The Minister of Small Business Development Khumbudzo Ntshavheni has announced a string of new initiatives, in what could be a major step to improving the government's up till now lack luster small business support.

Ntshavheni said her department would set up an index “within six months” to track the health of firms and measure the impact of the government's small business support. Alongside the index, the department will among other things also set up a database of firms and a one-stop platform which small businesses can use to better access government support. The small business and co-operatives database that the department plans to set up will categorize firms by sector, geographic location, size, and product or service. The department also wants to set up a one-stop platform for businesses to access both financial and non-financial support. This will include a walk-in option and online accesses. The platform will link to the department's planned small business database, to allow the department to track the performance of small firms that receives government support. Ntshavheni said her department plans to work with The National Treasury to ensure that other existing government databases on firms are integrated into the planned small business one. 

And the Small Business and Innovation Fund will be established to provide the small businesses, startups and innovators access to matched grant funding with a repayable Sefa loan. The grant portion will be up to a maximum of R2.5 million (~ $160,000 ) per enterprise. The Fund — which is run jointly by the Departments of Small Business Development , the Department of Science and Technology and administered by Small Enterprise Finance Agency (Sefa) — has a budget of R1 billion (~ $65 million) for the 2019/20 year and aims to finance at least 100 000 young entrepreneurs, targeting particularly black-owned businesses in townships and rural areas while applicants must have the potential to create at least 10 jobs to tap the funding. The National Treasury's 2019 Budget Review notes that R3.2 billion (~ $210 million) has been set aside over the next three years for the Fund, which it will lend to small business intermediaries, such as fund managers and incubators. These intermediaries will fund and support ideation and start-up companies, and small businesses focusing on innovation. Sefa would collaborate with the Ministry of Small Business Development and other government entities, the private sector in utilizing their grant or incentive offerings to develop a blended funding model that will directly benefit small businesses across its funding facilities over the next three years. The blended finance model will be tested initially through the fund, before consideration is made to extend it to the government's other small business financing agencies and products, or not.

Small Enterprise Development Agency (Seda) — which currently has a network of 58 incubators— will set up more than eight incubation centers in the rural and underserviced provinces and increase the period that firms are sponsored by Seda for incubation, from the current three years to up to five years. In addition, the agency will adopt a standard incubator model based on best practice that will form the minimum framework for incubation in South Africa. The department has over the last four years established 13 Centers for Entrepreneurship and Rapid Incubation in Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) colleges through partnerships with the departments of science and technology and higher education and training. In the current financial year, these centers will be upgraded to full incubators in order to provide business incubation services for enterprises in townships and rural areas where they are located. A further nine centers with full incubation services will be established in various provinces. The department also wants to help the private sector to establish incubators in rural areas and townships.