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The Department of Trade and Industry in partnership with South African Women Entrepreneurs’ Network

Raising the voice of women entrepreneurs beyond 2009

1-2 October 2009

Oasis Lodge Polokwane

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

Background............................................................................................................................ 3

Introductions and Acknowledgements ...................................................................................... 3

Opening and welcome............................................................................................................. 3

Key note address: Mainstreaming Women in the SA Economic Development Plan beyond 2010..... 4

Revisiting the Strategy Session ................................................................................................ 6

An assessment of the dti’s Women’s Empowerment Programme.............................................. 12

Cooperatives Development for Women................................................................................... 15

Access to Finance and Business Opportunities......................................................................... 17

Enterprise Investment Programme (EIP)................................................................................. 18

Business Women Organizations Presentations ......................................................................... 23

Day two: Overview ............................................................................................................... 26

Message of support .............................................................................................................. 27

Report back from the commissions......................................................................................... 27

Way Forward........................................................................................................................ 29

Questions and Answers:........................................................................................................ 30

Gala Dinner.......................................................................................................................... 31

Apologies............................................................................................................................. 31

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Background

The Department of Trade and Industry (“the dti”), in partnership with the South African

Women Entrepreneurs Network (SAWEN), held a conference at the Oasis Lodge in Polokwane

on 1_2 October 2009. The theme for this year’s conference was “Raising the Voice of

Women Entrepreneurs beyond 2009”. The conference was chaired by Ms Hazel Gumede-

Shelton and Ms Maureen Delekisa. The conference focused on sustainability beyond 2009, as

well as giving recognition to women in business in South Africa.

The conference proceedings were broken into four major parts for the first day: opening and

key note addresses; revisiting the strategy; access to finance and business opportunities; and

organisational presentations. Due to time constraints, the breakaway commissions dealing with

the role of SAWEN in the midst of all the discussions and dialogues were postponed to the next

day. Day two focused on the way forward and message of support.

Introductions and Acknowledgements

All the SAWEN delegates and speakers were welcomed and acknowledged by a DTI

representative, Ms Thabi Mtshali, who also introduced Ms Hazel Gumede-Shelton as the

programme director for the day.

A SAWEN provincial co-coordinator from the Eastern Cape opened the conference with a prayer.

Opening and welcome

The opening address was given by Mr Pitso Moloto, the Limpopo MEC for Economic

Development, Environment and Tourism (the “MEC”). The speech focused on economic

disparities and inefficiencies that are suffered by rural women entrepreneurs. As a pertinent

example, the MEC related an incident he experienced in Chakuma, Limpopo, where the prices of

fruits and vegetables would be between R20 and R30 per bag in the morning, and in the

afternoon the prices would go down to R5 per bag. The MEC’s question to the women in

attendance was ‘how do we change such situations?’

Another related concern which the MEC highlighted was the fact that since 1994, Limpopo has

been an A-grade producer of bananas, mangoes and tomatoes, but the province had yet to

produce a high value product based on its primary products, such as fruit juice. According to

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the MEC there have been numerous discussions regarding when Limpopo would move from

being a Primary Producer to a High Value Producer in agro-processing but changes were yet to

occur. As the MEC noted, this transition to agro processing would be critical in decreasing the

levels of unemployment in the province.

On another note, the MEC stated that women entrepreneurs had a responsibility to assist others

as they were standing on the shoulders of women who fought for democracy. The MEC

extended his sincere gratitude to the entrepreneurs for the services they provided and the

difference they made in the lives of those they employed. The MEC concluded his speech by

thanking the decision makers for allowing Limpopo to host the conference and for the

opportunity given to him to open the conference on behalf of the Premier.

Key note address: Mainstreaming Women in the SA Economic Development Plan

beyond 2010

Following the opening speech, the programme director introduced Advocate Nomazotsho

Memani, of the Office of the Ministry of Women, Children and Persons with Disabilities (the

“Women’s Ministry”), who delivered the key note address.

Adv. Memani thanked the programme director and the leadership of the dti for the opportunity

to deliver the key note address. Adv. Memani noted that she was accompanied by Mr. Godfrey

Nematande, a gentleman from the Women’s Ministry, as a point to illustrate that women need

to make men aware of the challenges faced by women.

In her speech, Adv. Memani pointed out a sad reality that there were great women leaders in

parliament but the reality was that they did not think like women when they were in senior

positions. She argued that as a woman leader who understands how women struggled to get

their voice heard, it is really sad to see women in higher positions ignore women issues. She

opted to speak from her experience as a woman, elaborating the point that as women, we

share a number of experiences which unite us. She thanked uBaba Madiba for the equality that

women now have in politics and in terms of the law.

Adv. Memani gave a brief background on the establishment of the Women’s Ministry. In 1994,

the Office of the Status of Women was created to address issues affecting women, as this had

not been given sufficient attention. To remedy this, gender focal points were established within

various departments at both national and provincial levels. However, it became problematic to

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establish focal points on the local and municipality level. She stated that she was disappointed

as it seemed that women’s issues were still not being taken seriously.

Adv. Memani’s message was that ‘women must be united’ because without unity, women are

still not going to be integrated in society. She further stated that women needed to use one

voice and support each other. She explained that women today have the platform and the

legislation, but they are not used in a productive manner, which is to encourage information

sharing and empowerment. She challenged women to think of ways to empower each other.

