Sasol’s ChemCity strengthens South Africa’s economic growth through robust SMME incubation
- Amanda Dormehl
Established in 1997, Sasol ChemCity is Sasol’s enterprise development vehicle. The division was specifically created to support the development of the downstream chemical, energy and related industries through the incubation of SMMEs (small, medium and micro enterprises).
The organisation aims to facilitate the establishment of independent downstream enterprises, as well as the establishment of upstream suppliers.
“ W
e believe that successful business incubation means providing support to new business people throughout the full enterprise development value chain,” says Bridgitte Backman, MD. “By focussing our efforts, Sasol ChemCity is creating employment in communities throughout South Africa. This is made possible through the practical and very structured support offered by our strategic business pillars, as well as through the dedication of our passionate and innovative employees.”
“And we have a programme targeting school level learners promulgating entrepreneurship as a career. We foresee this programme contributing to the South African economy as a whole, as children are exposed to science as a career and to the appeal of creating and developing their own business,” says Nevashnee Naicker, Corporate Affairs Manager.
Sasol ChemCity’s vision is to enable SMME development. Backman elaborates “I find vision statements can be perceived as apple-pie statements. At Sasol ChemCity, we focus on our purpose statement. It centres on us being a leading enterprise developer that through passionate innovation provides sustainable solutions to our customers.
88 Management Today | June 2012
We believe that SMME development is the backbone of a country’s economic health and wealth.
From a Sasol ChemCity perspective we support SMMEs from idea to bankable business. What that means is that we do due diligence to ensure the success of the enterprise. We protect their IP, do impact assessments on manufacturing entities from an environmental perspective, design and test SHEQ programmes, create manufacturing plans, debottleneck plants, facilitate small scale commercialisation; we do market studies, industry and competitor analysis and financial planning and funding.
Sasol ChemCity is seen as a de-risking entity amongst funding institutions in South Africa and we have close relationships with local banks and the IDC. We also source technology and facilitate testing once the SMME’s funding has been approved. And we will mentor the enterprise between one and two years depending on their dynamics.
We have found this approach very successful.
Our reports indicate that 83% of SMME’s that we inculcated were still in operation after a year and 79% after two years.”
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