Pretoria - The Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment (B-BBEE) Commission says community education and participation is crucial to ensure that small business benefit from BEE.
Speaking at an information session in Esikhawini, KwaZulu-Natal, the Director of Compliance at the Commission, Busisiwe Ngwenya, said B-BBEE education is crucial for aspiring small businesses.
“Educational programmes and community participation can benefit small businesses that were unaware of all the economic benefits that government policies provide, especially those that are associated with black empowerment.
“This also eliminates concerns of middle-men, who have access to this information but go back to the community and sell that information when they could have accessed it for free,” said Ngwenya.
The commission, which is an entity of the Department of Trade and Industry, held the information session to raise awareness and educate the community on the B-BBEE Act, the role of the commission and to guide stakeholders on possible pitfalls and how to circumvent them.
Ngwenya said the B-BBEE policy has other angles that seek to benefit start-ups, small medium micro enterprises, women and youth.
Siphosethu Sithole, who owns a scrapyard and car service in Esikhawini, said as a black business owner, it has been difficult to understand how the B-BBEE policy can benefit entrepreneurs in the service sector and other industries.
“With the newly established commission, we hope all the issues we had with B-BBEE will be resolved and everyone will have access to all the economic benefits that it provides.
“The B-BBEE policy education is also long overdue. One can’t be a business owner and only associate the policy with tenders, after all these years that it has been around,” said Sithole. – SAnews.gov.za