She pointed out that the struggle of women was for equality and the freedom to own their own

space; it was not about stepping over men. Adv. Memani acknowledged that there was still a

struggle to occupy space in the economy, especially for black women. She felt there is no focus

and expertise and as such, encouraged women entrepreneurs to not only focus on profit, but to

focus on educating, uplifting and developing themselves and those around them.

She explained that the Women’s Ministry was busy putting in structures which would facilitate

in all departments, dialogue on the funding that is available to fund women oriented

programmes and initiatives. The main aim of building relationships with departments is to

decrease the occurrence where one would find an applicant being sent from pillar to post. The

Women’s Ministry would therefore be playing a coordinating role.

Adv. Memani touched on the issue of gender mainstreaming and highlighted a few of the

weaknesses found in the process of mainstreaming:

• Issues of nepotism;

• Appointment of unqualified candidates;

• The pressing issue of compliance with Affirmative Action; and

• BEE standards.

Adv. Memani stated that within the public sector much had been done, but with regard to the

private sector there was still a lot of ‘window dressing’. She explained that there would be an

introduction of the Gender Equality Bill but that it would not be effective if policies were going

to be drafted but not implemented.

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The introduction of the planning commissions and committees would ensure that gender

mainstreaming is taking place on a practical level and that the policies are being implemented.

On the issue of funding, she explained that funds are available but the government and

different organizations make it difficult to obtain loans.

She challenged the dti on the following issues:

• Exploitation;

• Gender mainstreaming; and

• The methodology of handing out tenders. She suggested, for example, that when a tender

is for a hospital in Makapanstad, then women from the same area should be given first

preference.

Announcements

• Tea break for about 15 minutes; and

• Vote of thanks by Ms Bongi Ludidi and Ms Thabi from the dti.

Revisiting the Strategy Session

The programme director explained the critical importance of the session Revisiting the

Strategy: women cannot talk about their frustrations without understanding what the

problems are. Similarly, they cannot meaningfully give feedback to government without

understanding exactly what government is doing. The session was therefore about hearing from

the dti about the vision, the new strategy being implemented and related programmes and

cooperative schemes. Furthermore, the session was about assessing the progress of the dti

and making recommendations on how to improve its policies.

Mr. Maswaganyi, Director in the dti’s Gender and Women Empowerment Unit elaborated on

the importance of technology in running businesses nowadays, and stated that technology

assists with competitiveness. He echoed Adv. Memani’s words that the voice of women does not

necessarily always have to be supported by women only. With those words, he introduced the

first speaker of the session, Dr Johannes Potgieter, the Chief Director of Innovation and

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Technology at the dti. The responsibilities of the unit include supporting businesses through

innovation and technology, in particular, small businesses.

Dr Potgieter’s presentation focused on the importance of adapting to changes with regard to

technology. He pointed out that we are living in a constantly evolving technologically dominant

world so adaption is critical to the survival of any business nowadays.

He gave a brief overview on the interventions that the dti strategy covers, the aim of which is

to encourage and support women to take their rightful place and to make a positive

contribution to South Africa’s economy. The six interventions are as follows:

• Science and technology solutions for women in business programmes;

• Provision of business information through SAWEN;

• International trade and support through trade missions;

• Intermediate training and education;

• Mobilizing and strengthening women’s businesses through organizations such as NCBWO;

and

• Establishment of a national women’s fund through the introduction of the ISIVANDE

Funding.

Dr Potgieter congratulated the Gender Unit of the dti, Ms Bongi Ludidi and her team, for their

outstanding work, dedication and achievement on the work done on the interventions. He went

on to briefly discuss these technologies and the reasons why they are in place.

He emphasized these technology innovations and how they pave the way for enterprises and

add value as businesses can now become more competitive.

He spoke of the technology programmes in place, namely SEDA: Small Enterprise Development

Agency (the dti’s agency) and Technology Incubators. Dr Potgieter explained that an

incubator is a place where a new or small business can be registered and get direct support

from a protective environment, for example, to help with entrepreneurial activities, getting

contacts within that industry or information on business procedures such as business plans.

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Incubators help businesses to become self- sustainable. He gave a statistical report that under

SEDA there are about 29 incubators in the country supporting SMEs and new businesses in

industries such as agri-skills development, small mining, and construction. He shared a story

about a small bio-diesel plant; locate in Limpopo, where farmers are taught how to plant

sunflower and soya beans for the production of bio-diesel.

Dr Potgieter reported on the 2007/2008 financial year, where there were 126 small to medium

enterprises where 74% survived their first year and 83% survived their second year of

operation. This was a remarkable achievement compared to the official report that 10% of

SMEs rarely made it to the third year of business. On average, 30% of these businesses are

women owned, even though this initiative is not only for women, and there is still room for

more women applicants.

He shared a success story from the incubator initiatives: Ms. Mahlangu from Mpumalanga, while

looking for a job, was recruited by the development business recruiters. She opened

Samkhilisizwe Farming, where she produced green beans and butternut. She later opted to

specialize in butternut production. Several client bases are already available to consume the

entire harvest. She was geared up by several short courses offered by the incubator, for

example, a step by step guide on how to produce fresh produce. She has two permanent

employees and employs casuals. This has helped her grow her business from a very small

margin to a bigger income earning entity.

Dr Potgieter expanded on another programme still under SEDA which is the Technology

Transfer. This can grant funds to the maximum value of R600 000 to SMEs looking into

upgrading their manufacturing technologies. In the financial year 2007/2008, 34 applications

were approved and 26% of the applicants were women.

