10 Institutions That Promote Entrepreneurship in South Africa
Attention entrepreneurs!!! Here are 10 institutions in SA that promote entrepreneurship….
1. Industrial Development Corporation
IDC aimS to be the primary source of commercially sustainable industrial development and innovation to benefit both South Africa and the rest of Africa. It’s mandate is to contribute to the creation of balanced, sustainable economic growth in South Africa and on the rest of the continent. IDC promotes entrepreneurship through the building of competitive industries and enterprises based on sound business principles.
2. The Small Enterprise Development Agency (seda)
Seda’s mandate is to design and implement a standard and common national delivery network that must uniformly apply throughout South Africa in respect of small enterprise development, integrating all government funded small agencies across all tiers of government. The mandate includes the support and promotion of Co-operative enterprises to reach a greater variety of enterprises, particularly those located in rural areas. This support of alternative forms of enterprises will be an important way to facilitate the integration of second economy into the first economy.
3 The South African Women Entrepreneurs’ Network (SAWEN)
SAWEN targets women owning and managing big, medium and small enterprises operating within the broader economy of South Africa. These must be self employed, registered with the registrar of companies throughout the South African economy. Any individuals, who are presently entrepreneurs in a non-registered organization that can prove they are engaged in an income generating organization, may be admitted to membership of SAWEN for a period of one year.
4. Ntsika
Ntsika provides non-financial support services to the SMME sector, tackling issues like management development, marketing and business development services. The agency also helps with research and inter-business linkages, business advice, government tenders and technology support to small enterprises, through:
- Local business service centres (LBSC)
- Tender Advice Centres (TACs)
5. National Empowerment Fund
The NEF differentiates itself not only with a focused mandate for BB-BEE, but by also assuming a predominantly equity-based risk to maximise the Empowerment Dividend. Reward should balance the risk with the application of sound commercial decisions to support national priorities and government policy such as the Accelerated and Shared Growth Initiative for South Africa (AsgiSA) or targeted investments through the Department of Trade and Industry’s (the dti’s) Industrial Policy Framework (IPF).
6. Land Bank
Land Bank is a specialist agricultural bank guided by a government mandate to provide financial services to the commercial farming sector and to agri-business and to make available new, appropriately designed financial products that would facilitate access to finance by new entrants to agriculture from historically disadvantaged backgrounds.Today, the Bank is a true South African development finance institution that serves all farmers equally.
7. Tourism Enterprise Programme
The Tourism Enterprise Programme (TEP) falls within the policy-vehicle of the government’s Tourism Action Plan (TAP). As such, it represents a component of a larger and longer-term strategy to both attract and effectively cater for the expected growth in domestic and international tourism. The TEP is funded by the Business Trust and implemented by ECIAfrica. The main objectives of the programme are to encourage and facilitate the growth and expansion of small and medium enterprises in the tourism economy, resulting in job creation and revenue generating opportunities. Primary emphasis is placed on historically disadvantaged entrepreneurs and enterprises.
8. South African Institute for Entrepreneurship
The South African Institute for Entrepreneurship helps to address poverty and unemployment through entrepreneurially focused initiatives. With over 15 years of experience in developing innovative (experiential-based) training materials, the SA Institute for Entrepreneurship promotes a positive mindset in youth and adults, and assists in the creation of effective entrepreneurs and enterprises.
9. Namac Trust
The National Co-ordinating Office for Manufacturing Advisory Centres (Namac) is an SMME support agency within the DTI. It is widely recognised as one of the most successful SMME development and support agencies in South Africa. Namac has developed an extensive delivery structure across South Africa that serves as a channel for the application of new tools, information, products and projects, thus enabling the effective delivery of solutions aimed at SMMEs. The emphasis is on Historically Disadvantaged Individuals’ (HDI) businesses.
10. Business Partners Limited
BUSINESS/PARTNERS specialises in investing capital from R500, 000 to R50 million, skill and knowledge in entrepreneurs, and its staff has in-depth knowledge of the small and medium enterprise sector, as well as valuable insight into the various challenges facing businesses. Since inception, the company has made investments totaling R15.6 billion in 70 300 SME transactions facilitating over 593, 000 jobs in the process.
