R50m boost for Cape's small firms
Nombini Matomela
2 September 2004
The Western Cape government has injected a total of R50-million towards the development of small, medium, macro enterprises in the province as part of Premier Ebrahim Rasool's 100 days deposits as well as resolutions of last year's provincial Growth and Development Summit.
Announcing the funding on Wednesday, MEC for Finance and Economic Development Lynne Brown said four programmes had been introduced for the development and support of SMMEs.
"Through the Enterprise Incubation Programme we have selected 118 businesses that will be mentored and supported at a cost of R1.5-million," she said.
Brown said of the businesses selected, women owned 32.2 percent, 25 percent were owned by youth entrepreneurs, 2.5 percent belonged to persons with disabilities, and 17 percent of these businesses are based in the province's rural areas.
She said government will appoint an organisation to undertake an analysis of each enterprise that has
been selected, and then compile recommendations on the needs of each business.
Brown said R35-million had been set aside for the Red Finance Fund to capitalise a loan scheme for SMMEs to finance enterprises that do not meet the standard criteria for loans from mainstream banks and financial institutions.
She said that government had set a target of raising R50-million a year over the next three years, adding that another R10-million had been allocated for small agri-business projects throughout the province.
According to Brown, the Hydroponics Plant facility in Beaufort West is being used as a model for the projects that have been selected for funding.
Government had also allocated R4-million for the Integrated Tourism Entrepreneurship Support Programme (ITESP) to provide support to tourism SMMEs including access to capital, skills and markets.
In addition, she said the Development Bank of South Africa had invested R1.85-million towards this
project.
"The intention of the programme is to address the challenges that prevent transformation in the tourism sector.
"Most importantly, ITESP will promote the demographic distribution of ownership in the industry within the province," she said.
Approximately, 36 SMMEs would benefit from the programme, of which 22 had been identified.
"These are pilot projects that we hope their success would form the basis will be the beginning of bigger and better opportunities for other businesses," she added.
Source: BuaNews
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