During the 15th BRICS Summit held in Johannesburg Ms. Stella Ndabeni-
Abrahams, Minister of Small Business Development in South Africa, spoke to
BGTN’s anchor Patricia Mantula after the first session of the summit, which was
the Business Forum.
The attendance and engagements of various ministers
representing various countries, Heads of States and the business community was
the cornerstone of the interactive forum.
This was also an opportunity to network
and forge meaningful collaborations between businesspeople who were invited
to attend.
Minister Ndabeni-Abrahams highlighted the important role the Business Forum
played in fostering better business trade within the BRICS block and African
countries.
During the panel discussions big business expressed openness in
including small and medium business in the greater supply and value chain in all
sectors, this being key to creating inclusive and progressive economies.
SMME’s expressed the frustrations they faced when tackling the compliance
requirements of doing business. Governments present at the Forum
encouragingly said that priority would be given in finding ways to tackle barriers
in doing business, focusing firstly on policies.
With difficulties faced by the Global
South in cross boarder payments, the talks of a new ecommerce platform to be
introduced brought great expectation for the future growth of business and their
contribution to economic growth
