NEF’s Acting Chairpersons remarks: Value Cement Launch

REMARKS BY THE ACTING CHAIRPERSON OF THE NATIONAL EMPOWERMENT FUND, Ms ZUKISWA NTLANGULA, ON THE OCASSION OF THE LAUNCH OF VALUE CEMENT

12 June 2012, Johannesburg

Distinguished Guests,

From the vantage point of the Board of Trustees of the National Empowerment Fund, this transaction represents an important landmark in the NEF’s funding philosophy, and heralds entry by black entrepreneurs into the sphere of economic industrialisation.

Having been among the earliest harbingers for the development and support of black industrialists, the NEF is gratified that this historic call is at last gaining momentum among the patriots and advocates who are inspired and ignited, no doubt, by the constitutional injunction for South Africa, as stated in the Preamble, and I QUOTE: “to heal the divisions of the past and establish a society based on democratic values, social justice and fundamental human rights”, CLOSE QUOTE.

The NEF will continue to provide financial and non-financial support to small and medium enterprises (SMEs) because indeed they generate considerable jobs, skills and economic growth. In fact, a 2010 study by Abor and Quarterly estimates that 91% of formal business entities in South Africa are SMEs, and that they contribute between 52 and 57% to GDP, and about 61% to employment.

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