Economic Development Annual Report

Annual Report 2023/2024 Mpumalanga: Department of Economic Development and Tourism - Vote 6

Amongst the priority areas was the creation of an enabling business environment for small businesses and cooperatives to grow and develop. The Department continued to promote and support an enabling business environment and ecosystem that enables small business to grow and develop; facilitate the process of empowerment, as well as promote economic growth and development of regional and local economies which is critical for economic growth and job creation. Overall, the department, assisted in providing access to markets, capacity building, inculcating a culture of entrepreneurship with the associated pipeline of potential entrants drawn from various initiatives, business development support and sustainable procurement. These initiatives contributed towards job creation and the expansion of businesses by enabling them to inter alia, move up in the value chains within sectors such as green economy, manufacturing, mining and the township economy. The department was also successful in supporting cooperatives in the waste management sector of the Green Economy, hair salons and spaza shops with safety wear equipment and basic business skills management. The supported cooperatives included woman, and youth owned businesses. We also supported local businesses with the purpose of revitalizing the Township Economy by providing support to black owned tyre businesses. The black owned tyre outlets were provided support through training (business management and technical training), access to trye stock, as well as branding in partnership with MerSeta and Sumitomo Rubber SA. Support was also provided to manufacturing companies with the potential to participate in the Black Industrialist Programme. The department successfully established the Provincial Broad Based Black Economic Empowerment Advisory Council which comprise of stakeholders from industry, organised business, organised labour and members of the civil society to support government in the implementation of Economic Transformation. Further to that we facilitated the provision of business infrastructure and reduction of the cost of doing business for SMME’s by achieving all these targets has contributed towards the Department strategic outcome orientated goals, which will invariably impact on the strategic priorities of government. The department is mandated to support the development of industries within the key economic sectors of the Province, and to create a conducive environment for trade and investment, the following have been achieved: We managed to enhance access to markets for Furntech and MSI SMMEs, with six (6) SMMEs participating in the Manufacturing Indaba 2023, and an additional twenty (20) SMMEs participated in the Global Exporter Passport Programme (GEPP) training. The department also conducted two (2) Export awareness seminar programmes in the Govan Mbeki and Thembisile Hani Local Municipalities with 85 and 142 SMMEs in attendance, respectively. In order to bolster its support for trade and export promotion initiatives, a functional Provincial Trade and Investment Forum was established. During the period under review, eleven (11) market intelligence reports were produced to inform business of new market opportunities in Angola, Dubai (UAE), Brazil, Congo, Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, Mozambique, Thailand, South Korea and Austria. Regarding the process of implementing the Nkomazi SEZ Interim Phase, the interim Board is in place to drive the implementation of the SEZ Interim Phase. Furthermore, the Entity has been registered as – Mpumalanga Nkomazi SEZ SOC LTB, however, it is proposed that this Entity becomes a wholly owned subsidiary of MEGA for efficiency and competitiveness. The SEZ Layout plan and General Plan is approved to in line with the needs of the confirmed investors, and currently in the process of addressing the issue of the detailed engineering designs. In relation to the Petro-Chemical Technology Industrial Technology Park in Govan Mbeki, the General Plan was approved by the Surveyor General. The Department is now busy with the process of the opening of the township register, which requires Section 53 approval from the Department of Mineral Resources, thereafter, the project would be completed.

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