Holistic support for SMMEs and co-ops, DAILY DISPATCH
DAILY DISPATCH, Supplement A Page 3
Provincial manager of Seda Eastern Cape, Siphiwo Soga, talks about the work of the organisation in the province HOW does Seda plan to leverage its partnership with other organisations to assist small businesses in the province? As part of government and the Department of Trade and Industry (the dtic) family, we form part of the macro-effort to stimulate growth and create employment opportunities in the SA economy. It is important to note that as SEDA we support SMMEs as well as co-operatives. Our business model is based on our delivery points located throughout the Eastern Cape Province, supported by our national office based in Pretoria. We have five branches in the Province (PE, EL, Queenstown, Mthatha & Mt Ayliff) and a number of co-location points to reach out further into the Province. Together with a number of other stakeholders, we assist aspirant businesspeople, startups and going concerns these stakeholders include, but are not limited to: other dtic agencies (SABS, CIPC, NEF, SANAS, ECIC, NCC, etc); other Seda divisions (Seda Technology Programme); business incubators; the three tiers of government (national, provincial and local); commercial banks; Sefa; SARS; business chambers as well as academic institutions in the province. For example: For specialised sectors we do referrals to business incubators in the province, among others Chemin (chemical industry), Furntech (furniture manufacturing), ECITI (information technology, film and photography), SECI (Seda Construction Incubator), Information Technology (SNMBICTI). For help with the purchasing of capital equipment we refer clients to the STP Technology Transfer Fund (TTF). The TTF is a Seda grant fund that disburses funds of up to R600 000 per SMME for the purchase of capital equipment.
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