Although it seldom occur that one could become expect in the field which one received neither formal nor informal training in a particular field, members of the Portfolio Committee on Small Business Development have discovered that it is, indeed, all possible.

During an oversight visit in the Free State, members of the Committee were impressed by some entrepreneurs who established successful small, medium and macro enterprises (SMMEs) without any form of training, including Ms Manapo Mopeli who makes and sells clothes out of the Basotho blankets; Mr Raborotho Maatla who started a steel company without any welding skill in Phuthaditjhaba as well as Mr Theo van der Wat who manufactures and sells organic compost in Bloemfontein.

All the three entrepreneurs were visited by the Committee as part of following up on the services received from the Department of Small Business Development through the Small Enterprise Financial Agency (Sefa) and Small Enterprise Development Agency (Seda).

Ms Mopeli quit her municipality work in 2013 to start Bashoeshoe le Boshoeshoe clothing company out of passion, and she now employs three people on a permanent basis. She received assistance with machinery from the Department of Rural Development and branding as well as capacity training from Seda.

The Chairperson of the Committee, Ms Ruth Bengu, reiterated that Seda should also assist Ms Mopeli with the issues of intellectual property in order to protect her designing skills.

“Seda should always deal with requests from its clients with a holding approach, and not only focus on the services required from them. This matter speaks to the importance of collaboration between the department and its agencies,” said Ms Bengu.

Meanwhile, Mr Maatla also had an interesting story to share with members of the Committee on how he started his Menza Steel Company in 2007, saying the love and passion for work came about after he got lost in Bloemfontein and saw people welding.  

“I was fascinated by how those people were using the Guillotine Eccentric machine, after which I did my own research and bought a similar machine without knowing how to use it. Eventually I learnt the skill and the Free State Development Cooperation donated a factory which now employed 14 workers on a permanent basis,” he said.

Mr Maatla was assisted by Sefa with a loan of R250 000 to purchase more machinery and raw materials.

The story of Mr Theo van der Wat is not different, whereby he resigned from his mining job in 2008 to start an organic compost company without any form of training on how to make a compost.

He was then assisted by Sefa to access a loan of R750 000, which he used to buy machinery and he has since created eight permanent jobs.

The three SMMEs were only the highlight of the Committee’s oversight visit in the province, in which many others, as well as cooperatives, were visited. The Committee covered three districts and one metropolitan municipalities in just five days.

Now, with the information gathered from the ground, it will go back to Parliament and deliberated in order to produce a report with clear recommendations on how the department and its agencies can improve their services to the public.  

By Justice Molafo

18 August 2017