Limpopo Business 2016-17 edition

OVERVIEW
Development finance and
SMME support
Mining supply chains can boost SMMEs in Limpopo.
SECTOR INSIGHT
Seda’s jewellery and biogas
incubators are supporting
entrepreneurship.
• The South African Bureau
of Standards (SABS) is
helping small business
develop good products.
• Anglo American’s Zimele
initiative has six funds to
support SMMEs.
There are a number of bodies that support small, medium
and micro enterprises in Limpopo, and development-finance
institutions are making it easier for new businesses to start up.
The Small Enterprise Development Agency (Seda) is a
subsidiary of the National Department of Trade and Industry (dti) and
is one of the most active agencies in supporting entrepreneurs. Seda is
not a financial agency, focussing rather on training and administrative
support, although the agency will help small-medium and microenterprises
(SMME) in getting in touch with financial bodies.
The Seda Limpopo Jewellery Incubator (SLJI) develops entrepreneurship
among jewellers in Limpopo. In the south-east of the province
the Biofuels Incubator promotes skills in that important sector.
In 2014/15, Seda trained 696 business people in skills they need and
the support for the national incubator programme created 1 963 jobs.
Seda has initiated a national programme designed to make cooperatives
and jointly owned enterprises stronger. As part of the
Cooperatives and Community Public Private Partnership (CPPP)
programme, Seda is supporting a project in Tarentaal.
A new initiative on the part of the Limpopo Department of
Economic Development, Environment and Tourism (LEDET) trains
women in working with and developing products for the textile and
clothing sector. The aim is to see the establishment of home-based
enterprises in rural areas and townships, as well as co-operatives.
The construction by the provincial government of market stalls
is aimed at supporting small-scale farmers and traders. Market stalls
have been erected in Mopani
District and will be put up in Elias
Motsoaledi Local Municipality
in the Sekhukhune District and
Molemole Local Municipality in
the Capricorn District.
In 2016 the national
Department of Small Business
Development will jointly host a
Limpopo Province SMME summit,
which will also deal with issues relating
to co-operatives. One of the
best ways of supporting SMMEs
in Limpopo is through the supply
chain for the province’s mines.
The provincial Premier has challenged
mines to achieve a 20%
SMME procurement target.
A private initiative that has
used the supply chain to extraordinarily
good effect in creating
employment is Anglo American’s
Zimele. It has launched more
than 1 800 businesses with a
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