South African women have to pull out all the stops to become successful entrepreneurs.
The Deputy Minister of Small Business Development, Ms Elizabeth Thabethe said that South Africa needed more innovative and entrepreneurial business women who could make a meaningful contribution to the creation of jobs in the country. In this way, she added, they women would contribute towards the realisation of the objectives set in the country’s National Development Plan (NDP).
Thabethe made these remarks during the Technology for Business in Women (TWIB) Conference hosted jointly by the Department of Small Business and the Mpumalanga Department of Economic Development and Tourism at the Church on the Hill Conference Centre in Nelspruit on 31st November 2014.
She said: “The reality is that SMMEs are critical to the economy of the country, and are an important link in creating much needed employment. But for the country’s goals to be achieved, we need innovative people, especially women, to lead, create employment and produce goods and services. Instead of expecting government to create jobs or to be employed in the private sector, we need to become entrepreneurs and create jobs for ourselves. We need to become masters of our own destinies.”
BEE certificate applications to be processed at FNB
Through a partnership with Empowerdex , FNB Business will be processing applications for Black Economic Empowerment (BEE) certificates through the Bank’s online banking channel.
Sanjeev Orie, CEO of Value-Adds at FNB Business , described the online application process as “ quick, easy and requires that the applicant has all the necessary documentation”.
He went on to say, “This is an exciting development because we are effectively minimising the administrative burden of obtaining BEE certificates, through a fast, cost-effective and efficient application process. BEE certification is a key imperative for most businesses operating in South Africa; therefore, our aim is to accelerate the process through a reliable and user-friendly channel.”
On his organisation’s behalf, Andile Kungwayo, Empowerdex’s Divisional Manager, said:.“This is an exciting partnership because it gives us another platform to efficiently provide a necessary service to South Africa’s businesses. We believe that the joint venture is in line with our mission to provide support to both the public and private sectors in accelerating broad-based black economic empowerment in the country.”