Hot on the heels of another successful launch of the Eskom Business Investment Competition and Small Business Expo, the Eskom Development Foundation stressed the importance of nurturing small businesses.
These were the words of acting chief executive officer of the foundation, Cecil Ramonotsi, who gave a welcoming speech at the launch in Newtown on 20 July. He spoke about supporting and sustaining small, micro and medium-sized enterprises, or SMMEs, and the role the foundation played in achieving this.
“As sustainable small business development becomes increasingly important to South Africa’s growth drive, investments which stimulate entrepreneurship will be critical.
“This is something of importance to the foundation, which has been focused on developing small businesses since its formation.”
This development has been in the form of starting the competition which focused on recognising and supporting any black-owned small businesses within the manufacturing, engineering and construction, agriculture and agro-processing, trade and services industries.
Ramonotsi highlighted that the focus on these four sectors was due to their crucial link to the country’s Growth Domestic Product (GDP). “These four sectors contribute the most to the GDP and play a very instrumental role in its growth, hence the focus.”
He went on to explain that simply supporting them was not enough, adding that it was important to ensure these businesses remained sustainable, and this was through creative means. One such way was through the expo, started together with Thebe Reed Exhibitions, which helped connect small businesses. The foundation came up with creative means to meet this objective.
“This expo has evolved from being a simple exhibition to one offering entrepreneurs from the Business Investment Competition ( BIC ) to connect to like-minded entrepreneurs and meet others in similar industries,” he said.
The Eskom Foundation has been running the BIC for eight years, in which substantial prizes to the value of more than R1.3 million are awarded to black-owned businesses in the four sectors.
A sizeable part of this prize includes the opportunity for winning businesses to exhibit their businesses at the Small Business Expo, taking place from 8 to 10 September at the Ticketpro Dome, which will be hosted together with Thebe Reed.
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