Ministry assists SMMEs
…BY JULIA STUURMAN
BLOEMFONTEIN – The Department of Trade and Industry has revised its Black Business Supplier Development Programme (BBSDP) to meet the needs of the small, medium and micro enterprises in the country and improve efficiency and delivery of grants to deserving enterprises.
BBSDP is a cost-sharing grant offered to black-owned small enterprises to assist them in their development. It provides a grant of up to a maximum of R800,000 for tools, machinery and equipment and R200,000 for business development and training intervention for eligible enterprises.
The BBSDP was established in 2002 but it did not meet its mandate of effectively reaching all small enterprises in the country. On August 27, the new term of BBSDP was launched in Bloemfontein by the DTI.
“The initial programme was the programme of the World Bank and after sometime, we realised that even though a number of enterprises had taken up this scheme, it was still not utilised properly.
“We thought the uptake was low and we amended the scheme to suit South Africa and enterprises in the country so that we could assist a number of businesses in all our areas,” Acting Deputy Director of The Enterprise Organisation (TEO), Tsepiso Makgothi, told Public Eye.
Makhothi explained the fact that Gauteng province takes up much of the scheme and other provinces suffer means already some challenges exist. She further stated that another factor that contributed to the revision of the BBSDP strategy were complaints that were received from enterprises around the country.
According to Makhothi, the Department will stop using manual applications for those enterprises in need of funding, and go for computerised methods. She added this will effectively speed up the process and make it hassle-free.
The Department will be working with the World Bank and the Small Enterprise Development Agency (SEDA) on this programme during the current financial year.
The Deputy Director for TEO, Moeketsi Marumo also explained the role of the World Bank in this initiative.
“The role of the World Bank in this pilot project will be to provide us with technical support. During the old term, the scheme was open for SMMEs of less than R12 million. We did a review and the study revealed that what we need to do is to look into the enterprises between R500,000 to R1 million.
“That is what we are doing now. The enterprises which are below this mark will be catered for by SEDA because they are closer to that market,” Marumo explained.
According to the Department, R15 million will be transferred to SEDA to assist the very same enterprises whose turnover is below R500,000 just to make sure that they get what they need.
Other strategies that will be engaged to ensure success in reaching enterprises by the Department will include the training of 100 network facilitators across the country. These facilitators are also business people who are based in all provinces of the country.
“We will be training network facilitators around the country in terms of improving the effectiveness and efficiency we are looking for in this new pilot project. They will be trained on amongst others, business writing skills and financial analysis. They will be given a one-year contract with the DTI,” Marumo added.
The first intake of the enterprise started on September 1 this year. The new BBSDP term will run until 2014.
I usually dont normally post on many Blogs, still Thanks so much keep up the amazing work. Ok unfortunately its time to get to school.