Document: National Directory of Small Business Support Programmes

The small micro and medium enterprise (SMME) sector remains one of the key policy focus areas of the South African government since the advent of democracy in 1994. All over the world small businesses are seen as important actors in economic development, job creation and equity. While the government has made significant strides in small business development specifically in facilitating access to information and advice, the small business strategy (2005-2014) published by the Department of Trade and Industry (the dti), emphasises limited co-ordination on SMME support programmes as one of the shortfalls on SMME development in the country.

Across the country, a broad range of support programmes targeted at small businesses are provided by different government departments and institutions as well as the private sector. However, the level of utilisation of these support programmes by the small businesses was not as anticipated. This results in small businesses not benefiting as much as they could from available support. One of the main reasons why this is so is that, despite concerted efforts by various support agencies to communicate their offerings to small businesses, there is lack of a single source of information of all available support programmes and on how to access them.

This National SMME Directory is developed with the intention to strengthen integration of SMME support programmes offered by government, private sector and donor institutions. It is yet another initiative by the dti, to improve the country‟s small business support environment. It is hoped that with this important resource at their disposal, small businesses will take advantage of the vast array of support programmes designed for their benefit to improve the operation and success of their enterprises. As support programmes evolve, with new programmes emerging and some closing, the Directory will similarly be revised annually in order to capture and present the most up-to-date information.