Category: Industry

Investing in small businesses is critical to stimulating the country’s economic growth and alleviating poverty.

This is according to Eskom Development Foundation Chief Executive, Cecil Ramonotsi.

In support of small businesses, Eskom is encouraging small business owners to enter the power utility’s Business Investment Competition which closes at the end of this month.

The annual competition targets black-owned small, medium and micro enterprises (SMMEs).

“This year, as many young black entrepreneurs as possible with registered businesses that are two years or older are encouraged to participate. Youth-owned enterprises require major investment and mentorship. Thus, Eskom focuses on boosting, rewarding, and empowering growing businesses.

“In the South African context, development of black entrepreneurs is key to bolstering the country’s socio-economic growth and alleviating the prevailing poverty, crime, domestic violence, and other challenges within our communities,” Ramonotsi said.

Entry requirements for the competition include 100% black owned small businesses that operate in the engineering, construction, manufacturing, agriculture and agri-processing or trade and services sectors.

Prize money of at least R300 000 is up for grabs for the overall winner with R131 250 for winners in different sectors.

The first and second runners-up will each receive R75 000 and R50 000.

Ramonotsi added that public and private investment in SMMEs would go a long way to “ensure sustainable and inclusive economic growth, particularly in the townships and other marginalised communities”.

“Eskom is well aware of the concerted effort required to ensure inclusive economic participation. Our 2021 Business Investment Competition is intended to support black youth entrepreneurs with access to finance, as well as through skills and capacity building so that they are able to pivot the harsh economic environment brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic,” he said.

The Business Investment Competition is open for entries and will close at midnight on 31 October, 2021.

Enter at www.eskombic2021.co.za or email Grounded Media at [email protected] for support and assistance.

Source: South African Government News Agency

South Africa’s vision of an equal and just society will remain elusive if women continue to shoulder the greatest burden of poverty; struggle to start businesses and face discrimination in the workplace.

This is the sentiment shared by President Cyril Ramaphosa who was speaking in the inaugural Women Economic Assembly (WECONA) – an initiative to facilitate the participation of women-owned businesses in core areas of the economy.

While there is significant progress in some areas, the first citizen acknowledged that South Africa has not fundamentally transformed patterns of ownership, control and benefit in the economy.

“The empowerment of women is, therefore, an integral part of our effort to achieve inclusive growth, create jobs and expand economic opportunities for all,” he said on Wednesday.

Procurement

He reminded guests that the national government has allocated R21 billion to implement the National Strategic Plan over the next few years which is dedicated to economic empowerment programmes.

“Every government department, public institution and private company can and should implement mechanisms to fast-track preferential procurement for women-owned enterprises.”

In addition, the current public procurement accounts for 9% of gross domestic product, which is about R500 billion annually, of which 12% went to women-owned enterprises in the first and second quarters of 2021.

However, he said as government expands procurement opportunities for women in government, it would never be enough to answer the need.

“Business, as the key driver of economic growth and employment, needs to step forward,” he said, adding that business needs to intentionally use industry value and supply chains as key tools for economic transformation.

“Through value chain transformation, we can promote the development of small, medium and micro enterprises (SMMEs) owned by women, youth and black people.”

By allowing them to produce value-added goods and services, the President said companies enable SMMEs to attract investment and employ more people. He highlighted six targets that are needed to advance through these commitments and plans.

These includes increasing the number of women-owned enterprises within the sector, establishing an ecosystem of support for female business owners and employment of women and youth with set targets. In addition, he said rebuilding township and rural economies in an inclusive manner, creating an enabling policy environment and encouraging similar commitments in related industries, was also key.

“If effectively implemented by all stakeholders, our actions will benefit not only the women of this country, but the whole economy through employment creation, increased production capacity and accelerated economic growth.”

The President said he would also like to see more women entrepreneurs trained in compliance and registration, procurement and regulatory framework, financial literacy, marketing and access to markets and finance and growth opportunities.

Underrepresentation

President Ramaphosa lamented the underrepresentation of women in almost every part of the economy and as owners in key industries like steel, energy, mining and agriculture.

Meanwhile, women continue to bear the brunt of an unemployment rate, which is nearly 37%, compared to 32% among men.

In addition, the President said, women’s median monthly earnings were 76% of those of men in 2018.

He believed that these disparities not only lead to an imbalanced economy, but also contribute to gender inequality in society.

The President told delegates that 42% of children live only with their mother, compared to 4% who live only with their father.

Meanwhile, he raised his concern at the reasons given by children aged seven to 18 years for not attending school. He said 17% of females cited family commitments, while only 0.3% of males did.

The President called on every sector of society to roll up their sleeves and get involved in the process of social transformation.

Government is playing its part by prioritising women economic empowerment as one of the pillars of the National Strategic Plan of Gender-Based Violence and Femicide.

“By improving the economic circumstances of women, we are reducing their vulnerability to abuse and violence. By being less economically dependent on male partners, women have a better chance of leaving an abusive relationship,” he stressed.

