Introduction
The small and medium micro enterprises carry the hope of the government as a strategy in employment creation for the greater South African people and economic inclusion of the marginalized poor and the unemployed as a redistributive strategy.
I will therefore, will be seeking to define the small and medium micro enterprises and explore the potential and challenges of the SMMEs as strategy for economic growth in the second economy. However it will thus be imperative again to try to explore the possible strategies and options which could be feasible to achieve an SMME sector that is capable of promoting economic development and promotion of the government service delivery capacity.
What are Small and medium- micro enterprises?
Walking down West Street in Durban it would not be strange in the present era to see: a woman pushing a trolley full of cooked maize cobs selling them at between R2 and R4 each, while you try to fiddle for some coins in your pocket you hear someone shout ‘hey broer, ma belt, R30 each’ in the midst of all this scuffle you hear bells ringing with shouts of soft drinks in the background. It is a common sight and experience, that you come across these informal small scale traders trying to cash in on the busy shoppers and loiters whether in Durban or around the banks in Mzuzu, Malawi. Whether outside major shops, on street intersections and traffic lights, for small scale business people, the focus is to earn a little something and manage their lives in town, a survival strategy. In this premise therefore, it will be important to appreciate the importance of this sort of trading to peoples livelihood, it makes people support and manage their families and be part of the broader social economic movement. However for definitive purpose, I will categorize this sort of trading as informal sector of the economy that does not have much benefit on the government in terms of impact on economic growth and improvement in service delivery for the government does not yield any tax from such ventures though they may be equally classified as SMMEs. In this essay therefore SMMEs would be defined as small scale and medium business establishments or ventures that are independent of the government and corporate sector and at the same time they are owner managed or co-owned with friends or family with limited capital (human resource or monetary) investment. In terms of human capital, SMMEs are defined to ingrain anything between ‘5 and 200 people’. However in this essay SMMEs would embrace a broad spectrum of business ventures- from people trading informally in street corners (survivalists) to registered formal investments that are dynamic and progressive with greater contribution to the economy and job creation.
SMMEs and local economic development.
At the foremost it is important to appreciate the extent of poverty in South Africa, the historical and socio economic background of the country left a greater proportion of the country into the periphery of consumption, surviving on less than a dollar per day. The apartheid political and social order incarcerated the people of color, especially back women into the margins of socio economic position, with white men on top of the socio economic development pyramid. Thus to understand poverty and its processes in South African context, there is need to dissect the broader socio-historical and political processes that form its people. It is thus in this premise that the South African government is trying to develop some frame works to address the structural poverty that is deeply ingrained into its greater population and that which divides its population into two poles, with the very rich and the very poor living side by side. It is on this plane that small and medium-micro enterprises become another strategy in local economic development to address the underdevelopment and poverty in the people. At this far it is important to ask, how does SMMEs achieve this ascribed role of reduction of underdevelopment?
It is important at the foremost to appreciate that the SMME sector plays an important role as a strategy of inclusion of the greater population into the economic dynamic processes. SMMEs create an environment through which people find employment opportunities guided by their needs and skills whether formally or informally acquired, for skills play a central role in entrepreneurial innovativeness and creativity. It is at this level fair to say that the government on its own cannot create opportunities and jobs for every one, thus in the promotion of the SMME sector of the economy it is trying to stimulate the growth of citizenship energy into the development of innovative measures of addressing poverty through investment into creative ventures that promote the greater benefit of all South Africans. Though venturing into the SMME sector of the economy as Rogerson (1997:5) indicates, the decline in the labor absorptive capacity of the formal economy is interpreted as a major impelling factor for many people to be squeezed in urban and rural SMMEs. Though this might be right, however, it is equally true that there has been equally a greater brave people who have risked their comfortable employment to venture into SMMEs of their choice contributing to the greater benefit of the country through job creation and tax remittance which is central to the improvement of and day to day service delivery by the government. Through SMMEs there is an improvement and reduction of the gap between the rural areas and the towns; thus creating equal opportunities and chances of employment for people in the periphery of our towns and cities. An example of this is Nkhotakota and Mua potteries in the rural central Malawi in which people with the assistance of the catholic church have created one of the best tourist attractions, in these centre people create Cray potteries which they sell to the centers, which exports them to Europe and South Africa, creating job opportunities and equally a better livelihood for the rural people especially women. Coupled with a cultural museum and conference centers people have transformed the area into holiday center deep in the rural areas while equally creating a broader spectrum of job opportunities. This underscores the impact of enacting the best from the people through socio economic involvement and empowerment. Through such ventures people show their creative potential and contribute to the greater benefit of their communities and nation as a whole.
