Policy makers and researchers agree that a thriving SMME sector is the key to job creation in this country, but accessing finance, particularly in the early stage of a business, is very difficult.
With the National Development Plan predicting that by 2030 SMMEs will generate 90% of the 11 million new jobs aimed for, the future could be very bright, said Menzies.
However, a report on SMME access to finance, conducted by Finfind, identifies access to funding as a major hurdle for many formal micro, small and medium enterprises (SMMEs) in South Africa.
Without finance, the probability of business growth and the creation of this number of jobs is unlikely.
“The problem is not a lack of funding, there is a lot of finance available for viable SMMEs – the issue being able to access it. The Finfind report highlights some of the key obstacles that SMMEs need to overcome to do this and similarly, it also emphasises areas that funders need to address, to ensure that many more finance applications are approved for this vital sector,” Menzies said.
