Small, Medium and Micro-sized Enterprises (SMMEs) continue to play an important role in South Africa but they will not create the number or types of jobs government expects without policy and/or structural change.

This was the conclusion of the keynote address by Prof Neil Rankin of Stellenbosch University's Department of Economics at a symposium targeted at institutions and individuals active in SMME development.

The symposium was hosted by the Department of Business Management at Stellenbosch University (SU) in collaboration with the University of Uppsala in Sweden, and sponsored by the Tore Browaldh Foundation.

Its primary objective was to develop a deeper and better understanding of burning issues that confront the SMME sector in order to address these issues and provoke directives for the way forward.

Prof Rankin emphasised the importance of a dynamic SMME sector for job creation and economic growth.

"The SMME sector provides important types of jobs – among others for the young, the old and the less-skilled. It creates an entry into the job market and is an important conveyor belt for skills in the economy.

"The National Development Plan (NDP) foresees that the bulk of new jobs in the economy are going to be created by SMMEs. However, the level of employment in SMMEs is actually lower than we thought. South Africa has less SMMEs that it should have. In similar economies the contribution of SMMEs to the economy is double."

He identified rising costs of electricity and wages and a lack of diversity in the market as some of the problems.

"We have inherited an environment that favours large businesses and any regulation with fixed cost implications affects small businesses more than large businesses.

Prof Ranking mentioned that there seems to be very little acknowledgement from government that this should change and suggested that it could be beneficial if an environment that encourages formalisation was created.

Prof Gert Human, lecturer in strategic management at SU, presented on behalf of Prof Per Lind from the Department of Business Studies at Uppsala University. This presentation looked at SMMEs from an international perspective and also identified the concentration of power in large firms and a lack of economic diversity as obstacles to SMME development.

He asked the question: "How do we prepare people for entrepreneurship? Organisations and firms in South Africa are subject to local norms and values, so US or European models are not necessarily applicable.

"We need to develop nuanced programmes and initiatives to target different individuals – those who were forced into self-employment to survive versus those who had the skills and resources available to start a new business. We need a differentiated approach – one size does not fit all."

Awie Vlok, a doctoral candidate and lecturer specialising in innovation at SU presented the findings of his study on innovation leadership in South Africa.

"We keep on talking about the significance role of innovation in SMMEs but what does the leader look like who makes this possible?" he asked.

Complex problem-solving skills, an ability to think critically and creativity were identified as some of the most important skills these leaders should have.

Goosain Solomon, a doctoral candidate and lecturer specialising in entrepreneurship and small business growth and development at SU presented the findings of a business incubation study focused on the importance of incubatee selection.

He discussed the value, contribution and challenges of business incubators and said that South Africa lags behind in this regard.

"We need to leapfrog or accept the status quo. However, if we accept the status quo we are going to remain behind."