The government through its agencies like Khula Enterprise finance, Khula Credit Guarantee and Ntsika Enterprise Promotion Agency’ Rogerson (1997:17) contributes to an empowerment strategy in the economic and human capital muscle of the SMMEs, to strengthen their institutional capacity in that they continue to grow and with stand the turbulent market world. The skills in business innovativeness and management are an integral part of a successful business- this creates an entrepreneur who is able to stay focused and be able to strategically vision and drive the business in the face of market threats. Thus skills training and economic empowerment of the SMMEs by the government through its agents protects the jobs that have been created through the development of this sector. At the same time it is equally true that this works as an economic redistributive process for the greater benefit of the greater citizenry, with SMMEs there is an improvement of the service delivery. Through revenue collected through taxation the government is able to reach out top the poor of the society through pension grants, HIV grants and other social grants, to add to this the government has to offer health and education services which are financially demanding and it is through this than an expanded SMME sector that is integrated into the formal economy would form as a beacon of the economic redistribution.
It is also important to appreciate that with SMMEs ‘the towns are brought to the people’, this reduces the distance and costs of traveling for people to get their daily basic needs and at the same time reduces on migration to towns and cities which is also equally central to poverty and unemployment. Central to this is the idea that SMMEs promote competition, with competition there is a tendency to explore other areas that are business permissive which includes the rural areas. It is a common sight nowadays to see popular business establishment migrating to the rural areas, this facilitates the development of better infrastructure which is central to socioeconomic development. But at the same time it is important to appreciate that ‘empirical evidence from other countries also indicate that SMMEs are more efficient users of capital under most conditions’ (Richards et al, 2002:109). Thus SMMEs are a viable vehicle of achieving efficiency and competitive economic growth that is capable of absorbing the people that have fallen off from the ‘traditional’ employment sector.
Through the fight to stay in competition with other market players SMMEs play a crucial role of inculcating in people valuable skills which are central to economic productivity as Harvie (2002: 35) affirm, ‘ they raise the level of skills with their flexible and innovative nature. Thus SMEs can generate important benefits in terms of creating a skilled industrial base and industries and developing a well prepared service sector capable of contributing to GDP through higher value added”. It is equally true that SMMEs can play a vital role of generating direct foreign exchange through growth of exportation capacity of the country. It is also true that SMMEs take advantage of the existing resource in the country, thus promoting growth in the raw material providers whether in farming, mining and other local based initiatives; through this, SMMEs directly contribute to the national capacity to trade with other countries while at the same time shaping the industrial capacity of the SMME sector.
