Microsoft South Africa has launched a new programme which aims to strengthen small businesses
The BizSpark programme has been introduced to supply local software development start-ups with access to development tools, business support through accelerators and incubators and give them an opportunity to network with key players.
The South African government will use its job fund to provide financing for Microsoft's new project.
“I believe that you do good business by doing good. Of course we are doing it for the revenue, but we are also doing it for the good of the company and all the companies involved," said Microsoft South Africa’s managing director, Mteto Nyati.
"There is a huge explosion of the youth in South Africa and if they have nothing to do, then we have a problem. As a company, we designed the initiative to help the youth and I also have a strong bias towards the youth.”
Microsoft's academic developer advisor, Clifford de Witt, stated that one of Microsoft’s core principals are partnerships and SMEs are the last stage in the process.
“BizSpark was developed four years ago and we realised that companies don’t want to take out money in order to pay for things like software – so we do that for them as well,” he added.
