There has been a strengthening of businesses in townships across South Africa over the past decade, Minister of Trade and Industry Alec Erwin said during a small-business breakfast meeting in Langa on Friday.
”It is clear to us that we have to make certain adjustments to things being done to support small businesses,” he said of the challenges facing the government after the April 14 election.
Erwin said during this year’s election campaign, particularly he and Minister of Finance Trevor Manuel had tried to meet as many small business people as possible.
”It has been very, very interesting in this campaign … [it has been] a very different experience to previous elections,” said Erwin, adding that local businesses are ”very positive”.
Erwin urged Langa business people, who represented mostly the bed-and-breakfast and catering sectors, to come together to help establish a business centre.
He said this centre, which would be supported by the Department of Trade and Industry, would be an ideal site to provide information for emerging businesses on how to draw up business plans and access government tenders, and would provide information on training, support organisations and finance.
Besides providing information on the Department of Trade and Industry website and at its customer care centre, Erwin also said his department would be starting a new fund later this year for micro loans.
”This would be an apex fund for small and micro loans … there is a need for smaller cash loans to be issued in a way that is less rigid than applied by the financial sector,” said Erwin, who intimated that the new fund would be set up by the middle of the year.
Erwin, acknowledging that starting and running a business is not easy, said that there are many possibilities and opportunities that business people have to exploit.
He said it is important for communities to come forward to say how the government can assist them and for them to market initiatives jointly.
Erwin also noted that political instability in the Western Cape could hamper the development of small business, saying that in the eight years he had been minister, he has had to deal with five different provincial ministers.
”We start a big project, then there’s a new MEC … we cannot carry on like this … [there was] even [instability] in the city council,” he said.
This was not the case in East London, Port Elizabeth or Tshwane, where they have established business centres, ”because we could see with one eye”.
Local businessman Victor Mguqulwa, who hosted the event at the Eziko restaurant, said that among the main issues they encountered was a lack of a collective marketing strategy; trying to convince tour operators to support township venues; and a lack of proper signage and exposure.
”There is no political will from tourism authorities, with many of them belonging to an old boys’ school,” he said. — Sapa