To ensure economically disadvantaged groups have access to appropriate services, which give them the opportunity to participate more fully in the SMME sector.

GOAL

To create an environment and promote sustainable organisations which are conducive to the establishment and expansion of viable businesses and employment opportunities amongst economically disadvantaged groups.

OBJECTIVES

• Building capabilities for business development
  To identify the needs of the primary target groups and develop a comprehensive programme to build their capacity and capabilities for business development.

• Promoting effective frameworks and practices
  To design and implement a framework for the standard assessment and promotion of SMME support services which pursue best practices relevant to young people, women, people with disabilities and rural communities.

• Promoting role models
  To identify appropriate role models of young people, women, and people with disabilities in business, as well as rural enterprises, and promote an entrepreneurial culture amongst these groups.

• Mainstreaming
  To ensure the issues and concerns of people with disabilities, young people, women and rural communities in the SMME sector are properly addressed and incorporated in policy, planning, research and programme development through concerted and participatory processes.

PROGRAMMES

A. YOUTH ENTERPRISE INITIATIVE PROGRAMME

1. School Leavers Opportunity Training (SLOT)
2. Project Grime Busters
3. "One Stop Shop" Programme

1.

Project Title: School Leavers Opportunity Training (SLOT)

Description

This project will offer educationally deprived unemployed and out-of-school young women and men a four phased development programme, focusing on career education and training, technical education and training, micro business education and training, enterprise marketing education and training, and monitoring and evaluation.

Time Frame: 1998 / 1999 financial year

Geographical Coverage: Northern Cape, Southern Cape and Northern Kwa Zulu Natal

Project Partner: SLOT

2.

Project Title: Project Grime Busters

Description

This project aims to initiate a holistic job creation recycling enterprise model for young women and men who are already participating in youth development training programmes.

Time Frame: 1998 / 1999 financial year

Geographical Coverage: Kwa Zulu Natal, Northern Province and Gauteng

Project Partner: Joint Enrichment Project (JEP), Department of Environmental Affairs, Private Sector

3.

Project Title: "One Stop Shop" Programme

Description

This project seeks to harness the different services and expertise of youth service organisations involved in small business service provision to develop a comprehensive and integrated entrepreneurship programme for urban youth. The programme will explore the potential of the one-stop-shop approach as an effective method in providing SMME support to aspiring young entrepreneurs in an urban environment. This support should include private sector partnerships, local authorities, service providers and CBOs. It is hoped that through this proposed collaborative service provision, valuable lessons will be drawn to enhance and modify the existing services in order to meet the unique needs of young enterprises.

Time Frame: 1998 / 1999 financial year

Geographical Coverage: Gauteng, Western Cape, Kwa Zulu Natal

Project Partner: Centre for Organisational Development (COD)

Targeted Assistance Division has identified and is supporting the following projects under Support Programme for Entrepreneurs with Disabilities:

1. Innovative Business for People with Disabilities
2. Business Transformation
3. Business Development for Entrepreneurs with Disabilities

Project Title: Innovative Business for Entrepreneurs with Disabilities

Description

This project deals with the development of new products required to establish innovative business opportunities for entrepreneurs with disabilities so they may become fully integrated with the main stream economy. Strategic partners will be identified to provide cost-effective raw material, appropriate technologies and capital equipment, which may need to be modified to address specific forms of disabilities, that encourages optimal economic participation by entrepreneurs with disabilities.

Time Frame: 1998 / 1999 financial year

Geographical Coverage: Kwa Zulu Natal and Gauteng

Project Partner: South African National Council for the Blind (SANCB)

2.

Project Title: Business Transformation

Description

This project will focus on transforming sheltered workshops, which are currently providing income generation activities for entrepreneurs with disabilities, by collaborating with organisations to transform these workshops to more profitable, business orientated ventures. The focus of this work will be to assist these organisations in the process of transforming them to be more profitable, business-oriented ventures and away from low paying activities, which are operating in marginal markets. This will involve the creation of a more entrepreneurial organisational culture and the identification of new market opportunities. In this way, entrepreneurs with disabilities who are involved with sheltered workshops will have greater access to resources (e.g. information, training, mentors) for the establishment and expansion of profitable businesses.

Time Frame: 1998 / 1999 financial year

Geographical Coverage: Northern Province, Western Cape

Project Partners: Rivoni Society for the Blind and Cape Town Society for the Blind

3.

Project Title: Business Development for Entrepreneurs with Disabilities

Description

This project provides business training for the expansion and establishment of small businesses for entrepreneurs with disabilities. The training shall focus on organisations of entrepreneurs with disabilities providing training, which will improve the capabilities of these organisations to provide business information, training and counselling to their members. In some cases training will be of a general nature (i.e. focussing on entrepreneurial skills) whilst in other cases, it will emphasise on training for business development within certain industry sub-sectors (e.g. fence making, farming).

Time Frame: 1998 / 1999 financial year

Geographical Coverage: Gauteng

Project Partner: Medunsa Organisation for Disabled Entrepreneurs (MODE)

1. Product Improvement
2. Support Programme for Tourism
3. Small Scale Industry Support for Women

1.

Project Title: Product Improvement

Description

This project provides a mixture of technical and business training skills in product design and development, marketing advice and has a particular focus in the production of craft (e.g. pottery, woodcarving, beadwork, bodging, sewing and basket weaving).

Time Frame: 1998 / 1999 financial year

Geographical Coverage: Kwa Zulu Natal, Eastern Cape, Gauteng

Project Partners: Embocraft Training Centre Trust, Eastern Cape Rural Industries (ECRI), Talking Beads, Foundation for Entrepreneurship Development (FED)

2.

Project Title: Support Programme for Tourism

Description

This project aims to establish the local and sub-regional structures necessary for linking the tourism and crafts businesses to the Spatial Development Initiatives (SDIs) and other macro economic level interventions.

Time Frame: 1998 / 1999 financial year

Geographical Coverage: Eastern Cape

Project Partner: Pondo-Community Resources Optimisation Programme (Pondo-Crop)

3.

Project Title: Small Scale Industry Support for Women

Description

This project encourages and facilitates access to training opportunities for unemployed women who want to learn a range of non-traditional skills in order to start their own businesses. The main target group for this project is unemployed women who are part of a local women's group and want to start their own business in the building industry in their local communities.

Time Frame: 1998 / 1999 financial year

Geographical Coverage: Western Cape

Project Partner: Building Industries Federation South Africa (BIFSA), BIC

Targeted Assistance Division has identified and is supporting the Agricultural Based Products Programme under Rural Initiative.

Project Title: Small Scale Food Processing Project

Description

This project will promote new enterprise opportunities for agricultural based products, through a wide range of value adding training interventions. The project is designed to introduce sun-drying techniques as a means of increasing the value of the output from community vegetable gardens. This project will also include training of women groups in rural areas in basic business skills, packaging and marketing. A model will be developed for replication throughout South Africa.

Time Frame: 1998 / 1999 financial year

Geographical Coverage: Northern Province and Kwa Zulu Natal

Project Partners: CSIR Food Science and Technology (Foodtek), PEACE Foundation, Department of Agriculture Northern Province, UNDP