Pretoria - Government has identified business incubation as a priority area in helping transform the economy to promote industrial development, investment, competitiveness and employment creation.
This is according to the CEO of Small Enterprise Development Agency (Seda), Hlonela Lupuwana, who highlighted the importance of business incubators while addressing a gathering on Seda's Annual Incubation Day, recently held at the at the Durban Exhibition Centre.
Before small enterprises can start creating jobs, they need to first stabilise and become sustainable.
However, many small enterprises do not survive past the most difficult phase of any start-up enterprise - the first year or two of operation.
With small enterprises expected to play a major role in employment creation in the country, government has recognised the need to assist them to become sustainable through business incubation.
Since its inception in 2006, Seda's Technology Programme has created 31 incubators across the country. It has helped 80% of small enterprises incubated in its centres to survive the first two years of trading - giving them a real chance at being sustainable and to create jobs.
"In the past financial year, the Seda Technology Programme (Stp) created 5 305 direct, indirect and casual jobs; increased its support to 756 small enterprises; and assisted in increasing the turnover of the small enterprises it supports from R169 million in the previous year to R206 million.
"We are on course to see these figures increasing as more small enterprises go the technology incubation route. This can only bode well for our country's drive to create employment," said Lupuwana.
Technology business incubation involves empowering small enterprises to use technology to improve their competitiveness.
The programme currently funds and works directly with 31 incubators across the country, ranging from ICT small enterprises to enterprises in the aluminium, platinum and bio-diesel industries.
These incubators provide the necessary business infrastructure and strategic guidance, as well as an environment in which information, experiences and ideas can be freely exchanged.
This builds entrepreneurs' skills and knowledge bases, better preparing them for business in the open market, with a view to increasing profitability and growth.
The Stp was established in 2006 by the Department of Trade and Industry, through the merger of Godisa Trust and the National Technology Transfer Centre, as part of government's national strategy to consolidate small enterprises support interventions across the various government departments and agencies.
