SAWEN members attending DED skills training workshop

August is Women’s Month in South Africa, and the KZN DED is proud to highlight the work being done in KZN, all year round, to empower women.

Empowering South Africa
The Department of Economic Development, as the custodian of economic transformation in KwaZulu-Natal, is entrusted with the responsibility of working towards the development of a practical KZN Black Economic Empowerment Strategy. As part of this strategy, the province intends upping the increment in the number of:

• Black people who have ownership and control of existing and new enterprises, particularly in the provincial government’s priority sectors
• Black enterprises, black-empowered enterprises and black-engendered enterprises
• Black people who hold senior management and executive positions in enterprises
• Proportion of the ownership and management of economic activities vested in community-based associations and enterprises
• Black young people, particularly rural young people to acquire skills
• Black people who own land and other productive assets

Empowering women
The Department is also mindful of specific groupings that have to be prioritised for empowerment within the scope of general government empowerment initiatives, and has therefore been interacting with various women’s organisations in the province, as well as individual proponents of women’s interests.    One such grouping is the South African Women Entrepreneurs Network (SAWEN), which was originally initiated by the national Department of Trade and Industry as a Section 21 Company with a primary objective of providing business assistance, initially to a group of 400 aspirant women entrepreneurs. 

KZN DED assisted SAWEN with the establishment of their offices in Pietermaritzburg, and offers SAWEN members services such as skills development to help empower women with appropriate means to engage in meaningful business operations.  Mindful of the size of the provincial population, the DED has been involved in setting up satellite centres in districts across KZN.

Success story
One particular success story on the establishment of new empowerment outlets has been on the south coast where the DED forged a partnership with Ugu District Municipality to found an office which is currently serving as a hive of activity for women wishing to improve their business skills.

Sector diversity
An important aspect of women empowerment is to promote activity in sectors that are historically male-dominated. This diversification is not only good for women empowerment, but is a welcome shot in the arm for sectors such as manufacturing, processing and even mining. As well as these established sectors, women in the province are also being encouraged to be more entrepreneurial, and form their own businesses.

For more information on what the KZN DED is doing for women empowerment in the province, contact Khosi Mdletshe: Project Manager for Women Empowerment on +27 33 264 2500 or email mdletshek@kznded.gov.za

KwaZulu-Natal Department of Economic Development

Contact: Boyce Mntambo, Manager for Information & Communication Technology
Tel.: +27 33 264 2500
Fax: +27 86 679 6404
Email: mntambob@kznded.gov.za

Website: www.kznded.gov.za