Weaknesses of SMMEs as a Vehicle for Local economic development
The major challenge with entrusting SMMEs as vehicle for local economic development lies in their nature, with most of the SMMEs categorized as survivalist. As Rogerson (1997:3) puts it, “the largest of the South African SMME economy is the survivalist sector, which numbers an estimated 2.5 million as compared to 800,000 in the rest of the SMME economy”. This entails that much as this may be generating billions of Rands in profits it is not touched by the government. It has a potential to limiting the governments service delivery capacity. Thus the major challenge then is to factor in some mechanisms that would promote the movement of the larger informal survivalist sector into being registered and tax compliant for the benefit of the greater good of the nation as a whole
Secondly, SMMEs are limited in financial capacity, thus their growth and function may be liable to hinging on labour malpractices like child labor and poor wage jobs. As Diermen (2002:222) affirms when he says that with the decline in labour laws employees have sought out cheap labour and the demand for child labour has increased particularly in less regulated SME sector. In the South Africa taxi industry it is common sight nowadays to see young boys calling for customers with their heads protruding out of the windows. it is thus equally true as Diermen (2002:222) acknowledges that safety and health issues in SMMEs are also of concern and need to be highlighted. Due to lack of technological innovation most SMMEs have to do with the available labour to meet the pressing demands of their market which exposes the workers to being over worked and at the same time facing health consequences. An example of this was highlighted in the case in which a bakery owner in Malawi used to lock up his employees to make bread overnight, the employees plight was only identified when the bakery caught fire with employs having no exit door from the burning place.
The third weakness is the SMMEs lack of financial capacity to compete with big market players in the face of liberalized trade. It is at this far important to appreciate that this is one of the factors that make the survivalists SMME sector as poverty traps. Due to the difficulties experienced by the entrepreneurs to access loans from the traditional banks because of lack of collateral, it makes the expansion and diversification of the SMMEs markets almost nigh. Thus, I will agree with Rogerson (1997) when he said that most of the survivalist SMMEs die in the first year of their inception, though attributing the failure to lack of finance only would be arbitrary but it is important to appreciate that it is one of the integral factors in the development and sustainability of the SMMEs.
Third factor that makes the SMMEs face difficulties as vehicle for economic development is lack of technological innovation: with the limited capital base most SMMEs cannot scale up to the needs of the modern business world that demands the accessibility of information, communication and a technological know how. Thus to face the competition of the multi national companies SMMEs are having a war that is being fought on two fronts, on the market and as well as on technological capacity to transact on the touch of a button, with most SMMEs still traditionally set up, it makes them virtually powerless in the face of such market threats. Lack of technological innovation can as well be attributed to lack of knowledge and skills, this underlines the importance of education and heightened literacy levels in the people. For the dynamic world processes need people with diverse skills and the acumen to live in the competitive global village which is fast linked together through different socio economic and political networks. Thus the SMMEs as a growing economic base of local economic and national development needs to take cognizance of the global market trends so that they survive in the face of the prevalent economic trends. It is not adequate to blame market liberalization for creating turbulence on the domestic market, for consumers this entails a wider option on the market and at even cheaper costs. However it is the government and the private partner that need to scale up the support to the SMME sector so that it can live its ascribe roles of promoting employment creation, economic redistribution and development or stimulation of economic competition on the market.
Strategies to overcome the Challenges of SMMEs in LED.
Networking and collaboration, this enables the SMMEs to share resources be it in the human capacity building or innovativeness. Through networking SMMEs create an environment through which they understand themselves better and share the knowledge on how to boost their capacity in the face of market threats and opportunities. Thus a network enables SMMEs to know who does what and this equally creates a knowledge base of the available resources within themselves , this cuts down on the resources which could have been used in the importation of the already locally available resources. Slyke et al (2002:178) appreciate that with networking apart form the economic justification of the SMMEs, there is also a social dimension that draws those in economically and socially distinct regions together
At this far it is important to appreciate the importance of macroeconomic policies that the government is implementing, in this case a reflection on the Growth Employment and redistribution (GEAR) would reveal that it has not created a conducive market environment for local SMMEs, in that the policy works well for the foreign investors with the dollar strength who can compete in the face of the instability of the rand value. At the same time in the affirmative action and reconstruction and development frameworks of development, the government appreciates the impact that the SMME sector can have to the economy and the growth of the GDP of the nation. Thus if the SMME sector is to bear fruits, there is need to look at what has been working and bringing a balance between economic growth through capital initiatives as well as looking at the development that includes a broader majority of the South African people. This can be achieved through policy frame work that appreciates the current population base in the informal sector, through the creation of policies that would move the informal economy to a capacity where it would be able to be integrated into the tax contributing sector.
