Dti to launch informal sector scheme

"We are going to launch this programme in December. What we are going to have are small grants - most of our incentives are quite big amounts. We are going to structure incentives of R500 to R50 000. We are going to give small scale incentives," October told SAnews.

He was speaking following the opening of the Small Business Summit held in Mpumalanga being held under the theme, 'The role of SMMEs in South Africa's Industrialisation Path'.

October said there was a need to pump resources into township businesses.

"Clearly what we can say is that we have not as a country, both as the public and private sector, done enough for small business, especially for township business," he said.

"We've been working on the industrial policy to increase employment in the manufacturing sector and so on. We've supported the automotive and chemical sectors, for example, and those sectors are starting to grow. What we are realising now, unlike other countries, when the big business sector grows, it takes small business with it.

"If you take Japan for example, when Toyota exports, there are 10 000 small businesses that benefit. There's a symbiotic relationship between small and big business. In South Africa, we don't have that. What we've realised is that as we've grown the formal sector, the township businesses have not grown," he said.

October said it was now necessary to invest in infrastructure for the informal sector and to provide resources.