Views

SMEs are vital routes to cut back unemployment

By Gwen Mahlangu-Nkabinde

 29 April 2010, Business Report - As the world economy continues on a somewhat slow recovery path, South Africa should not waste the economic rebound opportunity by not recharting strategies and approaches that ensure labour-intensive economic opportunities are created.

In as much as our economy has lost jobs during the recession and the momentum of job creation picks up, small and medium enterprises (SMEs) remain among the important anchors to rely on in our efforts to grow the economy on a labour-intensive path. This is because their capital and operating structures are less complex compared with large capital-intensive businesses and therefore less complex strategies and approaches are needed to create labour-intensive economic opportunities.