11 March 2008

Creating Opportunities for Commercial Success
USAID Launches South African Business Linkages Project Phase II

USAID and South Africa’s Department of Trade and Industry (dti) have launched the first private-public-partnership of its kind.  South African and U.S. corporate membership organizations have combined forces with a development agency/donor (USAID) and the South African Government (dti) to facilitate sustainable business linkages between corporate South Africa and black small and medium enterprises (SMEs). 

The ultimate aim is to motivate established companies to voluntarily and proactively integrate with black emerging SMEs to fuel economic growth and create jobs.

Known as “SAIBL II” (South African International Business Linkages), the project capitalizes on the success of USAID’s first SAIBL program, introduced in 1998 to foster business relations between historically disadvantaged companies and established corporate counterparts, while training local black entrepreneurs to run commercially successful companies.  The program also helps to make them internationally competitive as exporters of African goods and services.

In the manufacturing, services and agribusiness sectors, more than 10,000 historically disadvantaged SMEs learned the ropes of succeeding commercially through SAIBL.  Many entrepreneurs now compete in domestic, regional and international marketplaces.  SAIBL helped clients to create more than 17,000 jobs and generate sales exceeding $1.438 billion (R10 billion).  For every U.S. tax dollar spent on the program, about $64 in additional revenue for historically disadvantaged businesses has been generated. 

U.S. President Bush recently showed his Africa trip slides to a business development group and noted,     “One of the keys to helping Africa succeed is to empower entrepreneurs.”  Ambassador Bost says,“Through the SAIBL program, the U.S. Government has seized the opportunity to assist the South African economy by taking advantage of the growth engine that SMEs represent.  Our investment works to improve the business climate, providing market linkages, uncovering market opportunities and developing the skills SMEs need for growth.  This, in turn, increases employment significantly, giving individuals the chance to improve their lives.”  

Successful and greater integration of historically disadvantaged SMEs into the mainstream economy depends on corporate South Africa taking leadership, and the new SAIBL II program will build on a successful track record to facilitate this process.  SAIBL II challenges and enables corporate South Africa to broaden and deepen the country’s business opportunities by integrating with black SMEs to improve economic prospects.  The consortium of partners behind SAIBL II asserts that greater economic integration will positively influence growth in supplier diversity and job creation.  

Minister of Trade and Industry, Mandisi Mpahlwa, states in the “Integrated Strategy on the Promotion of Entrepreneurship and Small Enterprises”, “Our commitment is to ensure that small businesses progressively increase their contribution growth and performance of the South African economy in critical areas such as job creation, equity and access to markets.”   The SAIBL II project represents new opportunities for black SMEs to master the ropes of commercial trade.  USAID announced that the Corporate Council on Africa and ECIAfrica will be implementing SAIBL II in South Africa.

SAIBL Project Director, John James, says, "SAIBL II is a unique program aimed at bridging the opportunities between corporations and black SME suppliers to build sustainable partnerships based on the business case rather than just compliance with Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment codes of good practice.”

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Further information is available from Reverie Zurba at (012) 425-2263 or Jean McKenzie on (011) 802-0015

The following partners promote USAID’s South African International Business Linkages (SAIBL) II program: 

About USAID:  The U.S. Agency for International Development provides economic, development and humanitarian assistance worldwide. USAID supports people's efforts to develop themselves and their countries. USAID projects in South Africa move the country closer to its goal of equality and a better life for all. USAID programs from the American people aim to strengthen South Africa politically, socially and economically.

About ECIAfrica: ECIAfrica is a Johannesburg-based international economic development consultancy and capacity building organization working principally in the fields of enterprise development, business linkages, development finance, governance and public sector management, agribusiness and rural development, and HIV/AIDS in the economic context.

About The dti: South Africa’s Department of Trade and Industry (the dti) aims to lead and facilitate access to sustainable economic activity and employment for all South Africans. This will be achieved through attracting higher levels of investment, increased access for South African products and services in international markets and by creating a fair, competitive and efficient market place for domestic and foreign businesses, as well as for consumers. In this way, the dti contributes towards accelerated and shared economic growth in South Africa, and the attainment of the government’s Vision 2014 for the economy.

About CCA: The Corporate Council on Africa (CCA) was established in 1993, is based in Washington DC and is a non- profit organization of nearly 200 American companies dedicated to strengthening the commercial relationship between the United States and the nations of Africa.  CCA members represent nearly 85 percent of all US private sector investments in Africa.

About the National Business Initiative:  Launched by former South African President Mandela in 1995, the National Business Initiative (NBI) has been a leading business coalition focused on the broader role of business in sustainable development over the first decade of democracy in South Africa.  The organization is an alliance of forward-thinking South African and overseas companies that are committed to actualizing the NBI vision of a thriving South African society, with a market economy that functions for the benefit of all. A key driver of this vision is the belief that the mobilization of business leadership and corporate support can play a pivotal role in entrenching social, economic and environmental stability as the pillars of a fully inclusive, non-discriminatory democracy.