Source: South African Government News Agency

Minister of Public Works and Infrastructure, Patricia de Lille, has unveiled 55 new projects with some 538 500 estimated employment opportunities at the Sustainable Infrastructure Development Symposium South Africa (SIDSSA).

Speaking at the symposium held on Wednesday, the Minister said she was presenting the second round of 55 projects for SIDSSA 2021 to raise funding to get these projects into construction.

“The 55 new projects being presented to the market are from various sectors valued at around R595 billion with a funding gap of around R441 billion.

“One of the projects I am very proud being presented this year is the private sector Maitland Metro Precinct Development in Cape Town which is already in construction with the first units expected to be completed in November this year,” de Lille said.

The Minister said that during her visit at the site of this integrated, affordable, well-located human settlements development a few weeks ago, she realised that the teams are moving fast to get the project completed and bring affordable housing to gap the market in Cape Town.

The private sector project will see around 1 200 new residential units being developed for the rental, social housing and FLISP market targeting low to middle income earners.

Progress since last SIDSSA

De Lille said that over the past 15 months good progress has been made with a greater impetus on infrastructure development since the 2020 SIDSSA.

On 23 June 2020, President Cyril Ramaphosa held the inaugural SIDSSA where 62 projects were pitched to the market.

These projects form the Infrastructure Investment Plan which was approved by Cabinet in May 2020.

“The projects were pitched to the market at last year’s SIDSSA where we were able to raise R340 billion in funding commitments from the private sector which helped to take the pressure off the struggling fiscus,” de Lille said.

The past year also saw the establishment of Infrastructure South Africa (ISA) headed by Dr Kgosientsho Ramokgopa as the single entry point for all infrastructure projects in the country.

ISA is the administrative arm responsible for monitoring and tracking the implementation of the projects in the Infrastructure Investment Plan, raising funding and assisting with project preparation to ensure that projects carry less risk upfront.

De Lille said that following SIDSSA last year, they have also operationalised the R100 billion Infrastructure Fund with R10 billion committed from government over a ten-year period as a blended financing instrument to crowd in additional private sector finance to grow the country’s infrastructure programme.

“We have established various governance structures including the Investment Infrastructure Committee which approves the pipeline of projects that lend themselves to blended finance,” she said.

The Infrastructure Fund manages a pipeline of more than R80 billion rand, providing the seed funding for these projects and crowding in investors through blended finance innovative approaches.

To date, the infrastructure investment committee has approved a number of projects that will be funded through the infrastructure fund.

De Lille has called on government and the private sector to work closer together to disrupt the old way of doing things.

“We need to quickly address policy reforms, raise the necessary funding to get infrastructure delivery done right for the sake of our economy and our people who not only need infrastructure in their daily lives but desperately need jobs,” she said.

The symposium will continue tomorrow under the theme: “Quality infrastructure for development, recovery and inclusive growth”.

Source: South African Government News Agency

Minister in the Presidency, Mondli Gungubele, says the second Sustainable Infrastructure Development Symposium of South Africa (SIDSSA21) is intended to contribute to industrialisation and job creation as envisaged in the Economic Reconstruction and Recovery Plan.

“The interventions identified will boost demand and ensure effective coordination of all infrastructure players and it will also formalise systematic engagements of all the role players. It is envisaged that these interventions will contribute to building a resilient economy by accelerating the delivery of infrastructure,” the Minister said on Wednesday.

He was addressing a media briefing on SIDSSA21 where he unpacked the thematic focus areas of the symposium and, by extension, the 2021 infrastructure pipeline.

“The SIDSSA21 is focused on three focal areas as they have critical relevance to our country and to sustainable infrastructure delivery, namely development, which relates to development and delivery of infrastructure and the development of our people through infrastructure delivery,” the Minister said.

The symposium will also focus on the recovery of the economy through infrastructure delivery as well inclusive growth, which relates to redressing spatial imbalances between urban and rural areas through infrastructure delivery programmes.

“The entire population should be included in the benefits associated with the infrastructure investment and subsequent gross fixed capital formation,” he said.

Since SIDSSA20, government has embarked on visits to all nine provinces to ensure that the infrastructure pipeline of the country includes all the provincial infrastructure priorities as well.

“Our plans today will speak of the key progress and success areas, which further boosted the funding and investment case for the projects. One of these projects was South Africa’s emergence as a global exporter of green energy with major investment support from Sasol and Anglo American giving boost to the country’s green hydrogen projects.”

Water infrastructure projects with the potential of achieving savings in excess of R400 billion and massive job creation possibilites are also set to benefit from the infrastructure initiative.

“Transport programmes like the N2 Wild Coast development, which brings development, and job opportunities are also involved.

“The programme also covers 18 long-standing strategic integrated projects focusing on social and economic infrastructure to assess progress and apply remedies where necessary to fast-track their implementation,” Gungubele said.

Areas the symposium will tackle are on increasing infrastructure funding in the face of low economic growth, limited private sector participation and constraints on public borrowing as well as the role of investment attraction and retention strategies, regulatory reforms and critical skills.

