Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Africa are not being taken seriously, but other States on the continent can learn from the strategy South Africa is implementing to promote growth in this sector, Small Business Development Minister Lindiwe Zulu told delegates at the EY Strategic Growth Forum Africa, in Sandton.

“In South Africa, an example has been made by government . . . ensuring that what other countries talk about in terms of the importance of SMEs in contributing toward the economies of those countries, becomes real,” she noted.

The Banking Association of South Africa estimated that SMEs made up 91% of the country’s formalised businesses and provided employment to about 60% of the labour force, with its total economic output accounting for roughly 34% of the country’s gross domestic product.

Zulu noted that the rest of Africa performed “very badly” in supporting the SME sector, particularly as infrastructure was lacking and poor.

“Those men and women who are in the markets, on the street corners, selling goods to survive or to grow – Africa has not paid attention to them. It is time, as there is also business there. Africa needs to move away from glorifying the poverty in those markets and start giving our people hope,” she stated.

Zulu further said the continent needed to increase its focus on high-end productive sectors - such as infrastructure development, agriculture and agroprocessing, and investing in renewable energy - and incorporate SMEs in those development plans.

Also speaking at the forum, Gauteng Premier David Makhura noted that the province had a role to play in the economic advancement of the continent, noting that it needed to significantly contribute to intra-Africa trade.

“Africa is a continent of vast opportunities; this is obvious. What is not obvious is if these opportunities will be exploited by African entrepreneurs and business people to the benefit of its inhabitants or if others [foreigners] will come in and seize these opportunities as it happened a century ago.

“Africa will no longer be an object of fascination to others, we will become a central determinant of what will happen in the global economy,” he said.