The Coega Development Corporation’s (Coega) small, medium, and micro enterprises (SMME) Development Programme is, today, proud to report a total SMME procurement spend of over R1,0bn for 2023/24 Financial Year (FY). This achievement equates to 69.42% of the total spend for the year and relates to the overall spend allocated to SMMEs across the organisation’s diverse infrastructure development portfolio, which includes the Department of Health, Department of Education, and the Department of Public Works and Infrastructure, amongst others.
As a trusted Implementing Agent of Choice in South Africa, Coega is appointed to manage the development of projects for government departments across the country, with a compulsory corporate target of 33% SMME involvement in all infrastructure projects. Specifically for the year, R501,8m was spent on black men-owned SMMEs, R364,5m was spent on black women-owned SMMEs, and over R97,9m was spent on black youth-owned SMMEs.
“Of the R1.0bn achieved for the year, over R400m was reported in the last quarter of the financial year [January to March 2024], which represents 40% of the total SMME procurement spend for the year,” says Coega’s SMME Development Programme
Manager, Ms. Unathi Maholwana.
“We have a strategic outcome which speaks directly to increasing economic opportunities
for the marginalised through, amongst other programmes, advancing the meaningful economic participation and gainful employment of SMMEs,” continues Maholwana. During the FY, Coega also trained a total of 150 SMME beneficiaries across various skills
sets to the value of over R320 000.
Coega SMME Training is a crucial component in ensuring that SMMEs are accredited and prepared for site work.
“Coega’s SMME Development Programme places a strong emphasis on the training and upskilling of beneficiaries. Our training focused mainly on Construction Supervision, NQF level 4, and New Venture Creation, NQF level 2,” adds Maholwana.
In conclusion, the Coega SMME Development Programme facilitates the growth of small to medium sized businesses during the construction process of various infrastructure projects. Coega’s dedicated SMME Development Unit facilitates programmes related to the development and support of SMMEs. Aligned to this, Coega is an organisation committed to transformation and black business development, having recently achieved a Level 1 B-BBEE certificate.
As an empowerment-driven organisation. Coega is conscious of the power of the small business sector in terms of job creation and its contribution to economic development in the province and country. Coega has thus made major headway in creating empowerment opportunities based on Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment, Women Empowerment Ownership, Small Medium Micro Enterprises, and Local Empowerment Participation.