Digital enablement also features on the agenda and delegates will take a look at the socio-political factors that impact on infrastructure provision and maintenance.

The two-day symposium is organised by the Investment and Infrastructure Office in the Presidency.

It is taking place under the theme: “Quality infrastructure for development, recovery and inclusive growth”.

The Minister said the symposium is preceded by a series of targeted engagements aimed at soliciting important feedback from financing institutions on potential projects for showcasing at the symposium on funding in the short to medium term.

“The sessions are also able to give an indication of projects that will still need project preparation,” he said.

Source: South African Government News Agency

Chemicals and energy giant Sasol has announced a first-of-its-kind memorandum of agreement with the Northern Cape government to conduct a two-year feasibility study for a landmark green hydrogen project in the province’s Boegoebaai.

Another memorandum of agreement has also been signed with the Gauteng provincial government.

The announcement was made by Sasol’s Vice President for Energy Business Priscillah Mabelane, at the second annual Sustainable Infrastructure Development Symposium of South Africa (SIDSSA) on Wednesday.

According to Mabelane, the project in the Northern Cape could potentially produce at least 400 kilo tons of hydrogen every year.

The project underpins the province’s Green Hydrogen strategy – a precursor to the country’s Green Hydrogen strategy.

“A project of this magnitude has the potential to create up to 6000 direct jobs – generating much needed socio-economic benefits including creating further indirect jobs across the ecosystem. We are very excited to be leading this feasibility study as part of unlocking South Africa’s ambition to a global green hydrogen export player,” she said.

With countries moving towards lowering carbon emissions, hydrogen – which only emits water vapour when used – is considered to be the fuel of the future but large scale use of hydrogen was hampered because of the need to burn fossil fuels when extracting it.

Now countries such as South Africa, which have great potential and access to renewable energy resources, are able to produce clean hydrogen without the need to burn any fuel which can potentially place them as leading players in a green hydrogen economy.

This, Mabelane said, gives South Africa immense potential to benefit from the green economy.

“South Africa’s total green hydrogen potential could reach four to seven million tons by 2050 with over three million tons of export opportunity. This catalyses the roll out of more than 50GW of renewable energy for South Africa, contributing more than R100 billion per annum to our economy and creating more than 370 000 jobs to 2050.”

Mabelane added that as part of Sasol’s approach to “developing a hydrogen economy”, the company has established several partnerships – including signing a memorandum of agreement with the Gauteng government.

“We signed a memorandum with the Gauteng provincial government to leverage special economic zones. These have been earmarked as enablers to unlock South Africa’s green hydrogen market potential for domestic use such as mobility, revitalisation of the steel industry and sustainable aviation fuel, particularly at OR Tambo [International Airport],” she said.

Head of Infrastructure and Investment in the Presidency, Dr Kgosientsho Ramokgopa, said the memoranda of agreement are an indication of South Africa’s commitment to lowering the country’s carbon emissions.

“Green hydrogen is the 21st century oil and it’s going to contribute in the agenda of the country as led by [Environment, Forestry and Fisheries] Minister Barbara Creecy of making sure that we meet our obligations with regard to our nationally determined contribution, the net zero [carbon emissions] path that we have articulated and it should constitute part of the totality of submission when we go to [the United Nations Climate Change conference],” he said.

Source: South African Government News Agency

Transport Minister Fikile Mbalula has unveiled four bridges connecting the North West province with the Free State across the Vaal River.

Addressing the launch of October Transport Month on Tuesday in Vermaasdrift, North West, the Minister said the first bridge is located on Road SD860, with a span of 180 meters and is located approximately 20km southwest of Klerksdorp.

“The second bridge is located on Road D836, with a span of 180 meters and is situated southeast of Orkney. The third bridge is located on Road D642 also with a span of 180 meters and is situated southeast of Stilfontein.

“The fourth bridge is where Road P89/2 crosses the Vaal River approximately 34km southeast of Potchefstroom and has a span of 246 meters,” Mbalula said.

The bridges will enable the farming communities to transport their various produce from the farms to the local markets.

The four bridges forms part of the labour Intensive S’hamba Sonke programme, aimed at addressing the maintenance backlog in the secondary network and contribute to sustainable livelihoods through job creation initiatives.

The Minister said the initiative allows that national and provincial spheres of government work towards common road maintenance targets while augmenting funding through the Provincial Roads Maintenance Grant.

“The conceptualisation of the S’Hamba Sonke Programme was premised on the reality that while South Africa’s national road network is in good to very good condition, this is not the case with our secondary road networks, or provincial roads.

“Over the medium term, the maintenance of provincial roads, largely funded through the provincial roads maintenance grant, is set to receive R37.5 billion over the MTEF period,” Mbalula said.

The Department of Transport will use the Transport Month campaign to showcase flagship projects intended to create more jobs in South Africa.

The S’hamba Sonke programme is one of the projects that will accelerate efforts to meet the government’s target of creating 11 million job opportunities by the year 2030 as outlined in the National Development Plan (NDP).

Source: South African Government News Agency