Other technology programmes he spoke about included:

• The industrial innovation: new technology development: which grants between 60

and 65% of the funds required. The target market is those individuals with new technology

ideas or new products. He further explained that small businesses can get up to R1 million

and as for the medium and big businesses, up to R3 million. He indicated that as the dti,

they would like to see more women owned companies apply for such grants and get

involved in the generation of new technological ideas.

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• The research and development facilities programme: aims to assist individuals who

have ideas but do not have the facilities to research them. The grant can be matched R1 for

R1 or R2 for R1. The programme assists with research facilities and staff. He shared the

success story of the partnership they had with students from the University of Pretoria.

Dr Potgieter concluded his presentation by mentioning that all the success stories were told to

inspire women to participate and let the dti help them through their various programmes and

funding. He wished the women a successful conference. The contact list of all the programmes

mentioned was made available to the women who had an interest in them.

The programme director emphasized that indeed inspiration was really important, and

highlighted some of the questions raised as follows:

• How do we access these programmes?

• What criteria are used to award these programmes and funds?

• Issues relating to turn around time.

Ms Bongi Ludidi, Acting Chief Director GWE Unit was the next speaker and she explained that

her responsibility for the day was to ‘locate the women’s empowerment programme within the

dti’. She explained that GWE is located within the Empowerment & Enterprise Development

Division, which is meant to facilitate broader participation and the overall restructuring of South

Africa’s economy. Part of the vision of the unit is to implement interventions in respect of

women that are outside of the mainstream economy, a matter which the MEC had alluded to

earlier. The unit’s approach in aligning with the vision has been to design gender sensitive

programmes for the dti and ensure that there is gender mainstreaming.

She emphasized that the unit was trying not to do things in isolation and was trying to keep

people informed at all times in respect of challenges and changes. She mentioned the

supportive policies already in place within the unit:

• Integrated Small Enterprise Development Strategy;

• BEE Strategy, BEE ACT, BEE Codes of Good Practice;

• Cooperatives Development Policy and Draft Strategy;

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• Preferential Procurement Policy;

• Industrial Policy and IPAP; and

• SA National Policy Framework for Women Empowerment and Gender Equality.

Ms Ludidi elaborated on the Small Enterprise Development Strategy being used as a key

strategy to get people involved in the economy by allowing them to be entrepreneurs. She

explained that the unit found it imperative to design unique programmes for women as were

faced with more challenges. She concluded that the introduction of interventions was born from

those unique challenges faced by women.

The question is whether the supporting policies are really aligned with what it is that the unit

wants to achieve. There are also challenges with regard to policy implementation. She

explained that as the Empowerment Unit, they are also structured to look at women’s set aside

interventions. As a unit, they realised that there is no chamber that is women specific. The gap

was bridged by the interception of SAWEN.

Ms Ludidi differentiated between the challenges facing the unit as general and those more

program specific.

General challenges:

• Managing fragmentation;

• Ensuring the participation of ordinary women; and

• The geographical spread of the programs.

Specific challenges:

• SAWEN- Dual nature; and

• TWIB- a sluggish participation.

Ms Ludidi explained that SAWEN has the programme and Section 21 company dualism where

the latter has a board of directors and three regional offices while the programme has the

national council and provincial chairs. The challenge is how to merge the two sides of SAWEN to

work together, raising one message. She raised the importance of having such events of

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dialoguing every year. With regard to the TWIB challenge, she raised awareness that the

challenge was to get young girls involved in studying Maths and Science. She encouraged

women in technology to participate in the TWIB awards and noted that thus far 620 learners

from five provinces had been involved in the TWIB Programme.

(Please note that the strategic framework of the Unit, as well as the Status Report is included in

Annexure 1)

Ms Ludidi concluded her presentation by sharing some of the unit’s interventions by the

refinement of the Strategic Framework on Gender and Women Economic Empowerment:

• Mobilising and strengthening SA women in Business Institutions;

• Re-organising SAWEN for better lobbying and advocacy by revisiting the initial mandate;

• Strengthening and forging new strategic partnerships with like-minded organizations;

• Women and the Financial market :ISIVANDE Women’s Fund implementation;

• Entrepreneurial Education, Training and Skills Development: Strengthening of the

programmes, SAWEN, TWIB and BAVUMILE;

• Research and development: A National Research project on Enterprising Women to

determine the national status quo of women entrepreneurs and their contribution to the

GDP and job creation;

• Monitoring and Evaluation: Monitoring – Establish mechanism/strengthening existing

mechanism for tracking progress towards Gender mainstreaming and economic

empowerment of women. i.e. facilitating structure/advisory committees. Monitoring and

Evaluation are crucial instruments/tools for ensuring that the framework is implemented;

and

• Administration: Effective oversight role on the implementation of the projects, governance

and administration. Updating the strategic Framework on Gender and Women Economic

Empowerment. Alignment to broader – based government initiatives, and international

bodies (the dti to give meaning to South Africa’s commitments to regional and international

instruments through its services).

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An assessment of the dti’s Women’s Empowerment Programme

Ms Ntene, Deputy Director: Impact Assessment, presented the findings of the research that

was conducted by the Impact Assessment Unit. She gave an overview of the methodology used

which was the collection of business plans and reports from the Gender Unit, and a copy of the

SAWEN database information for the year 2007/2008.

She explained that the unit’s task was to summarise the findings, give recommendations and

develop key indicators. The findings of the research were as follows:

SAWEN’S Business Plans

• Two copies of a strategic business plan (2005-2008) which contained varying information,

and one operational business plan (2008/9) were analysed;

• The business plans included a KPI matrix;

• However, the matrix excluded inputs, targets, outcomes and objectives; and

• The unit experienced informational constraints.

