As part of the National Treasury requirements all public institutions are expected develop a corporate plan. I am delighted to report therefore that the organisation held a successful strategy session end of September. This was followed by the Board strategy breakaway on the 22 & 23rd October where concrete resolutions and directives were issued.

The retreats allowed us to reflect on a number of organisational issues with regards to sefa’s operating environment and the positioning moving forward.

To highlight key points ,the Board resolved that Post Investment Monitoring Units for Wholesale and Direct Lending will be collapsed into one unit and be independent of operational divisions.

On Direct Lending, the Board directed Gauteng Province to recruit an additional Regional Manager to assist with proportion of business that comes from peri-urban sector.

The organisation will also explore possibilities of having offices in places like Soweto and Diesploot, including the consideration of co-locations with IDC

Wholesale Lending will work on the strategy to finance intermediaries and also develop a policy that governs how hybrid models are handled by the organisation. This division will also have to recruit the head of Credit Guarantee Scheme as a matter of urgency.

Finally, sefa is looking at developing a research unit as directed by the Board. To become a custodian for SMEEs it is important for the organisation to own the small business space. The market we operate in is very dynamic we have to keep abreast of all developments in the industry. This unit will be expected to work closely with other agencies in the small business space as well as government.

I am confident that Business Units will accordingly start rolling out these plans. The support of all staff members is crucial in order to ensure that we have a capacity to deliver on our mandate.