Limpopo Business 2016-17 edition

OVERVIEW
combined annual turnover approaching
R6-billion and employment
numbers rising to 38 000.
Zimele has established 29 small
business hubs in areas such as
Mokopane and Burgersfort.
Quality issues in the SMME
sector in Limpopo are being
addressed through the support
of the South African Bureau of
Standards (SABS), which has undertaken
to help SMMEs ensure
that their products are up to
scratch. Similarly, Productivity SA
is involved in Limpopo: in 2014
Ximambane Brickmaking Cooperative
won the Productivity
SA provincial award.
The city of Polokwane was
South Africa’s fastest-growing
urban area between 2005 and
2010, with a growth rate that
was higher than 5%. The South
African Cities Network study
that came to this conclusion also
noted that further research was
needed to establish the reasons,
but a growing economy is a good
incubator for entrepreneurship.
The services sector inevitably
grows as cities grow.
According to research done
by Absa, SMMEs were supporting
60% of the country’s employable
population in 2011, against a
figure of just 18% in 1998.
Finance
The LEDET approved about R20-
million in 2014 in financing youth
businesses in the province. In
presenting his 2015/16 budget,
The Limpopo MEC for Economic
Development, Environment
and Tourism, Seapora Sekoati,
pledged R30-million to support co-operatives and an additional
R80-million for SMME debt and equity financing and R10-million for
non-financial support. This programme is a joint venture with various
national state-owned enterprises, which all have a presence in
Limpopo: the Small Enterprise Development Agency (an allocation
of R10.3-million for non-financial support to SMMEs and cooperatives);
Small Enterprise Finance Agency (R45-million for SMME financial
support); and the Industrial Development Corporation, (which normally
spends about R400-million in Limpopo). The IDC’s annual overall
budget for financing is R20-billion.
The IDC often takes shareholdings in companies to provide the
capital required for these companies to scale up production or to offer
new products. Some 48% of the 45 900 jobs created or saved by IDC
initiatives are created in rural areas.
Limpopo projects attracting the funding support of the IDC include
an Nguni-cattle breeding scheme, a new hospital in Lebowakgomo,
the development of a ferrochrome smelter and a facility for making
coking coal briquettes.
The Development Bank of Southern Africa (DBSA) is another major
funder of public projects. It announced in 2012 that it planned to invest
heavily in public health (R20-billion), water, sanitation and energy
(R40-billion) and transport infrastructure (between R30-billion and
R50-billion).
All of the major banks have SMME offerings. Absa Bank’s SME Fund is
driven by its Small Business Division, Standard Bank runs a Community
Investment Fund and Nedbank offers an enterprise development
product for businesses with turnovers of up to R35-million. The commercial
division of FNB has sections that deal with Start-up Funding
and BEE Funding.
Business Partners disbursed R966.2-million in SME funding in the
2015/16 financial year.
ONLINE RESOURCES
Business Partners: www.businesspartners.co.za
Development Bank of Southern Africa: www.dbsa.org
Industrial Development Corporation: www.idc.co.za
Land and Agricultural Development Bank of South Africa:
www.landbank.co.za
Limpopo Department of Economic Development,
Environment and Tourism: www.ledet.gov.za
National Empowerment Fund: www.nefcorp.co.za
Small Enterprise Development Agency: www.seda.org.za
Small Enterprise Finance Agency: www.sefa.co.za
Zimele: www.anglozimele.co.za
83 LIMPOPO BUSINESS 2016/17