The theme of the conference, which is being hosted by the University of Johannesburg’s Faculty of Management, is “Transforming townships into economic powerhouses”.

“The conference comes at the most appropriate moment; it fits in perfectly with our mission as government. At the heart of our agenda is the total transformation of our country and economy,” Zuma said.

He urged the small business sector to explore opportunities in the recently unveiled infrastructure plan for South Africa. There were also opportunities in the green economy with government giving the rights to install more than one million geysers across the country to small businesses.

The President acknowledged that the country needed to move with speed in addressing the structural and social economic inequalities.

“Apartheid imposed underdevelopment onto the majority of black South Africans. In this second transition, we have to ensure true economic emancipation. The accumulation process under apartheid confined the creation of wealth to a racial minority and imposed underdevelopment.  The result is an economic structure that today, in essence still excludes the vast majority of people.”

Zuma said government would continue to support policies such as Affirmative Action and Black Economic Empowerment to address the imbalances of the past. Government would be undertaking a review to ensure that Broad-based Black Economic Empowerment benefited even more South Africans.

“We have said that in its current form and implementation the BBBEE has benefited only a few and has not been broad-based enough,” he said.

Director of the Centre for Small Business Development at the University of Johannesburg, Thami Mazwai, earlier said the economic outlook of townships needed to change.

The conference would encourage “massive structural adjustments” as this was required to reverse apartheid’s planning that promoted poverty in townships.

“The situation must change and these communities must become the focal point of development,” said Mazwai.

Small Enterprise Development Agency CEO Hlomela Lupuwana said despite progress, the country’s small business sector still faced many challenges.

“Statistics show that there are around 5.9 million medium and small enterprises in South Africa. It is for this reason that this sector requires special attention that can address issues of unemployment,” she said.

Government established SEDA to promote young entrepreneurs through access to finance and business skills.

Lupuwana said if South Africa was to achieve its target of five million new jobs by 2020, it needed to support the growth of small businesses.

There were too many challenges that faced small businesses and one of them was access to market.