The Nelson Mandela Bay Business Chamber in partnership with the Eastern Cape Development Corporation (ECDC) announced that it has launched a new one-year Exporter Development Programme as part of an enterprise development strategy to empower business owners and companies. The Business Chamber launched and welcomed several companies that are on the cusp of exporting but in need of further assistance to enter and explore new markets. SEEKING NEW HORIZONS: Nelson Mandela Bay Business Chamber’s Operations Manager Prince Matonsi (left) and ECDC’s said Senior Manager for Export Promotion pictured with two companies enrolled on the Exporter Development Programme: Buzwebethu Textile Prints CEO Nobuzwe Mabona and SOGA Organic Admin and Logistics Manager Diana Hannah. According to the recently released EC Export Strategy, many SMEs face key constraints and several barriers such as intensified international competition, unable to participate in potential buyer outreaches, costs rela...

The Small Business Development Institute and the Department of Small Business Development will host a sequel to the successful inaugural National SMME Policy Colloquium that was held in 2014. This year’s colloquium will be held at the Industrial Development Corporation (IDC) from 30-31 October 2015. The colloquium’s principal focus is to debate and interrogate policies that hamper the growth and sustainability of SMMEs. The colloquium also seeks to find sustainable solutions to the challenges that confront small businesses and cooperatives and to identify policy interventions that will contribute to the growth and sustainability of small businesses. The second National SMME policy colloquium will highlight the first anniversary of the Department of Small Business Development (DSBD) and will provide an opportunity to the Minister to report to the nation some of the progress and key milestones her department has registered since its establishment. Minister of Small Business D...