Sasol invest R54 m to accelerate black business

Deputy Minister of Trade and Industry (dti) Mzwandile Masina said the business incubator would “go a long way in accelerating the growth of black businesses, particularly those that operate in the manufacturing sector”.

Masina said that the incubator’s launch was “a critical move towards the affirmation of the philosophy of State-Owned Enterprises as drivers of developmental and transformative investment”.

He noted that this incubator was in line with government’s transformation of the economy in South Africa relating to changing the ownership profile of productive industrial assets. This economic transformation was to redress social injustices meted out during apartheid.

The incubator, said Masina, “would boost the growth of black enterprises that need to participate in the manufacturing sector in order to contribute to the growth of the economy and in creating employment opportunities”.

He added that the dti had invested R20 million into the incubator’s establishment.

State-owned enterprises he said, have the “capacity to redirect investment towards a path that promotes black ownership and management of strategic industrial assets”.

He added that this incubator strategy “extends to the creation of public market structures that will serve as incubators of emerging black industrial enterprises for performance in the broader markets”, he stressed.

Sasol Executive Vice President for Energy Business Maurice Radebe said Sasol was “proud to have partnered with the dti in realising the Sasol Business Incubator, which will bring to life the vision of growing black industrialists as a strategic driver of the South African economy.

“As a proud contributor to South Africa’s transformation agenda development, we believe that stimulating entrepreneurial activity has significant potential in enhancing industrial growth.”