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Seda Programmes  


Seda has numerous programs, many of which are aimed towards kids, women, and individuals with disabilities and are available in most areas of the country including several townships and rural areas.u 


The Small Enterprise Development Agency(Seda) is responsible for the Implementation of the small business plan of the national government; and to Create and deploy a shared, standardized, and uniform national delivery network. It is an agency of the Department of Small Business Development in South Africa. The Agency was established in 2004 through the National Small Business Amendment Act, Act 29 of 2004.

Its vision is to make a difference in SMMEs' lives every day and its mission is to promote entrepreneurship and develop small enterprises by providing customised non-financial business support services that result in business growth and sustainability in collaboration with other role players in the ecosystem.

Seda collaborates with many ecosystem stakeholders and allocates significant resources to promote entrepreneurship and the growth of Small, Medium, and Micro Enterprises (SMMEs) throughout the nation. With 54 branches, 46 co-location locations, and 110 incubators, Seda has the largest office network in the nation.

Seda programmes

Seda has numerous programs, many of which are aimed towards kids, women, and individuals with disabilities and are available in most areas of the country including several townships and rural areas.

Seda Technology Programme

On 1 April 2006. the Department of Trade and Industry (the dti - as it was known then - established the Small Enterprise Development Agency [Seda) Technology Programme (STP) as a special ring-fenced programme of the dti, housed within Seda.

The STP was established as part of government's national strategy of consolidating and rationalising small enterprises support interventions across the different government departments and government agencies with the overall objective of improving the delivery of small business support services to entrepreneurs and small enterprises.

The Seda Technology Programme is responsible for the following

  • Increase accessibility to, and the utility of technologies and management support for SMMEs through structured platforms such as technology business centres
  • Facilitate the acquisition and transfer of technology to SMMEs, particularly those operating in the second economy
  • Promote the use of quality and standards by SMMEs
  • Improve SMMEs' performance and productivity
  • Improve SMMEs' competitiveness
  • Promote entrepreneurial activity and the success of identified target groups, particularly women and youth
  • Reduce the failure rate of SMMEs

The Seda Incubation programme

resorts under the Seda Technology Programme. This unit offers a three-year programme designed to strengthen technology commercialisation and harness the entrepreneurship of the technology community in South Africa. Anybody with a viable business idea or any registered SMME that is struggling to grow may apply for participation in this programme.

Each of the 72 Seda-supported incubators has its own incubate recruitment and selection process that is unique to its sector. Through incubation, enterprises develop skills, knowledge and markets and these improvements are intended to lead to increased profitability and growth. Click on the link for more info on incubation .

In addition to Incubation Seda’s Technology Programme division also provides technology transfer services. The Objective of the Technology Transfer Unit is to promote and facilitate the transfer of technology which is appropriate, effective and competitive to small enterprises. This includes grant funding for the acquisition of technology, such as equipment and machinery, to facilitate technology transfer;improving access to technology information by small enterprises;improving access to technology transfer funding through structured referrals to funding institutions;linking inventors , universities or science councils with small enterprises or entrepreneurs with matching needs; and facilitating technology partnerships between businesses locally and internationally. Click on the link for more info on Technology Transfer

The Quality and Standards programme

that also falls under the Technology programme ensures that small businesses have access to quality control and assessment processes, and provides training and access to accreditation and certifications. The aim is to promote the importance of Quality and Standards as key drivers of South Africa’s competitiveness and to enhance the quality and standard of products and services produced by South African small businesses through management systems implementation (such as ISO9001 and OHSAS 18001), product testing and certification. Click on the link for more info on Quality and Standards

Other programmes offered under Seda’s Enterprise Development Division include, the Cooperatives and Community public and private partnership programme. The goal with this programme is to ensure that cooperatives grow and increase their contribution to sustainable and equitable social and economic development, employment and wealth creation. It further aims to increase the number of cooperatives trading in townships and rural areas through coordinated efforts with other stakeholders and to increase the number of cooperatives supported through supplier development programs through transversal agreements generated through the DSBD. Click on the link for more info on the Cooperatives and Community public and private partnership programme

