THE ministry of commerce, industry and trade is working on identifying different opportunities for improving the small and medium enterprise (SME) environment. Minister Jabulile Mashwama said some of the projects they were looking into included establishing an SME Stock Exchange to improve financing for bankable SME projects. She said they were also looking at improving the incubation of SME start-ups by focusing on information, communication and technology (ICT).
“We are also looking at improving the conditions for our SMEs to enter the textile industry and benefit from established markets. Our predictions are that our region will again become competitive in this industry as the big Asian giants adopt free market principles,” she said. Mashwama said the ministry did almost 80% of its work with SMEs and also made sure they were included in the different boards of directors. She said the intention was to have their voices represented when they formulated legislation as well as move the agenda for SMEs. “We also include previous winners of the Entrepreneur of the Year Awards (EYA) so that we have people who are on the ground (entrepreneurs). We know we can’t move the different policies that impact on doing business without the SMEs,” she said.
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