Lost your password? Please enter your username or email address. You will receive a link to create a new password via email.Lost your password? Please enter your username or email address. You will receive a link to create a new password via email.President Cyril Ramaphosa and DTIC minister Ebrahim Patel on a guided tour of the exhibition centre at the second Black Industrialists and Exporters Conference.
“We need to open up the economy and make it more inclusive. This means addressing features of the market structure that inhibit the participation of black industrialists in the economy,” Presidentto undertake a set number of market inquiries in strategic sectors in the next five years. These market inquiries will be aimed at addressing high levels of economic concentration and low participation by small businesses.
Ramaphosa noted that the government has introduced new legislation increasing the powers of the competition authorities to act against abuse of dominance by large firms that keep black South Africans and their businesses out of markets. “When I got retrenched during the pandemic I was so worried about what I would do. But I realised that I have a skill that I have been sharpening for over 20 years and I had received a severance package. But the problem was getting clients,” he said.
He joined the Black Industrialist Programme early this year and is in the process of applying for funding but “they want so many things and I have to go stand in queues at Sars”. He was an exhibitor at the conference in hope of getting more clients.