Cabinet has welcomed the R20 million Enterprise Development Pilot Project that aims to revitalise the country’s industrial parks and support the integration of local economic development to bolster the small business sector.

“This two-year pilot programme aims to revitalise South Africa’s industrial parks, establish specialised industrialised facilities and support the integration of local economic development in order to bolster the small business sector,” said Minister in the Presidency for Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation Jeff Radebe.

The Minister was briefing the media following Cabinet’s fortnightly meeting.

The project was introduced by government last month and is set to help small, medium and micro-sized enterprises (SMMEs) grow sustainability.

The initiative will give support to the SMME sector over a period of two years until December 2017.

The project is a partnership between the Department of Trade and Industry (the dti), the Department of Small Business Development in collaboration with National Treasury and the Middle Income Grant (MIC) of the African Development Bank.

“The project envisages to contribute towards job creation, reduce poverty in depressed communities, and improve access to technology and skills for SMMEs,” said Minister Radebe on Thursday.

While the initiative will offer support to SMME’s until December 2017, based on its successes, government will consider rolling it out across the country.