The Department of Telecommunications and Postal Services (DTPS) has issued a request for information to South Africa’s information and communication technology (ICT) small, medium-sized and microenterprises (SMMEs) in an effort to develop and promote the smaller players.

Information about economic activities, the size of SMMEs in the ICT sector and their “peculiar” challenges, including around their business models, was still “very sketchy,” Telecommunications and Postal Services Minister Dr Siyabonga Cwele said in the government gazette published last week.

“Other than in Internet service-related business activities, not much has been done in terms of showcasing and profiling other opportunities available [to SMMEs] in the ICT sector, including electronic manufacturing, assembly, content development, repairs and refurbishment,” the DTPS stated.

This has led to policy interventions being skewed towards general SMMEs and had created difficulty in terms of targeted ICT SMME gains.

The scoping exercise aimed to “really understand” ICT SMMEs, their size, business activities and exact challenges to mitigate obstacles faced in developing and promoting SMMEs and cooperatives to accelerate black economic-empowerment and job creation.

The information gathered could lead to the re-engineering of ICT SMME development to enable participation across the entire ICT value chain, as well as creating specific support mechanisms assisting the smaller players to achieve certain levels of competitiveness in the industry.

Further, the “vast and limitless” opportunities in the ICT sector provided a “fertile ground” for SMME incubation, development and promotion.

The DTPS estimated that only 6 737 of the total 428 540 formal and economically active SMMEs in the country operated in the ICT sector.

“This implies that ICT SMMEs accounted for about 1.6% of the total formal small enterprises in South Africa in 2008,” Cwele commented.

South African SMMEs operating in the ICT sector are not as productive and as competitive as they should be, mostly owing to limited access to markets, inadequate capital and insufficient business and technical skills.

This meant that there were “very low” entry rates of SMMEs into the productive "value added" segment of the ICT sector.

Interested parties had until August 29 to submit specific information such as the company’s name; black economic-empowerment ownership percentage; the number of years in operation; the sector of operation and the nature of the business.

SMMEs were also required to describe the business activity, include three major cost drivers, give details of their major clients, outline local or international partnerships and list the number of employees and the company’s yearly turnover, as well as the challenges faced and the nature of support required.