This report explains how, through enterprise development, people can earn a living and rise out of poverty. In turn over time they create jobs as well as empower other individuals and the communities in which they live. Market development, commercial business services and social enterprise are part and parcel of Enterprise Development.
Moreover it encompasses finance, entrepreneurship development, investment and growth in Small Medium and Micro Enterprises (SMMEs), including initiatives that range from enabling the start-up of small businesses to providing business skills development through training, mentoring, coaching.
Economic growth is key to addressing unemployment, gender equality, health and other poverty related issues worldwide. Enterprise development (ED) is an important tool and essential element to economic growth. Raizcorp, in an article entitled Enterprise Development Made Easy, defines enterprise development as investing time, knowledge and capital to help small and medium enterprises establish, expand or improve businesses, including empowering modest income generating informal activities to grow and contribute to the local economy.
According to the Tourism Empowerment Council of South Africa (TECSA), a company enterprise development policy should be developed with outcomes in mind such as:
- steering the economy towards a stable environment that nurtures growth and increases the country’s economic competitiveness.
- fostering a synergistic relationship between the private and public sector to embrace social investment as a common vision.
- fostering an entrepreneurship culture amongst previously disadvantaged groups.
Through enterprise development people can earn a living and rise out of poverty. In turn over time they create jobs as well as empower other individuals and the communities in which they live.
Market development, commercial business services and social enterprise are part and parcel of enterprise development. Moreover it encompasses finance, entrepreneurship development, investment and growth in small, medium and micro enterprises (SMMEs), including initiatives that range from enabling the start-up of small businesses to providing business skills development through training, mentoring, coaching.
Black economic empowerment (BEE) compliance is measured by means of a scorecard. The scorecard is based on various elements and your company is measured out of a maximum of 100 points. The BEE scorecard focuses on seven main elements within the South African workplace. These seven elements look at ownership, management control, employment equity, skills development, preferential procurement, enterprise development and socio-economic development and sector specific contributions.
A strategy has been presented at the various management forums, following the five pronged approach of financier, partner, advisor, implementer and integrator to build human capital and institutional capacity as per the Development Bank of Southern Africa (DBSA) mandate. The DBSA favours a 10-step strategy starting with identifying opportunities for enterprise development in its project pipeline aligned with the key focus areas, linked to sectoral value chains and broad-based black economic empowerment (BBBEE) transformation charters, opportunity and needs based, identifying criteria and partners, structuring alliances, using tested models or develop it where it does not exist, benchmarking, agreeing on an exit strategy and incorporating monitoring and evaluation.
A mentoring and coaching programme will be rolled out for DBSA interested staff and for the project beneficiaries. The intention is to start learning from pilot initiatives. We are counting on your support as development activists to help DBSA do its share of reducing the unemployment rate and boosting economic growth in southern Africa.
Source Details:
By Dr Ingrid Verwey, Development Planning Division Working Paper Series No. 18 (2011), https://www.dbsa.org
