South Africa launches Government Investment
Incentives portal, streamlining access to trade
incentives
Companies or individuals wanting to make use
of the government's business and infrastructure development and job creation
incentives can now find them all in one place.
22 June 2012
Businesses looking to get involved in
creating employment and growing productive capacity in South Africa can now
access information on government investment incentives through a one-stop
portal, www.investmentincentives.co.za.
The government offers a wide range of
incentive schemes to encourage the growth of competitive new enterprises and the
creation of sustainable employment. However, these have tended to become lost
from view within the websites of particular departments.
This week's launch of the Government
Investment Incentives portal is set to change all that.
Promoting private sector
involvement
A joint project of the Department of Trade
and Industry (dti), the Economic Development Department and the Industrial
Development Corporation (IDC), the new website pulls together state incentive
schemes, including grants and tax breaks, together in one easily navigable
package.
"It is important to establish sustainable
enterprises to boost job creation and to increase the state's participation in
development," Meryl Mamathuba, head of the IDC's development finance department,
said in a statement on Wednesday.
"Ultimately, the aim is to promote private
sector involvement in both the creation of productive capacity and research and
development (R&D) in the country," Mamathuba said.
Three types of
incentive
The website helps the potential applicant
find the incentive that might fit by dividing state incentives into three
categories:
1. Concept, research and
development incentives – for private sector businesses that invest in the
creation, design and improvement of new products and processes.
2. Capital expenditure
incentives – for companies that want to acquire or upgrade assets in order
either to establish or expand their business' productive
capacity.
3. Competitiveness
enhancement incentives – for investments that facilitate increased
competitiveness, sustainable economic growth and development in a specific
sector.
Subcategories of
incentives
·
The first category breaks down into eight subcategories,
namely:
·
Grants for small R&D projects;
·
Grants for large R&D projects;
·
R&D tax incentives;
·
Grants for feasibility studies;
·
The Technology and Human Resources for Industry Programme
(Thrip);
·
The Small Enterprise Development Agency (Seda) technology
programme;
·
A technology venture capital fund; and
·
R&D in the automotive industry.
·
The capital expenditure category includes incentives
for:
·
Small industry;
·
Large industry;
·
Critical infrastructure;
·
Industrial development zones;
·
Capital expenditure in the automotive
industry;
·
Foreign investment;
·
Capital expenditure in the textiles industry;
and
·
Manufacturing competitiveness enhancement.
·
And the competitiveness enhancement incentives are
for:
·
Business process services (outsourcing);
·
Black business supplier development;
·
Export marketing and investment assistance;
·
Sector specific assistance;
·
Film production;
·
Competitiveness in the clothing and textiles
industries;
·
Co-operatives;
·
Female economic empowerment through the Bavumile training
programme for rural women and the Isivande Women’s Fund; and
·
Manufacturing competitiveness enhancement.
Completing the website's initial offering is
a set of answers to frequently asked questions on incentives and the process of
applying for them.
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