Minister of Small Business Development Stella Ndabeni-Abrahams
SCORE: C
Under Ndabeni-Abrahams, the department this year outlined an ambitious agenda focused on expanding funding, supporting new economic sectors such as the ocean economy, and formalising informal businesses.
In its first quarterly performance and financial report for the 2025/26 financial year, the department achieved 82% of its planned targets, meeting 27 of 33 targets across its five programmes. Ndabeni-Abrahams presented a R2.9 billion budget for 2025/26, with significant allocations to key funding initiatives, including the Cooperatives and Transformation Fund, the Youth Entrepreneurship Fund and the Women Entrepreneurship Fund.
A major new intervention was the R500 million Spaza Shop Support Fund, aimed at helping township and rural store owners compete with larger retailers. The fund was also intended to address food safety concerns following deaths linked to informal food outlets.
In addition, the department published draft regulations for the 2025 Business Licensing Bill and for the formal classification of micro, small and medium enterprises. However, implementation has been challenging.
Disbursement of spaza-shop funding has been slow due to municipal licensing and compliance bottlenecks, while the new licensing legislation has attracted criticism from opposition parties.
Overall, the department pursued an ambitious agenda but delivered mixed results, with progress constrained by slow execution, limited municipal capacity and strict consequence management.