State-owned financier, the Industrial Development Corporation (IDC) approved nearly R1-billion in funding to small and medium-size enterprises (SMEs) last year. Growth of SMEs, which are labour intensive and have good potential for job creation, is expected to contribute to the halving of South Africa’s 25% unemployment rate.

Geoffrey Qhena, chief executive of the IDC, noted in its annual report this year that the organisation wanted to improve access to funding and lower entry barriers in particular high-growth sectors of the economy. It would do this by identifying market gaps on a sector-by-sector basis and find appropriate funding channels to support SME start-ups and BEE entrepreneurs.

Around 8 373 job opportunities has been created through the IDC’s competitive funding for development schemes which was launched in November last year. The scheme approved 117 projects valued at R544-million.

The IDC will launch the Basic Work Skills Training Initiative, a new training product, for the 2007-08 financial year.