Order & donate via

Support our projects in Ecuador

Background – Since the ending of apartheid, South Africa ’s economy has been growing. However, not every sector of society has been reaping the benefits. The discrimination against black and coloured people persists. Many of them just never made up the training and development denied to them during the days of racial segregation. As before, those SMEs run by blacks or coloured people have fewer opportunities to obtain credit. Nevertheless, the dynamics of South Africa ’s economy has the potential to help lift even the most disadvantaged groups out of poverty.
 
The project – Therefore Swisscontact has been implementing a project in South Africa ’s Western Cape province . Small and medium enterprises displaying both the will and the potential for growth are receiving vouchers, with which they can obtain advisory services at favourable rates. These are designed to help them optimize their business, thus fulfilling the necessary criteria for obtaining credit. SMEs managed by members of disadvantaged groups (black and coloured people) are being assisted in this way. Since local private enterprises generate advice, the market for these services also reaps the benefits, which once again works to the advantage of the SMEs. The goal of the project is to increase the proportion of small and medium enterprises sharing in South Africa ’s economic growth. In this way, the economic advancement will expand to embrace those sections of society, which, until now, have seen very little in the way of benefits.