Written by Amanda Devine | 26 July 2009

The Need for Product Innovation and Business Development Skills

The development of the Micro-industries, specifically craft, is a potentially powerful means of bringing job creation to thousands of people in many provinces. Home businesses thrive on the creative industries and in addition to that, Arts and Crafts that focus on our unique heritage have enormous potential to provide employment and promote wealth creation. There is however, a critical need to develop crafters to produce work of consistently superior quality and design and to effectively market their products both in South Africa (where the perception of their value is extremely low) and internationally.

South Africa does not have a good reputation for quality or innovation and this has to be amended if we are to compete in the international market place. The South African craft industry has not yet reached it's potential or accomplished full appreciation of its creativity and diversity. Most grass roots level crafters lack the expertise to finance their work, achieve consistently superior quality or market their products effectively. They do not have access to training and development and work without the use of technology or basic communication

systems. This often results in over produced items with diminishing value and aesthetic appeal. This stigma affects the value of other crafters and artists who create unique items but have little hope of seeing their product reach levels of worth that could possibly sustain a long term business.

It goes without saying that Craft and Art development holds huge potential for sustainable enterprise development that will result in poverty eradication and social and economic upliftment. Similar models have not worked in other developing countries, but South Africa has the added and vital support of government in this sector which has not been the case overseas. With this support as well as that of the private sector and enterprising individuals we could very well see great changes in the way Craft is perceived in the next few years. What is required on a basic level is to improve the local perception of Craft in terms of its value, and to broaden the opportunities and access to South African craft in the international market place.

To achieve this we need to identify the issues in access or ability on several different levels, the grass roots level being a vital area of development in order to improve the Net worth of Craft as a whole. This will bridge the perception of craft for the local market and encourage sustainability. The government initiatives need to be constant and widely available in order to provide much needed access to funds, technology, training and marketing; and private sector initiatives need to be established to encourage competition thereby ensuring high standards in design and development.

Each individual crafter, corporate initiative or government department has a role to play and a responsibility to build and sustain the art and craft industry. By ensuring their own efficient and effective operation and then uniting as one community we can benefit from skill sharing, reduced need for funding and access to resources to name but a few. This key aspect of communicating between sectors is essential to ensure the broad development of Craft in South Africa.