Govt's R500m spaza shop support fund gets thumbs up

The government's allocation of R500 million for spaza shop development is being welcomed by business experts and authorities.

- Masoka Dube

Minister of Trade, Industry and Competition Parks Tau and Minister of Small Business Development Stella Ndabeni-Abrahams will launch the Spaza Shop Support Fund in Soweto next week.

Ndabeni-Abrahams said the fund, which will be jointly administered by the National Empowerment Fund and the Small Enterprise Development Finance Agency, will provide financial and nonfinancial support to township businesses, including community convenience stores and spaza shops.

"The fund provides various types of support, including the initial purchase of stock via delivery channel partners, upgrading of building infrastructure, systems, refrigeration, shelving and security, as well as training programmes.

This includes point of sale devices, business skills, digital literacy, credit health, food safety, business compliance."