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Sasol launches R54m business incubator

Trade and Industry Deputy Minister Mzwandile Masina, flanked by Sasol’s Maurice Radebe and Metsimaholo municipality executive mayor Councillor Brutus Mahlaku

Trade and Industry Deputy Minister Mzwandile Masina, flanked by Sasol’s Maurice Radebe and Metsimaholo municipality executive mayor Councillor Brutus Mahlaku

9th May 2016

By: Anine Kilian

Contributing Editor Online

  

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Sasol and the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) on Monday launched a R54-million Sasol Business Incubator (SBI) in Sasolburg, in the Free State.

The SBI would be aimed at accelerating the successful development of local start-up small, medium-sized and microenterprises (SMMEs) and promoting their sustainability in the manufacturing sector.

Speaking at the event, Trade and Industry Deputy Minister Mzwandile Masina said that the launch proved that when the public and private sectors worked together they could contribute to changing the lives of South Africans.

“Initiatives like this are important to ensure that we move forward with government’s programme of radical economic transformation,” he said, adding that the SBI would help black industrialists produce and manufacture goods that could be consumed and used locally, as well as exported.

“The dividends of a thriving economy must be distributed equally. Colonialism and apartheid have divided us as people and the majority of black people are not participating in the mainstream economy,” he noted. 

He highlighted the SBI, which would help establish 240 new enterprises, as a world-class facility that would bring dignity to South African citizens.

“We want people building their own factories on their own land, which will be possible through the SBI,” he said.

Masina noted that government wanted to build an inclusive economy for all citizens and not on racial lines.

“We want to see those [enterprises] coming from this incubation doing well,” he added.

Sasol energy business VP Maurice Radebe said that the SBI was a pilot programme and that it would most likely extend throughout the country in the medium term.

“Business incubation is one of the most dynamic and successful measures to nurture startup companies. [It is also] critical to ensure business longevity,” he said.

Developed under the auspices of Sasol’s enterprise and supplier development department, the SBI, located on the 172-ha Eco Industrial Park, in Sasolburg, was developed to host a diverse mix of SMMEs that could support each other to ensure the sustainability of their businesses and create employment opportunities for the communities in the area.

It currently comprised 151 stands, which were fully serviced and available for sale at competitive prices.
Radebe added that, especially with South Africa not being downgraded to junk status by ratings agency Moody’s, entrepreneurs and businesspeople could help ensure that the country continued on a growth trajectory.

“We created this incubator, in conjunction with the DTI, to fast-track startup entrepreneurs, especially in the manufacturing sector. Sasol wants to drive economic growth through SMME’s to support localisation and diversification of supply chains by providing business development,” he noted.

Radebe added that the SBI would bring to life the vision of growing the local manufacturing sector as a strategic driver of the South African economy.

“As a proud contributor to South Africa’s economic development, Sasol believes that stimulating entrepreneurial activity has significant potential in enhancing industrial growth,” he said.

The SBI comprised five individual buildings that occupied a total of 4 000 m2 and included access to fully equipped manufacturing facilities and essential business infrastructure.

The incubator model supported SMMEs in two distinct phases, namely physical incubation and virtual incubation.

Physical incubation support ranged from 3 to 12 months. During this time a startup enterprise would engage in the commercialisation of its product with dedicated support from an SBI specialist, after which they would graduate and exit the SBI with the intention of establishing their enterprise within the Eco Industrial Park.

During the virtual phase, the enterprise would continue to receive support from an SBI specialist for an additional 24 months to ensure sustainability.

“South Africa must become an entrepreneurial nation,” Radebe concluded.

Edited by Samantha Herbst
Creamer Media Deputy Editor

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