FTW Online
The Western Cape government will invest R4 million in the coming financial year taking local entrepreneurs through its Halal supplier development programme.
According to Minister of Economic Development, Alan Winde, this is part of ongoing initiatives to boost agri-processing in the province.
Delivering the annual budget speech for the department of agriculture and economic development and tourism Winde said strengthening the most competitive parts of the economy remained a priority.
“Tourism, oil and gas and agri-processing are key objectives in the year ahead. There will be a focus on ensuring that small businesses are able to benefit from anticipated growth in these sectors,” he said. “To boost Western Cape agri-processing, a fast growing sector which currently employs over 135 000 residents, we have put focused interventions in place to support emerging businesses in several competitive sub-segments, including in the Halal space.”
In the oil and gas sector, DEDAT is working with the Saldanha Bay Industrial Development Zone (IDZ) Licensing Company to put together an enterprise development programme for local contractors, and a digital procurement portal which will enable small and emerging businesses to benefit from big international contracts landed here. It is set to go live in July.