Report on Black Industrialist Policy awaited…..
sent to clients 21 January…. The Black Industrialist Policy, now in place and engineered by the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), is due to be debated in Parliament early February.

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A progress report will be made by Trade and Industry Minister, Dr Rob Davies to the relevant portfolio committee shortly. The plan was submitted to Cabinet by and approved in early November 2015. The purpose of the policy, the Cabinet said at the time, was to focus on growth and competitiveness of Black-owned enterprises.
The plan is designed to “facilitate the meaningful participation of Black-owned and managed companies within industry” and is another extension to DTI’s Industrial Action Plan (IPAP). It backs up, Minister Davies said when launching the programme, both the NDP and President Zuma’s nine-point plan laid out in the 2015 State of Nation Address.
More Black control releases more State money
The scheme offers a cost sharing grant with the DTI, ranging from 30% to 50%, to approved entities to a maximum of R50m. The value of the grant in terms of any proposal will depend on the level of Black ownership and management control and must be for capital investment and other support measures, such as working capital.
Minister Davies said in his launch parliamentary media briefing that a number of private banks had approached DTI prepared to partner with government on the initiative. He said the idea was “to unlock the industrial potential that exists within Black-owned and managed businesses through deliberate, targeted and well-defined financial and non-financial interventions.”
Focus on Black ownership
Not mentioning job creation specifically, he said that his department particularly wanted to “speed up the entry of Black industrialists to enter strategic and targeted industrial sectors and value chains.” “South Africa will not be able to industrialise to maximise growth “unless it simultaneously includes the Black industrialist on a sustainable basis”, he said.
Manufacturing core needed
Minister Davies said that the only route for future of the economy was to build the manufacturing sector and the inclusion of the black industrialists and manufacturers had to be encouraged.
The DTI had earmarked R1bn of seed capital to assist the Black industrialists to raise the necessary equity required to access the private sector/banking market to access debt funding, he said. This capital would be complemented by funding from developmental finance institutions.
He added that while incentivising the inclusion of the Black industrialists in the manufacturing sector, the parties involved “needed to be committed, willing to take risks and be willing to look for long-term returns and not short-term rents.”
” This policy proposes focused efforts to facilitate inclusion and participation of Black industrialists in manufacturing activities, with an understanding that more equal societies tend to grow faster than those that are unequal,” said the Minister.
Opposition members will specifically ask how this programme has contributed to job creation.
Previous articles on category subject
SA’s economic woes not BEE, says DTI – ParlyReportSA
25.1% is maximum BEE control, says DTI – ParlyReportSA
DTI does flip flop on BEE codes – ParlyReportSA