Njabulo Mahlalela argues that South Africaâs current enterprise and supplier development (ESD) framework holds back meaningful transformation by treating small business support as a compliance chore rather than a core commercial strategy.
By Njabulo Mahlalela â Business Live
He highlights that corporates often reserve ESD funding until after profits are confirmed, reducing it to an afterthought. This delays procurement planning, weakens SME participation, and undermines genuine valueâchain integration.
Mahlalela proposes a shift: treat ESD not as philanthropy, but as strategic procurement. Encourage businesses to allocate procurement budgets for SMEs upfront, decouple ESD from profit volatility, and embed it into operational processes. This approach turns SMEs into real partners, builds resilient supply chains, and drives transformation through tradeânot just training or boxâchecking.