The South African Revenue Service though has embarked on media campaign to reach out to a number of SMMEs to register, with the benefits of tax exemption and holiday benefits, it is important to appreciate that, this on its own without an environment that promotes growth of the SMMEs is not enough to strengthen the government’s long term gains. At this point it is then important to say that if long term gains and the capacity of SMMEs to contribute to the realization of Accelerated shared growth initiative for South Africa (ASGISA) target of halving unemployment which is central to poverty and underdevelopment, which is currently at 26%, then there is need to integrate policy, financial and human capital empowerment in the SMME sector.
References
Diermen, P (2002) SMEs and regional labour markets: Major trends since 1997 in Harvie, C and Lee, B. Globalization and SMEs in East Asia Cheltenham, UK. Edward Elgar Publishing
Harvie, C (2002) The Asian financial and economic crisis and its impact on regional SMEs in Harvie and Lee, B. Globalization and SMEs in East Asia. Cheltenham, UK. Edward Elgar Publishing
Richards, D et al (2002) The limping tiger: Problems in transition for small and medium sized enterprises in Vietnam in Harvie, C and Lee, B: The role of SMEs in the national; economies of East Asia Cheltenham, UK. Edward Elgar Publishing
Richard, D (2002) The limping Tiger: Problems in transition for Small and Medium Enterprises in Vietnam in Harvie, C and Lee, B. The role of SMEs in national economies of East Asia. Cheltenham, UK. Edward Elgar Publishing
Rogerson, C.M (1997). SMMEs and poverty in South Africa: An input report for the project on poverty and inequality.
Slyke, C (2002) Requirements for SMEs information technology in Richards, C and Lee, B. Globalization and SMEs in East Asia. Cheltenham, UK. Edward Elgar Publishing.
The small and medium micro enterprises carry the hope of the government as a strategy in employment creation for the greater South African people and economic inclusion of the marginalized poor and the unemployed as a redistributive strategy.
I will therefore, will be seeking to define the small and medium micro enterprises and explore the potential and challenges of the SMMEs as strategy for economic growth in the second economy. However it will thus be imperative again to try to explore the possible strategies and options which could be feasible to achieve an SMME sector that is capable of promoting economic development and promotion of the government service delivery capacity.
What are Small and medium- micro enterprises?
Walking down West Street in Durban it would not be strange in the present era to see: a woman pushing a trolley full of cooked maize cobs selling them at between R2 and R4 each, while you try to fiddle for some coins in your pocket you hear someone shout ‘hey broer, ma belt, R30 each’ in the midst of all this scuffle you hear bells ringing with shouts of soft drinks in the background. It is a common sight and experience, that you come across these informal small scale traders trying to cash in on the busy shoppers and loiters whether in Durban or around the banks in Mzuzu, Malawi. Whether outside major shops, on street intersections and traffic lights, for small scale business people, the focus is to earn a little something and manage their lives in town, a survival strategy. In this premise therefore, it will be important to appreciate the importance of this sort of trading to peoples livelihood, it makes people support and manage their families and be part of the broader social economic movement. However for definitive purpose, I will categorize this sort of trading as informal sector of the economy that does not have much benefit on the government in terms of impact on economic growth and improvement in service delivery for the government does not yield any tax from such ventures though they may be equally classified as SMMEs. In this essay therefore SMMEs would be defined as small scale and medium business establishments or ventures that are independent of the government and corporate sector and at the same time they are owner managed or co-owned with friends or family with limited capital (human resource or monetary) investment. In terms of human capital, SMMEs are defined to ingrain anything between ‘5 and 200 people’. However in this essay SMMEs would embrace a broad spectrum of business ventures- from people trading informally in street corners (survivalists) to registered formal investments that are dynamic and progressive with greater contribution to the economy and job creation.
