Vhembe Chamber of Commerce and Industry welcomes funding for youth SMMEs
The Vhembe Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI) welcomes the Minister of Small Business Development's commitment to disburse almost a billion Rand in funds to Small, Medium & Micro Enterprise Businesses (SMMEs) largely owned by youth.
LIMPOPO – Basil Mabasa, VCCI spokesperson, says the funding, which will be disbursed through the Small Business and Innovation Fund (SBIF), will go along way in creating a culture of entrepreneurship among young people. He says post 1994, young people in South Africa have always had an appetite to drive job creation by starting their own businesses in their small corners. “The lack of capital, government red tape and lack of clear policy on SMME development have led to many initiatives being folded and job creation opportunities missed.”
He says it is currently estimated that 98 % of all registered businesses are SMMEs. “Our interest as VCCI is to see policy decisions which promotes SMME growth and as such applaud the President of South Africa, Cyril Ramaphosa.” He says the president’s wisdom and foresight can be seen in the appointment of Minister Khumbuzo Ntshavhenim, who has the necessary appetite to redirect the South African economy to be inclusive of SMME’s.
“We believe her appetite to drive the economic growth through SMMEs will go along way in creating employment.” He says the R1 billion initiative, if correctly implemented, will push more SMMEs into a competitive sphere where barriers to markets are removed and SMMEs can flourish. He says it is the view of the VCCI as a business lobby group to level the playing field. “Monopolies have to be dismantled.” He says as such, they will continue to lobby policy makers within the economic cluster to prioritise levelling the playing field by introducing policies which makes it equal and easy for SMMEs to compete with established businesses.
