South Africa must build an inclusive and thriving economy, which includes transforming industries and their value chains, so those small businesses can participate meaningfully, according to Small Business Development Minister Stella Ndabeni-Abrahams. The minister said there were many ways to transform the economy and they needed to be explored.
Currently, the industrial structure of the economy was biased towards big businesses, which was to the detriment of their smaller counterparts, she told a webinar held by the ANC Joburg Region this week. “The existing fund structures, compliance frameworks, procurement policies and programmes including government’s, tend to favour monopolies,” Ndabeni-Abrahams said,
“Small businesses and the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR), as the economy for the future, present an opportunity to transform our economy.” The webinar focused on using 4IR as a pillar of economic transformation through small businesses. She said that for SMMEs to thrive in the digital economy, the country had to do away with an apartheid-structured economy.
“It is now 27 years into democracy and the South African economy remains highly centralised and concentrated in the hands of a few,” the minister said.
“How far are we in dismantling the apartheid structure of our economy and what are the immediate tasks for economic transformation in South Africa? Ensuring full participation within the South African economy is essential if deals of equity, prosperity and inclusive growth are to be achieved.”
Ndabeni-Abrahams stressed that the economy that was being rebuilt due to the Covid-19 pandemic and recession, had to support entrepreneurship and ensure sufficient liquidity to finance innovative ideas. “The 4IR could be leveraged by the ANC to find solutions to transform our society and finally create a portal for its motive in radically tampering with the economy’s status quo,” the minister said.
“The South African government has been required to act with speed in bracing the 4IR in leveraging it to empower businesses to increase innovation and productivity and in creating new employment avenues. “The 4IR is moving on a trajectory that we cannot overlook as it has an impact on the world of work, schooling, research, businesses and societies at large,” she said.
Ndabeni-Abrahams also urged South Africans to get their Covid-19 vaccinations. “We must continue to encourage South Africans to vaccinate for our economy to achieve herd immunity which will open up the economy and quickly rescue our small businesses that continue to suffer under the regulations,” she said.
