SEDFA, the Small Enterprise Development and Finance Agency, is officially active. This initiative was birthed from the parent agencies of Small Enterprise Development Agency (Seda), Small Enterprise Finance Agency (SEFA) and the Co-operative Banks Development Agency (CBDA), which it has now replaced.
The new entity has been established as a response to the growing needs of micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs), aiming to provide better service delivery. Additionally, commencing operation at the end of 2024 means that SEDFA will be prepared to fully serve business owners and entrepreneurs from the start of 2025.
SEDFA Supports Small Businesses Across Sectors
“Much work has been done getting SEDFA ready for business, redefining its governance, its strategy, its structure, and its new instruments and offerings,” said Stella Ndabeni-Abrahams, Minister of Small Business Development during her keynote address at the National Presidential MSME & Cooperatives post awards breakfast session. “I have been consistent in my demand that the new entity must be more than just the sum of its parts.”
“SEDFA has the mandate to provide seamless and integrated services across the pre-investment, investment, and post-investment space. This is SEDFA’s unique value proposition, which will make it a game-changer in the small enterprise support ecosystem.
“It will support all segments of small enterprises, from informal micro-enterprises through to high growth tech start-ups and highly competitive export-oriented manufacturing enterprises.”
“SEFDA’s core is to ensure we enhance our business development support,” she added. “This means assisting entrepreneurs from ideation through incubators where they can develop a prototype to a final product. When you take them through these baby steps, then you teach them to be compliant.”
Ndabeni-Abrahams explains that this helps entrepreneurs need to be educated because they are innovative, but it doesn’t mean that they understand the regulations. “That is why we are enhancing business development and adding new products like contract management because most of our MSMEs are victimised by large businesses and even the government. At times, they are not paid or contracts are stopped. Entrepreneurs cannot afford to go to court and dispute it, so that is why we have established the office of the ombuds. This office will deal with anyone who undermines the work that the entrepreneurs do as well as the unfair trade practices that we see in our country.”
Small Enterprise Development Strategic Framework Laid the Ground
She referred to the National Integrated Small Enterprise Development Strategic Framework (NISED), the country’s third iteration of the Small Enterprise Development Strategy, which enables various public and private actors to collaborate in a focused, targeted, and coordinated manner.
“We have achieved much since the launch of NISED,” Ndabeni-Abrahams shared. “We have put active measures in place for the R350 billion MSME credit gap, including developing the MSME and Cooperatives Funding Policy which has recently been approved by the Cabinet. Furthermore, we committed to establishing 110 incubators, which we have surpassed in partnerships with the private sector, universities and TVET Colleges. Lastly, we have amended our enabling legislation, the National Small Enterprise Act, which enables the establishment of the Office of the Small Enterprise Ombuds whose shortlisting is currently with Parliament.”
The introduction of SEDFA itself was made possible through the amended National Small Enterprise Act.
SEDFA Logo Revealed
The new agency’s mission is to bring enhanced service delivery and comprehensive support to all MSMEs across all sectors, and from all walks of life.
The Minister stated that the department wanted to address entrepreneur complaints such as a lack of responsiveness that creates inefficiencies in business development. “Therefore, we have a clear mandate to automate certain services in the value chain. When you automate your processes like banking services do, it makes things easier and eliminates the time it takes to go through the manual processes.”
Other negative impacts that become corrupted are also eliminated through automation.
“However, it cannot be easy if the automation isn’t user-friendly,” she said. The agency understands that they are responsible for all segments; from learned to those who are not, from tech-savvy individuals to tech-disabled users. “Therefore, our system is responsive to these factors and will also take language use into consideration. When the final product is launched, you will see we aim to accommodate everyone.”
With the new logo, the department ensured that the employees were involved as they are key to determining the (successful) future of the new agency. “It has inspired everyone to leave behind the bad and build on everything that is good. This is why the focus is on the ecosystem, not just looking at the department or the agency. We are bringing other players to the party.
The logo is more than just a brand identifier – it is the vehicle that brings together all role players in the small enterprise ecosystem. The tree signifies growth while the different coloured leaves and individuals around the tree indicate inclusivity across all sectors.
Currently, the agency is still in transition, April is the current change date. Shortly afterwards, the office of the ombuds will commence practice. “First, however, is the funding policy that will give the transformational fund that we will be launching soon.” Ndabeni-Abrahams concluded.
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