SMMEs and local economic development.
At the foremost it is important to appreciate the extent of poverty in South Africa, the historical and socio economic background of the country left a greater proportion of the country into the periphery of consumption, surviving on less than a dollar per day. The apartheid political and social order incarcerated the people of color, especially back women into the margins of socio economic position, with white men on top of the socio economic development pyramid. Thus to understand poverty and its processes in South African context, there is need to dissect the broader socio-historical and political processes that form its people. It is thus in this premise that the South African government is trying to develop some frame works to address the structural poverty that is deeply ingrained into its greater population and that which divides its population into two poles, with the very rich and the very poor living side by side. It is on this plane that small and medium-micro enterprises become another strategy in local economic development to address the underdevelopment and poverty in the people. At this far it is important to ask, how does SMMEs achieve this ascribed role of reduction of underdevelopment?
It is important at the foremost to appreciate that the SMME sector plays an important role as a strategy of inclusion of the greater population into the economic dynamic processes. SMMEs create an environment through which people find employment opportunities guided by their needs and skills whether formally or informally acquired, for skills play a central role in entrepreneurial innovativeness and creativity. It is at this level fair to say that the government on its own cannot create opportunities and jobs for every one, thus in the promotion of the SMME sector of the economy it is trying to stimulate the growth of citizenship energy into the development of innovative measures of addressing poverty through investment into creative ventures that promote the greater benefit of all South Africans. Though venturing into the SMME sector of the economy as Rogerson (1997:5) indicates, the decline in the labor absorptive capacity of the formal economy is interpreted as a major impelling factor for many people to be squeezed in urban and rural SMMEs. Though this might be right, however, it is equally true that there has been equally a greater brave people who have risked their comfortable employment to venture into SMMEs of their choice contributing to the greater benefit of the country through job creation and tax remittance which is central to the improvement of and day to day service delivery by the government. Through SMMEs there is an improvement and reduction of the gap between the rural areas and the towns; thus creating equal opportunities and chances of employment for people in the periphery of our towns and cities. An example of this is Nkhotakota and Mua potteries in the rural central Malawi in which people with the assistance of the catholic church have created one of the best tourist attractions, in these centre people create Cray potteries which they sell to the centers, which exports them to Europe and South Africa, creating job opportunities and equally a better livelihood for the rural people especially women. Coupled with a cultural museum and conference centers people have transformed the area into holiday center deep in the rural areas while equally creating a broader spectrum of job opportunities. This underscores the impact of enacting the best from the people through socio economic involvement and empowerment. Through such ventures people show their creative potential and contribute to the greater benefit of their communities and nation as a whole.
The government through its agencies like Khula Enterprise finance, Khula Credit Guarantee and Ntsika Enterprise Promotion Agency’ Rogerson (1997:17) contributes to an empowerment strategy in the economic and human capital muscle of the SMMEs, to strengthen their institutional capacity in that they continue to grow and with stand the turbulent market world. The skills in business innovativeness and management are an integral part of a successful business- this creates an entrepreneur who is able to stay focused and be able to strategically vision and drive the business in the face of market threats. Thus skills training and economic empowerment of the SMMEs by the government through its agents protects the jobs that have been created through the development of this sector. At the same time it is equally true that this works as an economic redistributive process for the greater benefit of the greater citizenry, with SMMEs there is an improvement of the service delivery. Through revenue collected through taxation the government is able to reach out top the poor of the society through pension grants, HIV grants and other social grants, to add to this the government has to offer health and education services which are financially demanding and it is through this than an expanded SMME sector that is integrated into the formal economy would form as a beacon of the economic redistribution.
