South African Business 2024

OVERVIEW
Development finance and
SMME support
The SA SME Fund has launched a venture capital fund.
SECTOR INSIGHT
The Industrial Development
Corporation loaned R7.6-billion
to black industrialists.
Glencore supports Moeding Transport in Limpopo.
One the country’s biggest institutional investors is the
Industrial Development Corporation (IDC). Apart from
taking stakes in large companies in sectors like steel
and agriculture that have strategic significance, the IDC
has a product called SME Connect. A collaborative model sees the
IDC provide funding and business support while a corporate might
guarantee to buy goods or services from the small business operator.
Most big companies in South Africa have two main programmes
to support SMMES: enterprise development (ED) and local supplier
development (or procurement). Sometimes they are combined as
enterprise supplier development (ESD). Venetia Mine in northern
Limpopo, a De Beers Group mine, has more than 50 SMMEs enrolled
in incubation programmes and 34 locally-owned companies are doing
business with the mine.
Another Limpopo initiative has led to the growth of Moeding
Transport, a company that has been supplying services to Glencore
Ferroalloys’ Lion Smelter for several years. The contract has enabled the
company to grow, and it was recently further boosted by the donation
by Glencore of two 65-seater buses.
In Rustenburg, Impala Rustenburg has invested R8.6-million in the
development of a Economic Inclusion Centre that serves as a small
business hub for SMMEs in and around the mining community. Apart
from the physical facilities on offer, advice on market access and funding
is also available.
Among the IDC’s other focus
areas are black industrialists (to
whom R7.6-billion was loaned
in 2022), black-empowered and
black-owned companies (R6.5-
billion) and women-owned
businesses (R1.1-billion).
The increased number
and scope of the Business
Day Supplier Development
Awards gives an indication of
how developed this aspect of
support for small enterprise
has become in the South
African business community.
The process of helping small
businesses become bigger
businesses has sparked
creativity across sectors such
as retail and mining and
collaboration with other
companies has become the
norm in promoting supplier
development.
Through the Spar Rural
Hub, the retail group supports
small-scale farmers and creates
markets for their products. The
Spar Group has established
The Spar Academy of Learning
where learnerships and skills
programmes are offered. This is
to support the business owners
who take up the ownership
model offered by Spar, which,
SOUTH AFRICAN BUSINESS 2024 54
PHOTO: Glencore