SAWEN’S Budget

• The budget for the 2004/5 year included only grants revenue;

• The budget for the 2005/6 year included grants, membership and subscription fees and

service fees revenue;

• The 2007/8 and 2008/9 budget did not include any form of revenue and contained ‘vague

expenses’, for example, benefits expense of R200 000 in the 2004/5 budget and social

responsibility expenditure of R1000 000 in the 2005/6 budget; and

• Budget estimates which were not classified as either national or provincial.

Recommendations

• SAWEN was advised to report more transparently on their spending and incomes.

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SAWEN Report: 2005/6

• Gauteng held the greatest number of training sessions in this period;

• Mpumalanga, Limpopo and Free State provinces did not undertake any training in the year

2005/6;

• Limpopo and Mpumalanga held the greatest number of workshops and seminars;

• North West did not hold any seminar or workshop in 2005/6;

• Networking and information sharing was done in all provinces; and

• Workshops, missions and information sharing sessions were conducted by the national

SAWEN office.

SAWEN database

• Many copies of the same database with varying contents;

• Membership disproportionate:

� Gauteng has the largest membership base – 36%; and

� Northern Cape has the lowest membership – 3%.

• Missing data on membership number, ID, name, joining date.

• Missing information on membership fees.

• Fields which do not capture meaningful data for M&E purposes, e.g. picture and birth month

fields.

Recommendations:

• One database would be used to capture members’ information; and

• The second database would be used for more strategic purposes such as number of

workshops held or training provided as well as used for evaluation and monitoring.

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TWIB Findings

• One business plan received: 2008/9

• Business plan included KPI’s matrix: objectives and targets defined.

• However, KPI matrix excluded inputs, outputs and outcomes.

• KPI’s not reflective of TWIB’s objectives.

• Budget disaggregated by projects - good.

• No report submitted to IAU. One report sourced from the internet.

• No corresponding business plan for this report. The report could not be measured against

set performance indicators.

• Risk assessment profile of TWIB’s projects – good practice.

General findings

• Two business plans received for GWE unit: 2006/7 and 2007/8.

• 2006/7 business plan included progress report.

• The business plan contains no KPI matrix.

• Table of projects, activities, time frame, budget and milestones.

• KPI’s not aligned to objectives.

• The KPI’s matrix for both SAWEN and TWIB was deficient to properly monitor the respective

programmes.

• Missing progress reports.

� Inconsistency in reporting;

� Poor record management.

� Isivande and Bavumile are new programmes;

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� Neither business plan nor report was available for analysis; and

� An opportunity exists for collecting baseline data for Bavumile and Isivande to be used

in conducting an evaluation at a later stage.

Recommendations

• It was advised that prior to implementation, the objectives should, from the planning

stages, be aligned with the key indicators as this will assist with keeping track of the

progress made.

Cooperatives Development for Women

Ms Dihomo, a representative from the dti Cooperatives Unit gave a brief background on what

cooperatives are, where they originated from before the dti, their status, market access for

cooperatives and challenges faced by cooperatives.

She explained that cooperatives are formed by five individuals and in the event of one member

resigning, a new member had to join in to make the cooperative complete. She explained the

kinds of cooperative as:

• Primary Cooperative: formed by five individuals.

• Secondary cooperative: formed by two primary cooperatives.

• Tertiary cooperative: formed by two secondary cooperatives.

All cooperatives are registered with CIPRO within the dti. Ms Dihomo pointed out that the

origin of cooperatives fell within the administration of the Department of Agriculture before

moving to the dti in 2001.

She mentioned that the National Cooperative Strategy is a policy instrument currently being

finalized by the dti, who are also the custodians of the Cooperatives Programme. the dti is

tasked with coordinating cooperatives and fostering their development.

There are provincial coordination committees and they are made up of nine departments of

economic development who are tasked with promoting and reporting on the cooperatives’

development. Ms Dihomo explained that according to CIPRO’s database, the status of

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cooperatives in SA to date, indicated that there are over 22 000 registered cooperatives but

only about 2000 are active. Ms Dihomo noted that there has been a 72% growth rate since

2007.

According to studies conducted, the growth in the registrations of cooperatives was due to the

provision of funds through the CIS as well as the provision of procurement opportunities. She

quoted that KZN has the highest numbers of cooperatives at 28.11% and the sector with the

highest percentage is the food sector with over 29% participation.

Challenges facing cooperatives

• Local and international market access.

• Access to financial support.

• Access to procurement opportunities.

She explained that the stall that was opened in Sandton for exhibitions has been closed but

there are talks of partnership with Proudly SA to assist with re-opening it and also to create

market access for cooperatives especially women owned cooperatives.

Ms Dihomo mentioned that exhibitions are one way to support cooperatives. She announced

that from the 2nd until 13th December 2009, there will be an exhibition in Italy and as the unit,

they intend on sending fifteen CC’s and fifteen cooperatives to the exhibition. She announced

that applications were closed already, but a concession was made that if applicants promised to

hand in their applications by Monday, 5 October 2009, then they would be considered.

She mentioned the requirements:

• A tax clearance certificate;

• Proof of the registered entity;

• Three months’ bank statement;

• Brochure of the product/s to be exhibited;

• Identity document of the person to travel; and

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• R1500 commitment fee.

