Finance and Economic Opportunities
South Africans have a long history of brewing home-made beer in traditional settings and as part of their cultural practice:
What measures, if any, are in place to assist in the enterprise development of individuals as entrepreneurs or as small businesses for the responsible (a) brewing of and (b) trading in pineapple beer?
Although home brewed pineapple beer has a long history and became a tradition in South Africa, there are also dangers linked to brewing beer at home. And so, while homebrewing is legal in South Africa, selling homebrew without the appropriate licenses is illegal.
The Department of Economic Development and Tourism supports SMMEs (including informal businesses) across the board, subject to standard due diligence, including the requirement that the product produced, or service rendered (or intended to be produced or rendered), must be legal and duly licensed, permitted or authorised. A business seeking assistance in the production or sale of liquor products will be assisted, or referred for assistance, with both financial (e.g. grant funding, a loan and/or other funding instrument) and non-financial (e.g. business plan compilation or refinement, training, mentoring and monitoring). Referrals might include the (national) Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Rural Development and Land Reform (with regard to approval of the product in terms of the Liquor Products Act); the Western Cape Liquor Authority (with regard to liquor licensing); the (national) Department of Small Business Development (with regard to its various business incentive schemes) and the relevant municipality (with regard to land use compliance, a trading permit and (possibly) a certificate food acceptability for food premises).
