Small Enterprise Development Agency (Seda) assisted 1, 379 small businesses in the last financial year to access payment amounting to more than R33.9 million for services delivered to government. This brought the total number of payments facilitated since inception to R380 million said Sipho Zikode, Seda’s acting CEO.
“Accounting profit is meaningless without cash in the bank, Seda sees this function of assisting small businesses to get paid on time as one of its most critical services to small businesses,” said Zikode.
Seda Board Chairperson, Ivor Zwane said Seda would lobby government to ensure that officials in government who are responsible for delaying payment to small businesses were sanctioned.
“The establishment of the Ministry of Small Business Development is further indication that government is serious about the role of small businesses in our economy,” said Zwane.
According to Zwane, South Africa had a target to create 11 million jobs by 2030 and more than 80 percent of these new jobs would be created by the small business sector.