ICT SMME Development Strategy: Building a Better Life

1. ICT SMME DEVELOPMENT STRATEGY USAASA ICT SMME REVIEW SYMPOSIUM PRESENTATIONCENTURION LAKE HOTEL07 DECEMBER 2017 Building a better life for all through an enabling and sustainable world class information and communication technologies environment.

2. Table of Content • Introduction • Government Process • Background • Definition of an ICT SMME • Strategy Formulation Process • Challenges affecting ICT SMME’S • Vision & Strategic Goal • Strategy Objectives • Strategic Interventions • Institutional Framework for ICT SMME development Building a better life for all through an enabling and sustainable world class information and communication technologies environment.

3. Government Processes • Draft ICT SMME Strategy submitted to ESEID Cluster for approval to gazette: 01 March 2017 • Draft Strategy submitted to Cabinet for approval to gazette: 29 March 2017 • Draft Strategy presented to Director-General’s Small Business and Cooperatives Development Committee meeting on: 10 March 2017 • Draft Strategy gazetted on 31 March 2017 for public consultations • Bilateral workshop held with DSBD on 08 August 2017 • Presentation to Portfolio Committee: 22 August 2017 • Final Strategy Director-General’s Small Business and Cooperatives Development Committee meeting 15 September 2017. • Final Strategy was presented to Cluster on 11 October 2017, • The Final Strategy was approved by Cabinet on 01 November 2017 Building a better life for all through an enabling and sustainable world class information and communication technologies environment.

4. Introduction • SMMEs plays a crucial role for employment, wealth creation, development of innovations and contribution to economy. • The NDP envisages that the small business sector will create 90% of the expected 11 million jobs by 2030. • 9 Point Plan priority: to unlock the potential of SMMEs, cooperatives and other rural enterprises, to contribute into the South African Economy. • The MTEF also highlights the important need of developing markets for SMMEs and supporting the roll-out and sustainability of incubators. • National Integrated ICT White Paper Policy Building a better life for all through an enabling and sustainable world class information and communication technologies environment.

5. Background Building a better life for all through an enabling and sustainable world class information and communication technologies environment.

6. Definition of an ICT SMME The National Small Business Act (NSBA) classifies SMMEs into 5 categories (survivalist, micro, very small, small and medium) and annual turnover and number of employees. An ICT SMME: SMME that is operating within the ICT sector, either as an ICT service provider, software and content developer or electronics and hardware manufacturer. Building a better life for all through an enabling and sustainable world class information and communication technologies environment.

7. Strategy Formulation Process • Strategy informed by: • Robust consultative workshops with ICT SMMEs (All 9 Provinces) • ICT Industry value chain analysis study – Telecoms and IT • This Strategy respond to challenges affecting ICT SMMEs; outlines key interventions to accelerate the development and growth of SMMEs in the ICT sector; and aims to facilitate increase of uptake and usage of ICTs by the general small business sector. Building a better life for all through an enabling and sustainable world class information and communication technologies environment.

8. Challenges affecting ICT SMMEs • high levels of concentration in the ICT market; • high cost to communicate; • inhibiting policy and regulatory environment; • limited commercialisation of innovation; • lack of appropriate incentive schemes; • constraints in access to finance; • skewed deployment of infrastructure; • market access; • lack of appropriate skills and entrepreneurial capabilities; • no central comprehensive database for ICT SMMEs; and • no coordination and integration mechanism to drive and monitor ICT SMME related programmes and interventions Building a better life for all through an enabling and sustainable world class information and communication technologies environment.

9. Vision & Strategic Goal Vison: To create an enabling environment for ICT SMMEs in South Africa to be innovative, technology driven, sustainable and internationally competitive, contributing to job creation and economic growth by 2020. Strategic Goal: To unlock the business opportunities and create an enabling business and administrative environment for SMMEs in the ICT sector to thrive and advance into successful and sustainable entities. Building a better life for all through an enabling and sustainable world class information and communication technologies environment.

10. Strategic Objectives • Facilitate the accelerated growth and entry of SMMEs (particularly youth and women entrepreneurs) in the ICT sector; • Increase uptake and usage of ICTs by the South African nation as a whole, and especially by SMMEs across all sectors of the economy; • Establish a coordinated and integrated planning mechanism for the development of ICT SMMEs within the broader national framework of SMME development across all economic and social sectors. Building a better life for all through an enabling and sustainable world class information and communication technologies environment.

11. Strategic Interventions Building a better life for all through an enabling and sustainable world class information and communication technologies environment.

12. StrategicInterventions Building a better life for all through an enabling and sustainable world class information and communication technologies environment.

13. StrategicInterventions Building a better life for all through an enabling and sustainable world class information and communication technologies environment.

14. StrategicInterventions Building a better life for all through an enabling and sustainable world class information and communication technologies environment.

15. StrategicInterventions Building a better life for all through an enabling and sustainable world class information and communication technologies environment.

16. Institutional Framework for SMME Development Building a better life for all through an enabling and sustainable world class information and communication technologies environment.