Relief schemes for township and rural SMMEs.

Small Business Development Minister Khumbudzo Ntshavheni announced the interventions in a statement released recently.The schemes will benefit informal, micro and small enterprises including cooperatives based in townships and rural villages. The inter-vention

is in addition to the Spaza Support Scheme unveiled in March.“The dedicated support programmes for township and village-based enterprises are in line with the Department’s

Township and Rural Entrepreneurship Programme (TREP) that was approved by Cabinet in February 2020.“With the re-opening of the economy, the township and village economies require special focus if government is to achieve the aspirations of the new economy post-

COVID-19 which were clearly articulated by President Cyril Ramaphosa,” Ntshavheni said.

Qualifying entrepreneurs can apply to the Small-scale bakeries and confectioneries support scheme; informal and small-scale clothing and textile support scheme; and the Automotive Aftermarkets Support.Who qualifies to apply? • An entity must be registered with CIPC as a legal entity including cooperatives;

>>The business must 100% be owned by South African nationals;

>>Employees must be 70% South Africans, and in the case of non-South African employees – they must hold valid work permits as determined by the Department of Home Affairs;

>>The business must be operating in a township or rural village;

>>The business must be registered or must apply for registration with SARS and UIF; and

>>The business must have a valid business bank account or willing to open a business

account.

Additional information about these schemes is available online on; www.dsbd.gov.za, www.sefa.org.za,www.mybindu.org.za and https://smmesa.gov.za,Government formalises over 2,000 Spaza shops Meanwhile, Small Business Development Minister Khumbudzo Ntshavheni says her department has formalised over 2,000 Spaza shops during the Covid-19 pandemic. Responding to oral questions in the National Assembly on few months

back, Ntshavheni said this would assist the newly formalised businesses to build

a credit profile, which would make them viable to access financing with banking institutions.

“We were able to formalise 2,242 Spaza shops and [we] are processing applications from 4,406 Spaza shops. We are already processing applications from 31 small-scale and informal bakeries, some of which are run by cooperatives. We have 33 applications from motor mechanics and panel beaters, and also from 15 enterprises that are making clothing

and garments for our people,” she said.The Minister’s response comes after it emerged that when government rolled out relief measures to individuals and small businesses during the early stages of the Coronavirus pandemic, many small businesses were operating informally.Ntshavheni had been asked to indicate what additional measures her department

would initiate and implement to sustain formalised small businesses going forward. She said the dedicated informal and micro-business support schemes, which are targeted at Spaza shops and general dealers, mechanics, panel beaters and fitment centres, micro agri-businesses and chesa nyamas, are not once-off interventions.

She said these small-scale businesses will be supported for the next 12 to 24 months through a support programme that will help them to get business support, business management, financial management and access to the market.“The importance of

formalisaton is that during this difficult period, you are able to assist these businesses to build a credit profile, and then they can be able to access credit from financial banks without being dependent on government.

“We are supporting these small enterprises to formalise and we will stay with them for the next 24 months because we want them to build a credit profile and run profitable businesses.

We have also partnered with the banks to make sure they can create products that are suitable and less costly to the small and informal businesses.”

Additional Information by: Bizcommunity.com