The Enterprise and Supplier Development (ESD) Community of Practice (CoP) was launched by Minister Stella Ndabeni-Abrahams on Wednesday, 7 June 2023. I had the privilege and honour of being the programme director at the event. The community of practice is dedicated to rebooting ESD for more effective transformation and SMME impact. The CoP was formed for public and private sector collaboration for transformation.
The two-day launch was packed with relevant dialogue around ESD. Day one started with the development of ESD – How far have we come, and where do we go from here? 20 years of enterprise and supplier development……. What do we have to show for it? How many SMMEs have been successful as a result of ESD? The Sanlam Gauge Report 2022 made it quite evident that we’re not quite there when it comes to ESD. It is with these results that we challenge corporates and SOEs to implement ESD programmes that build sustainable supplier relationships. Big figures that go into ESD spending were mentioned and it’s mind-blowing how much actually goes into SMME Development in South Africa – the question still remains though – where are the success stories? What has been the impact of these billion we hear about?
The commissioner of B-BBBEE Mr Tshediso Matona, took us through the road ahead for ESD as a component of South Africa’s B-BBEE policy and outlined challenges around ESD:
· The absence of ESD strategies from ESD practitioners
· ESD Practitioners not performing needs analysis on SMMEs they support
· Not enough monitoring and evaluation is performed on ESD initiatives
· ESD used as expenditure dumping
· No central SMME database of beneficiaries
These were no surprise to the ESD ecosystem. One of the issues in this sector is that anyone feels like they can be an ESD practitioner and coach entrepreneurs. The need to professionalise, develop practitioners and put a qualification behind being an ESD practitioner has risen.
Hearing from ESD beneficiaries was interesting and inspiring. We were reminded that ESD done right can have a tremendous impact on society and the economy. It is no secret that SMEs are the backbone of our country’s economy. We rely on the success of SMMEs for economic growth and to combat unemployment, poverty and inequality. The plea and request of SMMEs can be clustered into three:
· Access to Markets
· Access to Funding
· Reduce red tape (Reducing re-tape does not mean non-compliance, it just means reducing requirements from SMMEs when they’re applying for funding or ESD programmes. For example – an SMME won’t necessarily have a business plan when starting out. Stop making this a compulsory requirement for start-ups).
It also appears SMMEs really value mentorship and coaching. The skills transfer is invaluable for the entrepreneur and things that they use forever.
Now with the ESD CoP launched, I’m excited to see what’s going to come from it. I’m excited about the impact of the collaboration of the various stakeholders.
I'm also glad I can play my part and be a positive catalyst for positive transformation.
The Business Doctor, Keitumetse Lekaba
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