Small, medium and micro enterprises as an element

Abstract

The development of Small, Medium and Micro Enterprises (SMMEs) has become one of the major focal points for Local Economic Development (LED) in South Africa. This is demonstrated by the National and Provincial policy as well as local government initiatives wherein appropriate environment for small businesses to flourish has become a central element for promoting entrepreneurship within municipalities. However, the challenge is that the survival rate of the established small business initiatives and their sustainability to realize the purpose for which they have been established, that is, to promote sustainable entrepreneurship, to stimulate economic growth and to create jobs is enormous. The purpose of this research study was to examine the nature of support provided to SMMEs as an element of LED strategy, its effectiveness in terms of job creation, entrepreneurial development and the lessons learnt for SMME development in the Greater Giyani Municipality, Limpopo Province of South Africa. Chicken farming had been used as a unit of analysis. The major findings of the study were that the development of small businesses in the Greater Giyani Municipality is hindered by insufficient skills for the implementation of LED strategy for small business development, lack of training on small business development, inefficient and uncoordinated strategy within the local government municipality as well as lack of penetration of small business development agencies and above all, lack of training on small business management The study recommends the following measures for effective small business development in the Greater Giyani Municipality: proper management systems, development of local economic development operation plan, good governance, improvement of service delivery, the effectiveness of small business development agencies and the need for performance measurements and monitoring