She explained another programme within the Cooperatives Unit called the One Municipality

One Product which has as an objective, the identification of unique products within

municipalities. She elaborated on the programme by saying that the aim was to empower

women especially from rural areas and that they were working with the Japanese government

to help export products.

Ms Dihomo stated that the programme is currently in its piloting stages and more is being done

to raise awareness regarding the programme.

Access to Finance and Business Opportunities

Ms Riqwema, Director: Business Development Unit explained that the reason for having

incentives is to support the development of enterprises. The driving force is that an enterprise

should be competitive to the extent that it expands and becomes an exporter. She explained

that due to time constraints she would not go into details about the different kinds of

incentives. First on her list of incentives was the:

• Black Business Supplier Development Programmme (“BBSDP”): an important fact

about BBSDP is that it has been suspended because it is being revised. The old BBSDP

offered marketing support to the enterprise, assistance with training and other business

development services. The new and revised edition will offer between R100 000 and R200

000, which is R100 000 more than the original BBSDP’s offering. There was also a name

change from BBSDP to EEDP Emerging Enterprise Development Programme.

• The second part of the BBDSP is the Supplier Development Programme: The main aim

of this programme is to develop an individual into becoming a supplier. The grant covers

certain basic business support activities as well as the acquisition of tools, machinery and

equipment up to the value of R1 million.

Ms Riqwema made a point that this initiative is still in the pipeline and will only be available and

activated on the 1st of April 2010 with enquiries being open from the same date. She explained

that in the meantime the unit is still busy sorting out the paperwork of the old programme.

She explained that the unit’s aim is to focus on those provinces that had little uptake in the old

programme in order to improve their participation in the revised one. She announced that

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before the 1st of April 2010 there will be information sharing workshops for all the eligible

applicants, with the aim of educating them on the scheme and what the benefits are.

Ms Riqwema quickly navigated her speech to the CIS, it is a 90:10 cost sharing scheme.

• The 10% can be an ‘in-kind’ contribution that can be evaluated as an intellectual asset or a

skill or anything that is measurable that the cooperative already has. If it equates to 10% of

the cost of the project, it will be considered as the cooperative’s 10% contribution.

• The scheme will offer from a minimum of R10 000 to a maximum of R300 000 which can be

applied for over a number of projects or just one project.

• One advantage of the scheme is its flexibility, as it can cover various incentive supports but

as a cooperative, start-up requirements are of critical importance.

Due to strict time constraints, she briefly gave some important facts on the next programme

namely the:

Enterprise Investment Programme (EIP)

• Launched last year (2008) and is the follower of the old SMDEP.

• The programme is divided into two parts, the Manufacturing Investment Programme

(MIP) and the TSP Tourism Supporting Programme (TSP); the latter which

stimulated quite a number of applications to date

• An important note was that all the funds allocated to the EIP have run out and the

implications are that all the new applications will have to wait until the next financial period.

It was explained that at the moment, the focal point within the TSP programme was to have a

more diversified approach to the activities in the tourism sector.

Ms Riqwema pointed out that currently there are a number of B&B’s and guest houses but a

value added service such as conference facilities are more income generating. Value added

tourism activities such as water sport activities are also in demand to create a more diverse

clientele.

She briefly highlighted the key aspects of the small business part of the incentive as follows:

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• A small project within the EIP is a project investing less than R5 million;

• The programme covers 30% of the cost of all those productive assets;

• The sensitivity has been evident for black owned and especially women owned businesses

of any race as there is a bit of leeway by making a provision that assets (equipment and

machinery) can be bought 100% second hand. It is of critical importance that the sale must

be legitimate; and

• An engineer would be sent to assess the equipment in order to establish its condition and

value.

Foreign Investment Grant applies in a situation where one is in a joint venture with a

foreign investor.

• 15% of the cost of the equipment will be paid by the grant alternatively transportation of

the equipment will be paid. A maximum amount of R10 million can be paid.

She explained that the grant will opt to pay for the lower amount between the 15% cost and

the total cost of transportation. This grant is used to incentive new projects as well as

expansions.

Export investment scheme like flight support but there are a number of other support bases

as well.

• Where the HDI gets a 100% support and the SSME gets 80% support where a maximum

amount of R1300 can be paid for the air ticket, daily allowance of R1800.00.

• In the clothing industry it was explained that other costs that the grant covers included

paying for the vehicle and transportation for the clothing, development of the samples and

exhibition space up to a maximum of R45000.

Ms Riqwema also discussed another funding project that is proactive: Funding for Emerging

Exporters, where the imperative was that as a unit they must take a proactive route of

developing exporters. Black female exporters are the main focus and most valued clients. The

idea behind the whole funding was to give export opportunities to those individuals who could

not easily get such opportunities.

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• The group should be between five and twenty people who obviously had to be in the same

sector if not similar;

• The fund covers 100% of air travel, accommodation, transportation of samples, and

exhibition space; and

• Another prerequisite is a commitment fee from exporters.

She noted that the good news for small businesses is that the export council would apply on

behalf of individuals. Agencies such as SEDA could apply on behalf of that group of exporters.

She announced that SAWEN also had the ability and capability to apply on behalf of those

exporters. Other bodies that could apply on behalf of exporters include the Business Chamber.

• The application had to come in three months prior to the exhibition or date of departure.

Exporters would undergo an exporter readiness training in order for them to understand the

art of exporting and currency exchanges. This training would assist in avoiding under pricing

and allow for a broader understanding of an individual’s product and its value and worth in

another country.

