STRATEGY/POLICY FOR SMMES AND COOPERTIVES Briefing to Portfolio committee on Small Business Development 11 MARCH Making South Africa a Global Leader in Harnessing ICTs for Socio-economic Development

BACKGROUND Making South Africa a Global Leader in Harnessing ICTs for Socio-economic Development 2 Over the years, the Department of Telecommunications and Postal Services DTPS emphasis on SMME adoption ICTs A dedicated Chief Directorate was established Comprehensive information/data regarding: – ICT SMME economic activities, – the sizes of SMMEs in the ICT sector and – their peculiar challenges, including business models is still very sketchy DTPS included in its 2014/15 Stratplan a commitment to compile a baseline report on ICT SMMEs in SA New emphasis: Supporting and nurturing ICT small businesses so as to unlock them to: – Create jobs – Grow economy – Transform the ICT industry

PROGRESS TO-DATE A gazette was published in August 2014 soliciting inputs from the sector relating to the size, business activities of SMMEs and the challenges they face. The closing date for submission is 29 August Over 100 written submissions have been received and currently being analysed The workshop earlier planned for 8-9 October 2014, postponed several times International benchmarking with comparator countries (China, Japan, Korea, Brazil, Malaysia) commenced Making South Africa a Global Leader in Harnessing ICTs for Socio-economic Development 3

PROGRESS TO DATE A meeting held with Small Business Development held on 2 September 2014 to discuss the partnership and finalise the operational details for the workshop Purpose of the workshop – As part of a process to engage the ICT SMMEs with the purpose to: Solicit further inputs from the sector, Showcase SMMEs opportunities in the ICT sector, Capacitate SMMEs through the presentation by South African Revenue Services (SARS), Department of Trade & Industry (DTI), CPIC on the legislative/regulatory requirements for SMMEs, Develop tangible ways to unlock the potential of the sector as an economic driver for job creation. Making South Africa a Global Leader in Harnessing ICTs for Socio-economic Development 4

Digital Opportunities Pillar of SA Connect identified Digital Entrepreneurship programme as one of the interventions to be implemented to accelerate the uptake and usage of ICTs by SMMEs Two broad aims of the programme: Encourage SMMEs to take advantage of ICTs in how they run their businesses (take advantage of cloud, big data, social media and mobile technologies) Support the creation of dynamic ICT SMMEs with innovative products and services Making South Africa a Global Leader in Harnessing ICTs for Socio-economic Development SA CONNECT: DIGITAL OPPORTUNITIES PILLAR 5

Broad areas of interventions have been identified and will be implemented in the identified NHI sites. These include the following: ICT capacity building programmes – working with relevant partners to support the training and skilling of SMMEs to use ICTs to enhance their profitability (improve business processes, gain access to new markets etc.) Accelerating establishment of Incubator Hubs for ICT SMMEs (with focus on development of e-applications to support e-government) Working with key stakeholders such as the DSBD and DTI to identify local manufacturing opportunities to create jobs, as well as developing appropriate incentives and instruments that can further accelerate the development of ICT SMMEs. Making South Africa a Global Leader in Harnessing ICTs for Socio-economic Development 6

URGENT PRIORITIES IN 2015/16 Hosting the outstanding workshop in March 2015 Finalise the Baseline Report Finalise the ICT SMMEs Strategy (Dependent also on SBD developing the overarching Policy) Submission of the ICT SMMEs Strategy to Cabinet and immediate implementation thereof Making South Africa a Global Leader in Harnessing ICTs for Socio-economic Development 7

THANK YOU 8 Making South Africa a Global Leader in Harnessing ICTs for Socio-economic Development