It is also important to appreciate that with SMMEs ‘the towns are brought to the people’, this reduces the distance and costs of traveling for people to get their daily basic needs and at the same time reduces on migration to towns and cities which is also equally central to poverty and unemployment. Central to this is the idea that SMMEs promote competition, with competition there is a tendency to explore other areas that are business permissive which includes the rural areas. It is a common sight nowadays to see popular business establishment migrating to the rural areas, this facilitates the development of better infrastructure which is central to socioeconomic development. But at the same time it is important to appreciate that ‘empirical evidence from other countries also indicate that SMMEs are more efficient users of capital under most conditions’ (Richards et al, 2002:109). Thus SMMEs are a viable vehicle of achieving efficiency and competitive economic growth that is capable of absorbing the people that have fallen off from the ‘traditional’ employment sector.
Through the fight to stay in competition with other market players SMMEs play a crucial role of inculcating in people valuable skills which are central to economic productivity as Harvie (2002: 35) affirm, ‘ they raise the level of skills with their flexible and innovative nature. Thus SMEs can generate important benefits in terms of creating a skilled industrial base and industries and developing a well prepared service sector capable of contributing to GDP through higher value added”. It is equally true that SMMEs can play a vital role of generating direct foreign exchange through growth of exportation capacity of the country. It is also true that SMMEs take advantage of the existing resource in the country, thus promoting growth in the raw material providers whether in farming, mining and other local based initiatives; through this, SMMEs directly contribute to the national capacity to trade with other countries while at the same time shaping the industrial capacity of the SMME sector.
Weaknesses of SMMEs as a Vehicle for Local economic development
The major challenge with entrusting SMMEs as vehicle for local economic development lies in their nature, with most of the SMMEs categorized as survivalist. As Rogerson (1997:3) puts it, “the largest of the South African SMME economy is the survivalist sector, which numbers an estimated 2.5 million as compared to 800,000 in the rest of the SMME economy”. This entails that much as this may be generating billions of Rands in profits it is not touched by the government. It has a potential to limiting the governments service delivery capacity. Thus the major challenge then is to factor in some mechanisms that would promote the movement of the larger informal survivalist sector into being registered and tax compliant for the benefit of the greater good of the nation as a whole
Secondly, SMMEs are limited in financial capacity, thus their growth and function may be liable to hinging on labour malpractices like child labor and poor wage jobs. As Diermen (2002:222) affirms when he says that with the decline in labour laws employees have sought out cheap labour and the demand for child labour has increased particularly in less regulated SME sector. In the South Africa taxi industry it is common sight nowadays to see young boys calling for customers with their heads protruding out of the windows. it is thus equally true as Diermen (2002:222) acknowledges that safety and health issues in SMMEs are also of concern and need to be highlighted. Due to lack of technological innovation most SMMEs have to do with the available labour to meet the pressing demands of their market which exposes the workers to being over worked and at the same time facing health consequences. An example of this was highlighted in the case in which a bakery owner in Malawi used to lock up his employees to make bread overnight, the employees plight was only identified when the bakery caught fire with employs having no exit door from the burning place.
The third weakness is the SMMEs lack of financial capacity to compete with big market players in the face of liberalized trade. It is at this far important to appreciate that this is one of the factors that make the survivalists SMME sector as poverty traps. Due to the difficulties experienced by the entrepreneurs to access loans from the traditional banks because of lack of collateral, it makes the expansion and diversification of the SMMEs markets almost nigh. Thus, I will agree with Rogerson (1997) when he said that most of the survivalist SMMEs die in the first year of their inception, though attributing the failure to lack of finance only would be arbitrary but it is important to appreciate that it is one of the integral factors in the development and sustainability of the SMMEs.
