The Black Industrialist Programme (BIP) will boost transformation and provide impetus towards job creation and industrialisation in the current fragile economic climate, according to PwC.

“There is a compelling need to increase the number of black industrialists, in particular entrepreneurs in the mainstream economy,” PwC partner in incentives practice Tapie Marlie said.

“The programme will advance the government’s key objectives of industrialisation, skills development and job creation.

“Currently, access to finance and skills have been identified as the primary constraints for many existing and emerging black industrialists. Government has indicated that more initiatives and incentives need to be put in place to help develop and create black industrialists in the country,” Marlie said.

The Department of Trade and Industry (dti) is set to launch the BIP programme in early 2016, as well as provide more details on the programme.

With the recent introduction of the new broad-based economic empowerment codes, government intends to adopt a focused approach to support black industrialists in a bid to enhance South Africa’s industrialisation efforts.

Cabinet approved the BIP programme, which is a key component of the dti’s Industrial Policy Action Plan, on November 4 this year.

The BIP programme will form stakeholder relationships with multi-corporations, commercial banks, development finance institutions and state-owned enterprises – all with a common goal of assisting black industrialists towards accessing capital markets and growing in the sectors that they operate in.

Speaking at the inaugural Black Industrialists Indaba earlier this year, President Jacob Zuma said there is a need for a customised programme to ensure that black-owned companies participate in key sectors such as manufacturing.

Zuma said there is room for increased participation of black entrepreneurs in the manufacturing sector, which he said is the least transformed sector in the country.

–News24Wire