KEYNOTE ADDRESS TO THE 2022/23 CO-OPERATIVE BANKING SECTOR INDABA  BY MINISTER STELLA NDABENI-ABRAHAMS 

23 NOVEMBER 2022 

Let me greet all the Indaba Attendees, from National Treasury, from the Co-operatives Bank Development Agency, from the Department of Economic Development, Environment and Tourism, from my own department DSBD and entities sefa and Seda, from the regulators, the South African Reserve Bank and the Prudential Authority, the World Bank, from banks and other financial institutions, and most importantly the co-operative banks and co-operators themselves and those who support them, 

The timing of this Indaba is excellent. We have just completed our National Integrated Small Enterprise Development Plan which was approved by Cabinet three weeks back. We have also just come out of the Inaugural Presidential Awards and National SMME and Co-operatives Summit, which coincided with the launch of Global Entrepreneurship Week, and where all stakeholders agreed on a course of action to support the implementation of the NISED Plan. We are also at the final stages of the business model for the new combined entity which brings together Seda, sefa and the CBDA.