The Department of Trade, Industry and Competition (DTIC) has called on young business people to look for trade opportunities overseas, saying it will do all it can to support them. The Department’s Nxalati Mashele told a webinar that the DTIC’s Export Development Unit aimed to develop emerging exporters to help them tap into international markets.
The webinar was hosted by the department, the National Empowerment Fund, the Industrial Development Corporation, and the Small Enterprise Development Agency as part of the Knowledge Network Dialogue series. The series focuses on youth in the industry. Mashele was presenting the various support models the department offered to businesses that were considering exporting their goods.
She said the department had an incentive scheme, which promoted South African companies in Africa and in the rest of the world. “We conduct export awareness workshops where we will invite all companies that are registered,” she explained. “Our target right now is promoting youth-owned enterprises. In that workshop, we will briefly give them information about our incentives…”
Mashele also pointed out that if a company was new and had no information about exporting, the department offered a training course. Once the course had been completed, the business would be considered export-ready. Following this, the department supported the enterprise in marketing its products outside the country. She also emphasised that the department looked for markets for South African goods and services through its Export Promotion Unit.
“When they find the market, they will identify international exhibitions where we are going to showcase and participate as a department, and then invite all those companies that went through training,” she said. “They will be able to go into that country. They will have business meetings with their business counterparts on the other side. (The) Export Promotion (Unit) will ensure that they have set up meetings beforehand so that when these companies arrive at the other side, they will already be going into a confirmed meeting where the main objective is to sell their products.”
The department endeavoured to fund these enterprises as well as assist them in attending exhibitions and trade missions abroad. “We will buy them air tickets, we will fund their accommodation and we will also pay for their freight forwarding,” Mashele said. “This is what we are doing to stimulate the economy because we know that Covid-19 has taught us new ways of doing things, and this is how we are facilitating exports.”
