Document: Government Support for Small, Micro and Medium Enterprises (SMME’s) as a Venture for Business and Economic Development in South Africa

According to the South African Reserve Bank (2007), South Africa’s small enterprises operate in global regional and local economic environments which may not always be supportive to their growth prospects. With the end of apartheid, SA has become firmly part of the global economy, and trends in the world economy play an increasingly important role in the growth prospects of businesses across the size spectrum. SMMEs are relatively less able to deal with ‘shocks’ in the global economy and are therefore particularly vulnerable. Moreover, small business is often a minor link in global value chains, sometimes supplying narrowly specified goods and services to other suppliers that are themselves very low down on the global supplier value chain. In order to obtain maximum functionality of this sector, government support has never become crucial. The aim of this paper is to look into the various measures that the South African government has thus far undertaken to support this sector.