Third factor that makes the SMMEs face difficulties as vehicle for economic development is lack of technological innovation: with the limited capital base most SMMEs cannot scale up to the needs of the modern business world that demands the accessibility of information, communication and a technological know how. Thus to face the competition of the multi national companies SMMEs are having a war that is being fought on two fronts, on the market and as well as on technological capacity to transact on the touch of a button, with most SMMEs still traditionally set up, it makes them virtually powerless in the face of such market threats. Lack of technological innovation can as well be attributed to lack of knowledge and skills, this underlines the importance of education and heightened literacy levels in the people. For the dynamic world processes need people with diverse skills and the acumen to live in the competitive global village which is fast linked together through different socio economic and political networks. Thus the SMMEs as a growing economic base of local economic and national development needs to take cognizance of the global market trends so that they survive in the face of the prevalent economic trends. It is not adequate to blame market liberalization for creating turbulence on the domestic market, for consumers this entails a wider option on the market and at even cheaper costs. However it is the government and the private partner that need to scale up the support to the SMME sector so that it can live its ascribe roles of promoting employment creation, economic redistribution and development or stimulation of economic competition on the market.
Strategies to overcome the Challenges of SMMEs in LED.
Networking and collaboration, this enables the SMMEs to share resources be it in the human capacity building or innovativeness. Through networking SMMEs create an environment through which they understand themselves better and share the knowledge on how to boost their capacity in the face of market threats and opportunities. Thus a network enables SMMEs to know who does what and this equally creates a knowledge base of the available resources within themselves , this cuts down on the resources which could have been used in the importation of the already locally available resources. Slyke et al (2002:178) appreciate that with networking apart form the economic justification of the SMMEs, there is also a social dimension that draws those in economically and socially distinct regions together
At this far it is important to appreciate the importance of macroeconomic policies that the government is implementing, in this case a reflection on the Growth Employment and redistribution (GEAR) would reveal that it has not created a conducive market environment for local SMMEs, in that the policy works well for the foreign investors with the dollar strength who can compete in the face of the instability of the rand value. At the same time in the affirmative action and reconstruction and development frameworks of development, the government appreciates the impact that the SMME sector can have to the economy and the growth of the GDP of the nation. Thus if the SMME sector is to bear fruits, there is need to look at what has been working and bringing a balance between economic growth through capital initiatives as well as looking at the development that includes a broader majority of the South African people. This can be achieved through policy frame work that appreciates the current population base in the informal sector, through the creation of policies that would move the informal economy to a capacity where it would be able to be integrated into the tax contributing sector.
The South African Revenue Service though has embarked on media campaign to reach out to a number of SMMEs to register, with the benefits of tax exemption and holiday benefits, it is important to appreciate that, this on its own without an environment that promotes growth of the SMMEs is not enough to strengthen the government’s long term gains. At this point it is then important to say that if long term gains and the capacity of SMMEs to contribute to the realization of Accelerated shared growth initiative for South Africa (ASGISA) target of halving unemployment which is central to poverty and underdevelopment, which is currently at 26%, then there is need to integrate policy, financial and human capital empowerment in the SMME sector.
References
Diermen, P (2002) SMEs and regional labour markets: Major trends since 1997 in Harvie, C and Lee, B. Globalization and SMEs in East Asia Cheltenham, UK. Edward Elgar Publishing
Harvie, C (2002) The Asian financial and economic crisis and its impact on regional SMEs in Harvie and Lee, B. Globalization and SMEs in East Asia. Cheltenham, UK. Edward Elgar Publishing
Richards, D et al (2002) The limping tiger: Problems in transition for small and medium sized enterprises in Vietnam in Harvie, C and Lee, B: The role of SMEs in the national; economies of East Asia Cheltenham, UK. Edward Elgar Publishing
Richard, D (2002) The limping Tiger: Problems in transition for Small and Medium Enterprises in Vietnam in Harvie, C and Lee, B. The role of SMEs in national economies of East Asia. Cheltenham, UK. Edward Elgar Publishing
Rogerson, C.M (1997). SMMEs and poverty in South Africa: An input report for the project on poverty and inequality.
Slyke, C (2002) Requirements for SMEs information technology in Richards, C and Lee, B. Globalization and SMEs in East Asia. Cheltenham, UK. Edward Elgar Publishing.
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