Township entrepreneurship fund delayed, Seda funding cut as Covid-19 support prioritised

The Department of Small Business Development will delay the implementation of its R800-million township entrepreneurship fund, to offset the R1.1-billion allocated to the department to support small businesses affected by the Covid-19 pandemic.

The National Treasury revealed in the Budget Review for its supplementary budget tabled yesterday, that the department would return to the fiscus the allocation intended for the fund.

In addition, a further R395-million, which was allocated to its agencies including the Small Enterprise Development Agency (Seda), has also been cut. Ventureburn understand that this includes funding to Seda’s incubator programme.

The department will cut a further R28-million that had been allocated to general operational spending items such as travel and subsistence, communications, inventory and consumables, and venues and training facilities.

The Department of Small Business Development’s budget has been cut by R67-million

 

The funds that have been cut will be reallocated to support small enterprises affected by Covid-19, said the National Treasury.

To this effect, the department has received an additional R1.1-billion to disburse to small businesses as grant money under its Covid-19 Emergency Fund.

So far R513-million has been approved in funding to 1457 small businesses from the fund, according to the department’s website.

While the main budget will increased by an additional R36-billion, the government has had to reallocate R109-billion in spending including R67-million which will be cut from the department’s budget.

As a result the department’s budget will be readjusted from R2.4-billion to R2.3-billion.

Featured image: Small business minister Khumbudzo Ntshavheni (GovernmentZA via Flickr.com)