Small business owners urged to take advantage of government support

The Department of Trade, Industry and Competition (the dtic) has urged small business operators and innovators in Kwaggafontein township in Mpumalanga to take advantage of the various government programmes designed to assist them.

The dtic hosted a workshop to empower entrepreneurs with information on the different offerings of financial and non-financial support, as they develop and commercialise new innovative solutions into the market. 

The workshop was part of a series taking place across the country, organised by the department, in partnership with key agencies such as the Small Enterprise Development and Finance Agency (SEDFA) and the Companies and Intellectual Property Commission (CIPC). 

The Deputy Director of Innovation and Technology at the dtic, Patrick Mtsweni, delivered a presentation on the Khoebo Innovation Promotion Programme (KIPP), which is aimed at assisting entrepreneurs to commercialise their locally developed innovations. 

The programme is administered by the Industrial Development Corporation (IDC) – a development finance agency of the dtic.

“The KIPP is designed to promote a competitive economic environment and facilitate economic growth in the South African economy. The support is in the form of subordinated loans and grant funding.

“The product or service being funded or supported should be new (novel innovation) or improved (incremental innovation) and seek to solve localised and/or socio-economic challenges to give the company a sustainable competitive advantage. 

“The key objective is to unearth new technologies, create networking platforms for technology development and commercialisation, as well as focused technology development and innovative thinking,” he said.

Mtsweni said the KIPP supports grassroots innovators who may have invented new solutions to solve local problems. 

Entrepreneurs can get up to R7 million worth of support from the KIPP depending on their needs. – SAnews.gov.za