22 May 2007

By Millicent Kgowedi

The world is indeed becoming a global village; evidence of this is in the partnerships being forged between local municipalities and foreign organisations. They all share a common goal – to uplift the economy, from national to regional levels.

Mogale City Local Municipality has teamed up with the Belgian Chamber of Commerce for Enterprise Development and will launch the Belgian-devised Plato Project on Wednesday, 23 May.

The Plato Project brings businesses together and offers professional coaching to small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). The aim is to help these businesses to expand, with an emphasis on levels of professionalism because that ensures the survival and prosperity of any company.

It also focuses on professional coaching of SMEs by managers or mentors from corporate companies based in Mogale City. Getting larger corporates involved ensured the creation of multi-sectoral, economic and internalised networks that dealt with problems faced by SMEs, said Khaya Njingolo, the deputy director of the City’s small, medium and micro enterprise (SMME) unit.

"These managers were sent to Belgium to get training so that they can coach more professionally."

The project has been operating in Belgium for some time and its success is evident; the businesses involved recorded growth of 21 percent; over half reported an increase in investment and nearly two-thirds took on more staff, according to the European Commission website.

Plato’s "living network" has been customised to local conditions. "Because this project already exists we had to redesign it to suit our country’s needs and our local businesses. In Belgium the definition of small business is different from our definition," Njingolo said.

The project has also been implemented in other municipalities- Bitou Local Municipality and Mangaung Local Municipality. Local chambers of commerce and industry are also involved. "In the case of Mogale City, the MCCI [Mogale Chamber of Commerce and Industry] is part of the project," Njingolo said.

The project is central to developing a relationship between Mogale City and the Voka Chamber of Commerce of East Flanders in Belgium.

Authorities from different regions, provinces and national representatives believe that setting up a sustainable Plato network in South Africa is an answer to the needs of SMEs. With project partners supported by the local authorities, the initiative aims to forge local economic empowerment.

On an international level, South African companies taking part will be able to set up contacts within the Plato network in Flanders via joint co-ordination sessions, a support group and a South African Club. Through these regular interactions, progress will be shared among the different countries.

The Mogale City municipality will launch the Plato Project at the Centenary Hall, at 4.30pm on Wednesday, 23 May.

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