Limpopo Business 2016-17 edition

INTERVIEW
Seda Limpopo
Koenie Slabbert is the Provincial Manager for Seda
Limpopo, which provides business development
and support services for small enterprises.
Koenie Slabbert
BIOGRAPHY
Koenie Slabbert is the Provincial
Manager of Seda Limpopo,
having previously been
the Chief Operations Officer
of Seda’s Enterprise Development
Division. His previous
work experience includes being
responsible for implementing
the South African government’s
national manufacturing
programme in Limpopo, as well
as being the General Manager
and an Industrial Advisor for
Limac, assisting and developing
small and medium enterprises
in the manufacturing sector in
Limpopo province.
What is Seda Limpopo’s competitive advantage for your
target market?
The scope of our work is non-financial support in all sectors through
the entire business life-cycle (360-degree). Our competitive advantage
is our ability to comprehensively diagnose businesses and ideas in
order to provide holistic guidance towards sustainability and growth
interventions in all stages of business, from informal, survivalist, micro,
small to medium businesses. Secondly, to bring expertise through
seasoned professionals to enterprises which, under normal circumstances,
would not have afforded or realised the value thereof. Seda
provides business development services to small and medium enterprises
throughout the province, with a network of branch offices in
all five districts of the province, in partnership with other role-players.
We also implement programmes targeted at business development
in areas prioritised by government.
In what ways does Seda Limpopo help clients with their
specific business needs and objectives?
To assist our clients, we have created a number of key programmes
that are tailored to guiding smaller businesses through their individual
problem areas as well as giving them support for growth and
advancement.
For instance, our Franchise Support Programme promotes franchising
businesses to new and current entrepreneurs, offering them advice
about potential franchisee and franchisor opportunities, while our
Export Development Programme plays a key role in helping to develop
export-ready small enterprises that are globally competetive and are
thus able to grow local as well as international markets.
We have a Trade Fair Programme that forms part of a wider network,
and this is aimed at helping local small and medium enterprises to
participate in global trade.
Our Seda Technology Programme seeks to stimulate economic
growth and development through facilitating technology transfer, in
addition to increasing the access to and use of technologies, as well
as offering technical support to small enterprises.
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