is unlike the financial services sector, which has been able to develop such models successfully. It is therefore through the experience that is acquired over time that business support organisations are able to become successful.
The SSBF must therefore be commended for managing to achieve a number of successes over the last year and I hope that in the future they are able to grow and provide more support and increase the number of businesses that they assist.
As you go into your AGM you must look back at the objectives that you had set for yourselves, look back at the targets that you had set for yourselves, and see how much of that you have achieved, and where you did not achieve your aims and objectives interrogate the reasons why, because unless you openly and frankly do that you will never achieve the purpose for which this fund was set up.
I would like to conclude by firstly advising the SSBF to look at the incentives and opportunities that are offered by government and its agencies and to find ways for the businesses that are in their programme to take advantage of these incentives. Secondly, I would like to thank the outgoing board members for the work that they have done over the past year and finally I would like to wish the new board the best for the coming year. I hope that they play an active and meaningful role in helping small businesses thereby creating jobs and economic wealth in South Africa.
I thank you.
Issued by the Office of the Deputy Minister of Trade and Industry, 9 May 2003
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