Seda’s Enterprise Development Division is the engine room for small business support. Through this division, that includes the national Seda network, the tools and the expertise and a vast basket of offerings are provided to respond to most of the challenges small business experience. These services include providing business related information, advice, consultancy, training and mentoring services in all areas of enterprise development to SMMEs. The services are aimed at providing solutions related to various business functions from production to human resources, finance, marketing and export development. Seda aims to establish a long-term relationship with clients through its client journey model. Prior to embarking on any intervention, a Seda Business Advisor assesses the needs of the client and based on the assessment results the client, together with the Seda Business Advisor, drafts a development plan with specific development interventions. These services are delivered to the client either by Seda’s own staff or through business development service providers. Seda’s target market covers small, medium and micro enterprises (SMME), including cooperatives, as well as potential entrepreneurs with a business idea. 2.2.1 Enterprise Development Division Programmes The Enterprise development division provides various programmes to assist SMMEs in all phases of business development. These include the following: The Export Development Programme aims to develop and generate export-ready small enterprises that are globally competitive and able to grow markets both locally and internationally. The programme is designed to help small enterprises in South Africa to acquire and apply practical skills in developing their export capabilities. Click on the link for more info The women enterprise coaching programme focuses on the development of women through achieving a specific personal and professional competence. The programme was conceived after conducting extensive research on the challenges experienced by women owned businesses. The programme seeks to group diverse women together so as to have maximum transfer of skills, networking and experience sharing.The objective of the coaching programme is to develop and enhance management competencies of owners and business managers by creating an environment conducive for the establishment of networks, sharing of experiences and exchange of information.The programme provides women owned enterprises with knowledge, skills and tools needed to grow their businesses , guide them through business operations, handholding through strategic processes whilst gaining the resources necessary to facilitate their business growth. Click on the link for more info Seda’s Empretec Programme promotes the creation of sustainable support structures that help promising entrepreneurs build innovative and internationally competitive small and medium sized enterprises. Empretec also encourages the formation of mutually beneficial business linkages among SMMEs as well as with transnational corporations. The core product of the Empretec programme is its Entrepreneurship Training Workshop (ETW). On the basis of written applications and business-focussed interviews, participants enter the programme through an initial achievement motivation workshop which encourages the individuals to focus on their roles as entrepreneurs and challenges them to critically examine their personal strengths and weaknesses. The ETW is an opportunity for the participants to become more familiar with the behavioural competencies of successful entrepreneurs, strengthen and enhance those behaviours in themselves, and finally to be able to apply the behaviours in their own businesses. The programme targets existing small enterprises,entrepreneurs with viable business ideas,entrepreneurs with bankable project proposals,Cooperatives and enterprise Development Practitioners and Personnel. The Empretec Model is aimed at sharpening the entrepreneurial competencies of participants and building the skills necessary to implement and manage businesses successfully. The experiential and interactive nature of the workshop allows for self-appraisal and hands-on experience in order to establish the competency levels of participants. The Empretec model uses a well-structured approach to screen entrepreneurs to identify those needing assistance in setting up their own businesses or assist in charting a growth path for existing enterprises. Click on the link for more info Seda’s Supplier Development Programme is aimed at strengthening the performance of supplier firms by enabling them to acquire the skills and capabilities required to make them globally competitive. The programme attempts to raise awareness on opportunities available to supply to corporates and state-owned enterprises. The programme also assists them to reduce the costs of supply. The supplier development Programme presents several advantages to the buying firm as well as the supplier which yield benefits to the economy. The Goals of the Programme are as follows: • Capacitating SMME participants so that they have the ability to do business with corporate sector entities; • Providing a platform for SMMEs to access potential business opportunities provided by big businesses; • Improve growth and diversification through procurement; and • Facilitate localised supply chains. The objectives of the Programme are to reduce cost to supply; Improve technology; increase productivity and quality; facilitate internal reorganisation of how business operates; improve logistics; ensure conformance to environmental regulation; and contribute to employment creation. Self-employment amongst the youth receives high-priority support by the national government and in this regard Seda initiated a programme to focus on introducing entrepreneurship in schools with the aim of ensuring that, while still at school, learners are equipped with entrepreneurial skills needed to create and grow businesses. Click on the link for more info Through the Entrepreneurship in schools programme learners are guided to develop the attitudes and entrepreneurial mindset needed for success in entrepreneurship. As the programme is introduced from an early age, by the time learners leave high school they will know what it takes to start and run a business. The Entrepreneurship in Schools programme focuses on grade 8 to 12 educators and learners and is aligned with the Curriculum Assessment Policy Statement (CAPS) and supported by the Department of Education. The objectives of the programme are to influence the learners’ mindset by encouraging them to become job creators instead of job seekers once they leave the schooling system; to equip learners with entrepreneurial knowledge and skills needed to start and manage their businesses; to improve entrepreneurial activity amongst the learners and educators; to contribute to the development of a generation of people who are creative, innovative and willing to take risks; and to expose learners to role models that will enhance the development of self-respect and self-confidence. Click on the link for more info The Manufacturing Support Programme seeks to explicitly respond to the specific current challenges, needs, skills and capabilities of the country’s small businesses in the manufacturing sector, while at the same time charting a path to assist SMME manufacturers to be competitive. The objectives of this two year programme are :to facilitate and contribute to growth for small businesses involved in the manufacturing sector with regard to their manufacturing process, technology adoption, R & D, and innovation capabilities, identify gaps and seeks to take the businesses to the next level. It also aims to provide a comprehensive suite of services or manufacturing support business development interventions designed to boost the competitiveness and capabilities of qualifying small manufacturing businesses. The programme’s offerings are demand driven and are customised to the small manufacturing businesses’ needs and include the following: • Specialised Manufacturing business diagnostic assessment; • Equipment purchase & acquisition for qualifying small businesses; • Market intelligence; • Customised manufacturing skills and capacity development; • Productivity improvement; • Product Development; • Linkages with industry players and exposure to manufacturing best practices; The programme is delivered through the Seda delivery network in the various provinces in partnership with various implementation partners to provide support to qualifying clients. Click on the link for more info 3. Training Seda’s training courses are core to its service delivery. Its five-day entrepreneurial training courses empower small business owners with the necessary skills to enable them to take their businesses to greater heights. Entrepreneurs learn to: • Market their business effectively; • Understand the importance of building a reputable business profile as a marketing tool;and Maintain financial records and in developing their business plans. These training courses cover financial management, customer care, report writing and business writing skills, whilst helping entrepreneurs to identify areas of improvement for their businesses. Click on the link for more info

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