Property Point, the leading business accelerator in South Africa, called on Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana to throw his weight behind small businesses by allocating sufficient resources to the office of the Presidency and the Department of Small Business Development.
This call comes on the heels of President Cyril Ramaphosa’s State of the Nation Address, in which he announced that he would centralise decision making in his office to cut red tape for business.
“The Minister must lead this charge to equip entrepreneurs and small business owners to enable them to build sustainable, growing businesses. Unfortunately, SME policy over the past few years has done little to provide any holistic support that can tap the potential of SMEs to drive economic growth,” said Property Point Founder and CEO Shawn Theunissen. “Property Point stands for SMEs and providing the support they need to become compliant and access market opportunities that transform industries,”
Our wish list is that government focus on fulfilling their National Development Plan 2030 goals to create the millions of jobs through the SME sector and allocate the funding and policies to make this happen.
“In the 2021 Budget Speech, R4-billion was allocated to the DSBD which prioritised funding to township and rural enterprises including blended finance initiatives. We need detail on how effective these funding interventions have been and whether this will continue to be the focus going forward.”
Theunissen said the DSBD has in the past not been taken seriously enough by National Treasury. The Department has developed several programmes as part of its plan to support SMEs, but greater consistency in leadership is required if it is to implement its programmes in a manner which makes the impact that the sector needs. He said DSBD agencies, such as the Small Enterprise Finance Agency (SEFA) and the Small Enterprise Development Agency (SEDA) need clear direction in aiding SMEs to acquire the support they need to grow. Perhaps this will be achieved through the current amalgamation of these two agencies.
“The minister must in his Budget Speech must send a clear and unequivocal message that government is serious about small business. We in industry have the expertise to assist government to deliver the programmes that can make a real impact in the market and contribute significantly to economic growth. It’s the surest way that South Africa can deliver on its job creation targets,” Theunissen concluded.