A call centre project was identified as a labour stimulator in the sense that one seat could be

utilized three times in twenty four hours, in the form of eight hour shifts.

She explained that this project was in existence to support the development of new call centres

as well as the expansion of existing ones.

Certain of the requirements are set below:

• The call centre had to sit at least 100 people;

• The centre had to create at least 200 jobs in the first year;

• There were different approaches to funding and bracket funding within this fund;

• The fund would cover the initial facility costs including equipment, hardware, software,

installation costs, training of the staff. The grant structure is a bit complicated as it works

with ratios;

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• There was funding of up to R120 million per application depending on the seating. Training

of staff, 50% of the overall cost up to R12000 per trainee;

• Company specific training would also be available and the fund would cover it; and

• An in house trainer budget would also be provided and continuous changes would be

adapted to.

Ms Gqiba, Marketing Manager South Africa Micro Apex Fund, explained that the audience

would not be able to see the presentation slides due to technical problems but indicated that

they would be made available later on.

Ms Gqiba gave a brief overview on SAMAF, explaining that SAMAF was in its infancy, having

been launched in 2006 and was the latest invention within the dti group. SAMAF, a wholesale

fund, works through financial institutions which are community based. Due to time constraints,

she could not explain why SAMAF does not deal with individuals directly but promised to answer

any questions later.

• SAMAF has two target markets, namely:

� Primary Customers who are the financial intermediaries (micro financial

institutions), which are usually private companies; and

� Secondary customers who are the end users. SAMAF targets the economically

active poor and the micro survivalist, for example hawkers. Accordingly, SAMAF works

with financial cooperatives.

• A maximum amount of R10 000 can be borrowed.

• Requirements: The financial institution must be registered with the National Credit

Regulator; it must demonstrate existence of twelve months or longer, and the institution

must have an active board, as well as its own constitution.

• SAMAF’s products and services were discussed, namely:

� Developmental Loans, which are targeted to those households that have earnings

of less than R1500 per month; and

� Micro Entrepreneur loans, which is within the loan section, and is targeted at

those who earn less than R3500.

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• Grants are targeted at institutions being funded by SAMAF with the purpose of training

them on issues such as corporate governance for the board of directors.

• Technical support where the challenge is to improve the quality of financial reporting and

management.

Ms Gqiba further explained that one of the major challenges being faced by SAMAF was poor

financial management and reporting. To tackle these challenges, SAMAF has opted to provide

the grants and technical support, before providing the loan to an institution.

For more information on SAMAF: www.samaf.co.za

Ms Makondo, SEDA Programme Manager: Limpopo, explained that SEDA was a DTI agency

and clarified SEDA’s role in terms of facilitating business development. She summarized the

services offered by SEDA as follows:

• Business registration: SEDA has partnered with CIPRO to assist with business

registrations and to help with the development of business plans.

• Access to finance: SEDA has come to understand the requirements of financial institutions

and assist applicants with such. SEDA also provides advice on which institutions to approach

or which schemes to apply to.

• Access to markets: SEDA assists with the provision of promotional materials such as

business cards and provides information, for example, on exporting and conferences.

• Access to technology: SEDA has initiatives such as the technology incubators.

• Capacity buildings or training: SEDA provides business management training workshops

from HR to Finance, depending on which skills the entrepreneur needs.

• Cooperatives: SEDA assists with the application of the CIS and other information

regarding cooperatives.

Ms Mokondo explained the phases of SEDA’S “Business Talk Sessions”:

• Business Start: Discussions of product ideas, business or marketing plans.

• Business Build: Advice on the application of incentives schemes.

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• Business growth: provision of skills to ensure the sustainability of the business.

Ms Mokondo concluded her presentation by quoting the following: “‘As SEDA we are trying to

make it our business to build your businesses”.

Business Women Organizations Presentations

Facilitator: Ms Nana Ditodi

Ms Ditodi, SAWEN’s President, explained what the business women organization’s presentation

session was about, emphasising that “it was about going back to the basics”. She elaborated

that SAWEN had been growing but had not been successful in all areas. Accordingly, in order

for SAWEN to become an umbrella body again, it wished to engage in dialogue with other

organizations in respect of the way forward. Ms Ditodi extended her gratitude to SAWEN’S ‘foot

soldiers’ which referred to all the chairpersons and co-coordinators who had worked tirelessly to

spread the word about SAWEN without any remuneration.

Ms Masokoane, SAWEN explained that the issue of “going back to basics” was the driving

force for SAWEN. Ms Masokoane reviewed SAWEN’S Vision and Mission and spoke of SAWEN’s

role as the following: to Network Platform, and provide business information and support

services. She elaborated further, stating that SAWEN needed to have databases that were

reliable, accurate and up to date in order to allow for cross- trading platforms to take place. Ms

Masokoane also noted that the new focus area for SAWEN should be advocacy and lobbying,

explaining that these tasks were always on paper but were never implemented. Capacity

building was also one of the things that SAWEN should be doing, through workshops and

training.

SAWEN had been through difficult times but this was not in vain as it did have accolades under

its belt, namely:

• Special recognition award : The British Female Inventors and Innovators International

(BFIIN & GWIN) –June 2009; and

• African Women Affairs Achiever of the Year (Broadcasting Network Africa) in March 2005.

She mentioned certain challenges faced by SAWEN which included:

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• Dual governance structures: SAWEN was comprised of the Programme within the dti and

the Section 21 Company. Merging was therefore critical;

• Unreliable database: effective reporting would assist to overcome this challenge;

• Human resources;

• Marginalized provinces: there was a need for equality and tailor made solutions for each

province; and

• Funding.

