The IDC’s drive to grow sustainable small and medium enterprises in Limpopo

The IDC’s drive to grow sustainable small and medium enterprises in Limpopo

[Polokwane, South Africa, 04 July 2024]. The Industrial Development Corporation (IDC) is strengthening its presence across South Africa to help unlock entrepreneurial opportunities and create sustainable employment. To this end, the IDC is accelerating its drive to actively promote investment across all provinces in South Africa, with a key objective to support entrepreneurs who seek to invest in industrial capacity development and job creation within the Small and Medium Enterprises (SME) sector.


Naomi Mtshali, the Acting Head of Small Business Finance and Regions at the IDC says that the organisation has always had a keen interest in developing and growing economies in each of South Africa’s nine provinces to ensure that entrepreneurs are opportunely serviced in the provinces they reside in. “In our quest to consistently strive towards improvement, the IDC underwent an optimisation exercise and enhanced its offering at the regional level. This resulted in transfiguring regional operations to the Small Business Finance and Regions (SBF) strategic business unit (SBU) that is geared to streamline offerings, and better serve the IDC’s diverse clients. This change has turned our regional offices into turnkey operations which cover transactions up to R20 million, limiting customer touchpoints and ensuring faster turnaround of deals. As a results, last year alone, IDC approved R510 million and disbursed R305 million to support entrepreneurs and sustain job creation.”


A recent milestone was the launch of the IDC’s Limpopo office which plays a pivotal role in growing the province’s economy by tackling its ravaging unemployment through sustainable job creation.


Mashweu Matsiela, the IDC’s Regional Manager in Limpopo says that the Limpopo office forms part of the IDC’s footprint across the country. “In the corporation’s last audited results, we contributed, R4.4 billion to the IDC’s total approvals of just over R20 billion,” he says, adding that the IDC “has fostered fruitful strategies over the past year which have given birth to successful partnerships with intermediaries, larger corporates, and other strategic partners. These partnerships have played a significant role in extending the Corporation’s reach to sectors such as services and primary agriculture respectively, which would not have been possible without these partnerships.”


Limpopo’s economy is largely driven by the agriculture, mining, and tourism sectors. “The province is responsible for growing the most tomatoes in the southern hemisphere, more than South America where tomatoes originate from. Besides having very fertile soil for primary agriculture, our province also has vast opportunities in the agro-processing space, with identified gaps mainly in the packaging and storage areas.”


“On the mining front, the province has several opportunities within the platinum group metals and coal industries. Junior miners and suppliers to mines have ripe opportunities which can be supported through our myriad of funding solutions, including our SME-CONNECT initiative. Through this initiative we can partner with the big mining houses and tap into their enterprise supplier development programmes thereby creating valuable linkages for SME support,” Matsiela concludes.


The Limpopo regional office also aims to unlock opportunities in tourism and work closely with a range of Special Economic Zones to create sustainable growth opportunities for SMEs.


Media enquiries: Neo Mogodi
E-mail: NeoMo@idc.co.za
Mobile: +27 83 261 1666

About the IDC
The IDC has contributed to the implementation of South Africa’s industrial policy for more than 80 years and established, among others, the Petro-chemicals, and minerals beneficiation industries. We have stimulated large industrial projects in these industries – acknowledged today as the cornerstones of the country’s manufacturing sector – and influenced the establishment of industries in fabricated metals, agriculture, clothing, and textiles.


During the 1990s, its mandate was expanded to include investment in the rest of Africa. Currently, investments in Africa include mining, agriculture, manufacturing, tourism, and telecommunications.


The IDC has a healthy balance sheet, with funding generated through income from equity investments, loans, and borrowings from various other institutions. The corporation aligns its priorities with government’s policy direction and remains committed to developing the country’s industrial capacity and playing a major role in facilitating job creation through industrialisation.