Pretoria – Small Business Development Minister Lindiwe Zulu has encouraged big and small businesses to work together.
Speaking in Cape Town on Friday at the South Africa-Italy Summit, Minister Zulu said it appeared that small businesses tend to participate at the end of the value chain when a product is finished.
“The diversification of supply chains assists big business to have a wider choice of suppliers from SMMEs and promotes innovation within the value chain,” she said.
Minister Zulu said the growth and sustainability of big business therefore depends on a strong small business sector, both as consumers and suppliers.
“In as much as the automotive sector in Italy integrates big and small companies, and has lessons for us in South Africa, let me propose that other sectors that need to be looked at include the ICT (information and communications technology) and renewable energy sectors,” she said.
Minister Zulu told delegates at the summit that South Africa needs more success stories of a symbiotic relationship between big and small businesses.
She said it was encouraging that small business owners were taking advantage of the transformation agenda. – SAnews.gov.za