Ms Masokoane reminded the provincial offices that they were the ones who would determine

the way forward and that the national office would support them, not vice versa.

Ms Mononela, from Women’s Empowerment in Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, explained

that as a department, the acknowledgement and celebration of female farmers was of vital

importance as it had come to understand that women and men experienced challenges and

many other things differently.

The department was utilising these different experiences to their advantage and as an entry

point to drive gender mainstreaming within the department.

Ms Mononela explained that the department’s approach with regard to gender mainstreaming

was influenced by the national and international frameworks on women’s empowerment.

She mentioned that as a department, it was doing its bit to ensure that funds were made

available for the farmers through institutions such as MAFISA that support was given from

Land Care as well as Food Securities. She further explained that the department was faced

with challenges and viewed the way forward as follows:

• To strengthen cooperative governance;

• To develop skills and training; and

• To strengthen relationships with other departments.

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Ms Phatudi, SAWIMA gave a brief background on SAWIMA. SWIMA was formed in 1999 by the

former minister of minerals with the objective of women becoming more actively involved in

mining. Its core purposes were:

• To act as a bridge or link between its members and the mining houses;

• To equip and develop its members to adequately respond to the legislative and regulatory

environment of the industry; and

• To provide access for its members to opportunities in the industry.

She mentioned what SAWIMA’s goals for the year 2009 were:

• To create opportunities for engagement around the 2009 deadline of compliance;

• To meet with every mining house seeking to : Position SAWIMA and also share its vision;

and

• Create opportunities for partnership such as: procurement, equity, training and develop

strategic alliances.

She noted that it is SAWIMA’s task to inform its members of all the rules and terminology within

the mining sector, as SAWIMA had realized that there were women engaging in illegal mining.

SAWIMA was of the view that it was of vital importance to guide and assist these women to

obtain the relevant documents.

SAWIMIH is a section 21, non-profit entity and since its inception, SAWIMIH has been involved

in a number of dealings with corporate partners, namely mining houses.

Ms Phatudi gave a brief background on SAWIMIH:

• Members of SAWIMA have a 60% shareholding in the investment company. This is to

ensure that members participate and benefit directly from opportunities that should be

created by the company.

• Members benefit materially through their direct shareholding in SAWIMIH.

Further, SAWIMA’s membership had increased drastically due to the acquisition of 5% of Sasol’s

shares.

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Day two: Overview

An opening prayer was said by one of the delegates, Roseline from the Free State. Roseline

extended her gratitude to Deputy Minister Maria Ntuli and encouraged all to pray for more

women like Mam Ntuli in government.

The SAWEN president, Ms Ditodi, also extended her sincere gratitude for the participation of

women and their cooperation throughout the conference. She introduced the programme

director for the day, Ms Maureen Delekisa from Limpopo. Ms Ditodi emphasised that SAWEN

was blessed and fortunate to have such women to assist with the development of women

owned companies. Ms Delekisa thanked Ms Ditodi for such a welcoming introduction and

thanked all in attendance.

Ms Delekisa went on to quote Reverend Martin Luther King Jnr: “Everybody can be great

because anybody can serve all a person needs is a heart of grace, a soul generated by love.

The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands at the moment of comfort and

convenience but where he stands in times of challenges and controversy.” Ms Delekisa then

called upon the SAWEN’s provincial co-coordinator in Limpopo, Ms Petra Mphahlele to open the

day’s session.

Opening and welcome by Ms Petra Mphahlele (SAWEN Limpopo)

Ms Mphahlele welcomed everyone in attendance. She shared the excitement and honour that

the province felt at being given the opportunity to host this year’s conference. She stated that

what she had gathered as an individual was that every speaker who took to the podium gave

the message of ‘let us work together; let us do something’.

Ms Mphahlele also noted that ample information had been disseminated regarding different

government programmes, how they worked, and how they could be accessed. Accordingly,

women could now go to their respective provinces and take the initiative to access these

programmes. As she put it, “The government and all the different organizations have put out

the word and now it was time for women to use that word to their advantage.”

She elaborated further and emphasised that the women in attendance had to go back and

review themselves as entrepreneurs, identify their failures, and establish how they could

improve and how to go about it. Ms Mphahlele words of inspiration were that women had to

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break down community barriers, and explained that women in most cases held themselves back

by not believing in themselves enough.

She raised concern with regard to TWIB such that there are many women who were not

applying for it and encouraged them to do so.

Message of support

The Honourable Deputy Minister of the dti delivered a very spiritual and inspirational message

of support stating that ‘talks had been going around for such a long time, but now it was time

for implementation’. It was time to share the acquired knowledge with other women. Words

were quoted from the Bible and the Deputy Minister of the dti encouraged women to empower

and love each other and to care about each other.

She proclaimed that economic freedom was coming and women were at the forefront of

facilitating it. She encouraged the women in attendance to go and spread the word about the

different programmes available and how to access them.

Report back from the commissions

The 1st commission

The 1st commission presentation done by Ms. Beverly Brown of SAWEN Gauteng, on the

proposed solutions on the Constitutionalisation of SAWEN:

• The Mandate was outlined, and the commission unpacked and agreed that some

amendments had to be made, (see objectives of presentation for the original.)

� The first objective had to be strengthened and was to be read as follows…To provide a

national vehicle that brought all women together and diverse women groups to address

the challenges faced by women entrepreneurs in their respective provinces.

