The Small Enterprise Development Agency: Branch Establishment and Staffing Criteria Project
The Small Enterprise Development Agency (SEDA), an agency under the Department of Trade and Industry (the dti), commissioned the development of guidelines for the establishment and staffing of Seda branches. SEDA provides business development and support services for small enterprises through its national network, in partnership with other role players in the small, medium and micro-enterprise (SMME) sector. It also implements programmes targeted at business development in areas prioritised by the Government.
The guidelines developed by Mthente focus on:
- setting up new SEDA branches to deal specifically with the following five areas:
financial, political, societal and legal matters and practical arrangements such as geographical location;
- criteria used to decide the nature of operations and activities;
- staffing criteria and expected efficiency levels of each position; and
- the amount of time required to establish a new SEDA branch.
The guidelines were informed by a review of relevant best practice literature and information obtained from focus groups, in-depth interviews, and a survey among 139 SEDA stakeholders.
