THE NATIONA L ASSEMBLY
QUESTION FOR WRITTEN REPLY
914. Ms C K K Mosimane (Cope) to ask the Minister of Trade and Industry:
Whether any big businesses are partnering with his department to
mentor small businesses; if not, what is the position in this regard;
if so, (a) how many businesses participated with his department in
business mentorship in the (i) 2010-11, (ii) 2011-12 and (iii) 2012-13
financial years and (b) what are the further relevant details?
NW1140E
Reply:
2010-11: There were no big businesses that partnered with the dti and
its agencies to mentor small businesses during this period.
2011-12: There were no big businesses that partnered with the dti and
its agencies to mentor small businesses during this period.
2012-13: Under the Seda programme, 4 big businesses and state
parastatals entered into partnerships to provide opportunities to
small businesses.
i) Transnet partnership: This partnership entails the development of 30
Transnet suppliers over a period of 3 years.
ii) MTN partnership: The Seda/ MTN partnership is for an initial one year
period renewable for a further three years. A total of 20 MTN
suppliers have been forwarded to Seda for development.
iii) Massmart partnership: Massmart is currently show casing certain
products from Seda clients. Seda will provide technical support to
ensure that quality and volumes of selected items are provided to
Massmart on a sustainable basis.
iv) Eskom partnership: The partnership covers three aspects, which are
supplier development, incubation and sharing of information between
Seda and Eskomâs Learning Academy.
Under the Incubation Support Programme, 4 big businesses (turnover of
more than R35 million) have committed to transfer skills to small
businesses as well as provide access to markets. A further 9 medium
size businesses (turnover below R35 million) have committed to support
small enterprises as incubatees. The aim of the Incubation Support
Programme is to incentive the private sector to build capacity amongst
small businesses as well as market opportunities so that the small
businesses can participate fully in the commercial value chains. The
benefit for small businesses is gaining of technical skills, which
they would not have acquired without the support of big businesses and
accessing the markets as this ensures their growth and sustainability.
The majority of support is in line with governmentâs commitment to
industrialise the economy through fostering close working
relationships between big and small businesses.