Global Entrepreneurship week: Powering the Engines of our Economy

As we celebrate Global Entrepreneurship week between 14 and 18 November 2022, the Western Cape Government commits to backing our entrepreneurs who are the engines of our economy.

Creating an enabling environment for SMMEs to succeed, by cutting red tape, and providing the foundations for growth, is the best way we can unlock the huge potential that exists our province, including in our township and informal economy.

That is why the Western Cape Government runs a number of entrepreneur-enabling programmes, which include:

Red Tape Reduction Unit – Our dedicated Red Tape Reduction Unit works with businesses across all sectors, and across our government, as well as with other levels of government, to remove barriers that emerge and has maintained a successful case resolution rate of 93% for the last financial year.

SMME Booster fund – Since the first iteration of the Fund in 2019, it has allocated R59 million in funding and supported 730 SMMEs in the Western Cape.

Procurement Centre – Provincial Treasury runs the Procurement Client Centre, based in Century City, which offers a range of services to improve the ease of doing business with government, including providing procurement support assistance to provincial departments, entities, municipalities and suppliers through an integrated helpdesk. In the 2021-2022 financial year, the Procurement Client Centre has assisted 5 747 suppliers with registration on the Western Cape Supplier Database an helped more than 3 500 walk-in clients at the centre.

Paying invoice on time – As part of our commitment to support suppliers, many of which are Small, Medium, and Micro Enterprises (SMMEs), the Western Cape Government is working hard to make sure that services are paid for in a timeous manner because we understand that businesses require a predictable cashflow to run, stay open and to expand. In the 2021/22 financial year, the Western Cape Government paid 99% of all invoices for goods and services in 30 days, with no invoices older than 30 days still owed to suppliers by the end of the 2021/2022 financial year.

Through our Municipal Energy Resilience (MER) initiative, we are also working hard to build energy resilience in the Western Cape, because rolling blackouts are compromising the ability of SMMEs to open, to trade, and to expand. Ensuring a reliable and affordable energy supply is fundamental to the success of entrepreneurs in the Western Cape, and it is for this reason that Premier Winde has recently announced the establishment of a Cabinet-level task team to look at what more can be done, together with businesses, local government, civil society, to increase energy resilience, to protect the economy, jobs and the well-being of our citizens.

Over the course of the week, the Department of Economic Development and Tourism (DEDAT) will host two webinars to empower entrepreneurs with key information to contribute to their success, including information on incentives and business support options.

The first webinar will be held on Monday, 14 November 2022, and will focus on tax obligations and incentives for small enterprises – click here(link is external) to register.

The second webinar will be hosted on Thursday, 17 November 2022 and will focus on simplifying funding and business support criteria, to discuss what  funding options are available to entrepreneurs – click here(link is external) to register.

This Global Entrepreneurship week, we will continue to celebrate the drivers of our economy, and work to provide the necessary support they need to help us achieve break-out economic growth that drives job creation.

Source: Government of South Africa