More needs to be done to make mainstream economy more accessible - Patel

JOHANNESBURG - Trade and Industry Minister Ebrahim Patel said a lot still needed to be done to make the mainstream economy more accessible.

Patel made the comments ahead of the second Black Industrialists and Exporters Conference this week.

He said the annual meeting is expected to discuss ways to remove the barriers to doing business for black-owned companies in the industrial sectors, like manufacturing.

"We also wanted to ensure that there was enough space for black South Africans to participate in the core productive sectors of the economy – like agro-processing and food production, like the making of shoes and clothes, or steel production, or oil and gas, green economies, mineral beneficiation, mining itself and of course, agriculture."

While the 2015 Black Industrialists’ policy has already unlocked funding and market opportunities for black-owned companies, patel said that more could still be done.

"When I look at it, we need to be doing more to bring a focus in some of the smaller provinces. There is still a still a very strong concentration of economic activity in the bigger provinces."