� The second object should read….To Lobby Government, Public and Private institutions

on trade and commerce activities on behalf of women entrepreneurs.

� The third objective would remain without any amendments.

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� The fourth objective needed to be revised as it gave a false sense that the SAWEN

offices would be made available to access business resources... (To what extent did this

happen, could members come and use the computers? Was this accurate?? And did they

really facilitate the opportunities for SA women???Are they a mouth piece or a finger

pointing in a direction or did they facilitate from start to finish????

� The final objective was unpacked and the members felt that SAWEN was not able to

Profile and affirm women in business leadership positions. (Not all members could be

elevated to leadership positions and therefore it would not make practical sense to

achieve this mandate.

• The SAWEN Structure: although members were in some instances not aware of the dual

nature, it was clarified by Ruth in the SAWEN presentation. The members were very

comfortable in putting forward the recommendation that only one structure should be

maintained to ensure that delivery and implementation were managed correctly. Members

agreed that the Section 21 component had to be done away with, and the Board should not

be allowed to function as it has played a minimal role and created confusion. More power

should be given to the Chairpersons of each Province as they are able to directly understand

the needs of the Province and also able to create the means of ensuring that the needs are

actually met.

• Relationship with other spheres of government: It was emphasized that at a National Level

of Government, the dti, Gender Unit and SAWEN play a meaningful role of building

relationships with other Government Departments. At Provincial level, the Gender Unit can

guide and support the Chairpersons in communication at these levels by submitting letters

of participation or whatever else may be required. At Local Government, it was agreed that

Chairpersons should play a more direct role in paving the way forward for women

entrepreneurs.

• A discussion on the relationship of SAWEN and other organizations unpacked how the

relationship should be structured, and what the appropriate terms to govern that

relationship should be. This should be incorporated into a memorandum of understanding,

clearly stating the parameters of the relationship and the roles to be clarified between the

partners. The group went further and identified a list of past, present and future

organizations to be involved in a relationship with, and further recommended that the dti

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should compile a detailed list of other role players and unpack the Memorandum of

Understanding.

• In conclusion, it was also highlighted that the database should be managed by

Chairpersons, and procurement be done through SAWEN members first.

The 2nd Commission

The 2nd commission presentation was done by Ms Mankomo Mbatha, SAWEN Gauteng, on the

proposed solutions on the relationship of SAWEN and other organisations/associations:

• The first point to be made was that it was crucial to address SAWEN’s relationship with

other organizations.

• The commission identified the organizations that SAWEN can work with from the business

presentations done by the different organizations such as Mining, Construction, Agriculture

and Forestry, NAFCOC women etc.

• It was concluded that this was not sufficient, therefore a recommendation was that the dti,

together with SAWEN, can widen the database by identifying other stakeholders.

• Part two of the commission was about the appropriate terms to govern or inform the

partnership: the recommendation was the introduction of a Memorandum of Understanding.

• The memo should be in place within the structures in SAWEN and it should clearly state

exactly what is expected from the partnership, and the proposed time frame of the

partnership as a way of establishing a transparent relationship.

• National structures should be replicated in provinces, districts and local municipalities.

• The issue of fundraising was of critical importance as the concern was the need to discuss

where to source funds from and guidelines in order to do so.

• It was recommended that SAWEN should report regularly, within stipulated time frames, not

only when there were problems, as should all the structures within SAWEN.

Way Forward

• To be sensitive to people with disabilities and the youth in all the programmes.

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• Mainstream gender in all the operational plans.

• Ensure graduation from SMEs to a higher level.

• Reposition & align the programme.

• Capacity Building.

• Database management.

• Provincial focus and empowerment.

• Outreach-road shows.

• Mobilise and galvanise women groups (umbrella body).

Questions and Answers:

Q: What is being done about the ploughing fields?

A: The introduction of the usage of the technology incubators is being addressed to assist

farmers to produce more and use the latest innovations.

Q: One delegate asked if there was a possibility to have contact details and if a

hot line similar to that of the President can be introduced.

A: Delegates were advised to log in on www.dti.org.za for more information on the various

programmes.

Q: Does the dti give funds to registered SMEs, training, support them with

exportation?

A: Yes to all the questions, through various programmes.

Q: How as the dti are you going to ensure that the same face does not become the

only face to get tenders?

A: Strategies are in place to ensure that there are equal opportunities and the effective

reporting and updated database will assist with keeping track of who has been given an

opportunity and who has not yet.

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Q: How as the department are you going to ensure that relevant people have

access to information?

A: Issues of statistics. The department is still on the learning curve taking it a day at a time.

Some information is not that conclusive, but much effort is going into monitoring and

evaluation.

Q: What mechanisms are in place to empower women about TWIB?

A: Yes, it is true that the interest in the programme is sluggish but there are talks in the

pipeline of conducting workshops on the programme with the purpose of explaining to

women about the programme and what its benefits are.

Gala Dinner

The Gala Dinner was aimed at the launching of the Isivande Fund. The platform was shared by

the Deputy Minister of Trade and Industry, Hon Ms Maria Ntuli; Mr. Shakeel Meer of the IDC

and program manager of the Isivande Fund; The Premier of Limpopo the Hon Mr. Cassel

Mathale and Mr. Sipho Zikode Acting Deputy Director-General the dti. Local performing acts

also filled the programme to the attendees’ delight.

Apologies

Apologies were received from the following individuals:

• Mr Nkoana, Director Economic Planning.

• Ms Palami, SA Women in Construction.

• Ms Phadi, SA Women in Transport.

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