Johannesburg, South Africa – Sasol has created a platform for the small and medium-sized enterprises (SMMEs) it supports to showcase their goods and services at the 7th Annual Proudly SA Buy Local Summit, taking place on March 14 – 15, 2018 at the Sandton Convention Centre.

The purpose of the summit is to promote products and services that originate from or are produced in South Africa.

A proudly South African company with more than 25 000 employees in South Africa alone, Sasol has since its inception played an important role in the birth of new industries and the growth of established ones a role through its locally-produced chemicals and energy products. This has in turn contributed to the creation of jobs as well as social and economic development.

“We support the development of small businesses in order to contribute to local economic development and job creation in our communities,” said Lebelo Lukhele, Vice President: Supplier Management and Transformation at Sasol.

“We are aware of the vital role a growing small, medium and micro-sized enterprise (SMME) sector plays in broadening economic participation and delivering on our country's economic development objectives, which include job creation. This is why enterprise and supplier development is such a strong focus of our Supply Chain strategy.”

Sasol supports local SMMEs through a number of interventions, which include the Sasolburg-based Sasol Business Incubator, which provides business development, access to specialised manufacturing equipment and business infrastructure, to SMMEs. This is in addition to product commercialisation support. The Sasol incubation programme provides participating SMMEs with up to 12 months of physical support and an additional 24 months of virtual incubation support from our business incubation specialists.

To find out more about Sasol and how it is enabling local SMMEs, visit: http://www.sasol.co.za/sustainability/enterprise-and-supplier-development