As the deadline for comments on the draft National Integrated Small Enterprise Development (NISED) Masterplan draws near, SAnews takes a closer look at the strategy which seeks to increase the participation of small enterprises in the formal economy, eliminate red tape and promote the ease of doing business, particularly for small entrepreneurs.

The overall objective of the NISED Masterplan is to coordinate the many actors on essential undertakings as tabled in the National Development Plan (NDP) and the new Economic Reconstruction and Recovery Plan (ERRP).

“I am confident that this NISED Masterplan will rapidly and fundamentally shift the dial on the country’s growth, unemployment and inequality crisis, and move us to a more prosperous economy for all,” Minister of Small Business Development, Minister Stella Ndabeni-Abrahams said on the final draft of the NISED.

“It is wholly understood that the development and support of small businesses is not the domain of one department but the collective action of many public and private actors.

“Coordinating the efforts of many will not be an easy task, but it must be done to ensure that we achieve our goals of a prosperous and transformed South Africa to catalyse a speedier course in tackling the triple challenges of poverty, inequality and unemployment,” Ndabeni-Abrahams said.

The NISED Masterplan intends to support and work in combination with the ERRP and various Sector Masterplans, adding value through growing the contribution of Small, Medium and Micro Enterprises (SMMEs) to national output and employment.

The initial Integrated Strategy for Entrepreneurship and Small Enterprises was adopted in 2005.

The strategy and the subsequent NISED give effect to the 1995 White Paper on National Strategy for the Development and Promotion of Small Business in South Africa.

Once adopted the NISED will replace the current Integrated Strategy for Entrepreneurship and Small Enterprises. It will provide a coordination framework for all key ecosystem role players in small enterprise development. It guides the coordinating mechanism that will guide all programmes that support small enterprises.

The NISED is the product of a wide consultation with the relevant departments in the national, provincial and local spheres of government, business, labour, academics and various relevant institutions.

Published on 10 May on the government notices by the Minister, members of the public can send their comments to nisedm@dsbd.gov.za or submit by hand to the Policy Unit, Department of Small Business Development, 77 Meintjies Street, Sunnyside, Pretoria, within 30 days of the publication of the notice.

The abridged version of the NISED Masterplan is accessible on the Department of Small Business Development website on www.dsbd.gov.za and the full version is published in the Gazette for public comment.

Source: South African Government News Agency