TECHNOLOGY group Google, cellphone company Vodacom and the Department of Trade and Industry have joined forces in a project aimed at placing 10000 small and medium businesses on the internet for free.
The initiative, launched in Pretoria yesterday, provides a boost to the government’s efforts to reduce unemployment by encouraging entrepreneurs to start new businesses, as outlined in the New Growth Path, which aims to create 5-million jobs between 2011 and 2020. The main partners are joined by advisory body the Human Resource Development Council in offering Woza Online, a website service that enables businesses to create websites for free. The websites are also hosted for free. Hosting and possible domain fees will be covered by Google and Vodacom.
Luke McKend, Google’s country manager for SA, said the company had decided it could contribute to the economy and help small and medium companies reach more customers through Woza Online, particularly those that had not previously had a presence on the internet.
World Wide Worx MD Arthur Goldstuck, who was present at the website’s launch, said even though 65% of small and medium businesses in SA had websites, the 35% that did not amounted to hundreds of thousands of companies. "As much as 79% of those businesses with websites are profitable, while only 59% of those without, are profitable," he said.
Deputy Trade and Industry Minister Elizabeth Thabethe said the initiative recognised the importance of small businesses for SA’s economy. "As many as 2,8-million small and medium-sized enterprises contributed about 55% to SA’s gross domestic product last year. They also provide employment for young people and women. Therefore, my department welcomes what Google and the other partners are trying to do," she said.
Up to 50% of youth aged 15-25 are unemployed in SA yet a report released by the South African Institute of Race Relations this week said the number of established owner-manager businesses in SA remained below the world average. Based on the 2010 Global Entrepreneurship Monitor, the reports said SA’s average new business ownership was 2,5% in 2009. The average for the 60 countries surveyed was 17,1%. The percentage referred to people in the 18-64 age group who were owner-managers of new businesses. This meant they owned and managed a business that had paid salaries, wages or any other payments for more than three months, but not more than 42 months.
Given data released by Statistics SA, about 343000 jobs were made in the first three quarters of last year. According to Adcorp Employment data, 397000 jobs were added last year.
Source: Business Day
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