South Africa: Black Economic Empowerment is a Critical Intervention to Catalyse Economic Inclusion

The Broad Based Black Economic Empowerment (B-BBEE) Policy is a critical intervention in South Africa’s economic transformation agenda, aiming to ensure inclusive economic participation, entrepreneurship development and support, and long-term economic sustainability. This was said by the Chief Director of Black Economic Empowerment at the Department of Trade, Industry and Competition (the dtic), Mr Jacob Maphutha. He was addressing a group of KwaZulu-Natal businesspeople belonging to the VusuZulu Economy Promoters organisation in an interactive stakeholder engagement session that took place in Vryheid. Maphutha explained to the businesspeople that the much-talked-about, and highly anticipated Transformation Fund, was part of the evolving and strengthening of the B-BBEE policy implementation, designed to address funding constraints faced by majority Black-owned businesses and Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs), particularly in sectors where access to capital remained a significant challenge. “The South African economy needs innovation, entrepreneurship and investment in new businesses to be competitive globally and to achieve growth. The establishment of the Transformation