The Eastern Cape Development Corporation (ECDC) is a dynamic economic development agency in the Eastern Cape.
ECDC works with provincial and national ministries, municipalities, chambers, private business, communities and other development agencies to implement the economic development policies of the Eastern Cape provincial government.
ECDC reports to an independent Board of Directors representing all stakeholders in the Eastern Cape. The directors are appointed by the Department of Economic Affairs, Environment and Tourism.
ECDC was formed in 1996 by an Act of the Eastern Cape Legislature to plan, finance, co-ordinate, market, promote and implement the development of the Eastern Cape Province and all its people in the fields of industry, commerce, agriculture, transport and finance.
ECDC is the official economic development and investment agency for the Eastern Cape province of South Africa. ECDC is wholly-owned by the Eastern Cape Government.
Our intentions are to:
Our work is closely aligned with the strategic intent of the Provincial Growth and Development Plan (PGDP), the Eastern Cape’s official roadmap to a prosperous future for all its people, as well as broader national and local policy interventions designed to deliver growth, employment and reduce the levels of poverty in the country.
ECDC’s head office is in East London, which is centrally situated in the province. We reach throughout the Eastern Cape via a network of regional offices in Port Elizabeth, King William’s Town, Queenstown, Butterworth and Mthatha. The Eastern Cape, a province of vast potential and world-class industrial sectors, is working steadily to overcome the severe underdevelopment it inherited from apartheid, particularly in its large rural areas.
Our priorities are to facilitate and support private sector development in the Eastern Cape through:
Our Services
>> Development Investments
Are you a small to medium enterprise that requires access to finance? Do you seek more progressive methods of risk evaluation? Yes? Then you are the person we are looking for. You don't have to be a business based in the Eastern Cape to qualify for any of our products. As long as your business headquarters are in the province, or you can prove that the major developmental impact will be felt in the province, we will consider your application. Business finance also understands the historical lack of access of small to medium enterprises to finance, hence we have moved away from collateral lending, and we now use adequate management capacity and business viability as a key criteria. Through our short-term and long-term product offering, we have set ourselves apart as the financial service provider of choice for initiatives that bring a meaningful development impact to the Eastern Cape economy. We facilitate financial viability and sustainability of these initiatives through the provision of financial resources at highly competitive rates. We want to be your lender of choice.
>> Investment Promotion
The ECDC Investment Promotion Programme, located in East London, invites you, our potential local or foreign medium to large investor, to take advantage of the Eastern Cape's compelling proposition when you make your next investment. The programme has assisted many investors with identifying and accessing business opportunities within the key sectors of the provincial economy. These investors have leveraged excellent returns on their investments and are enjoying the benefits of investing in a province characterized by positive economic growth.
>> Trade Promotion
The ECDC Trade Promotion Unit located in Port Elizabeth and East London invites export-ready small to medium sized Eastern Cape exporters, particularly previously disadvantaged individuals, to access the opportunities provided by offshore markets. The unit has assisted various businesses access global markets, throughout the province, which have now built profitable and sustainable relationships with their foreign trade partners. The unit aims to ensure growth in the value of exports and providing access to foreign markets for Eastern Cape products. You can live the export experience by joining the unit in its annual trade missions to network with prospective clients to foreign countries.
>> Enterprise Development Services
If your business needs skills development support, business advice, information technology support, product and market development and business linkages, keep reading. The Enterprise Development Programme invites small to medium enterprises to access these business support services provided by its highly qualified staff. Although these services are non-financial in nature, they are often sector and demand-led and necessary in order to be successful in your chosen sector. The programme is committed to providing you with knowledge and expertise in business development delivered by using sophisticated solutions and best practice. The programme aims to assist emerging businesses access business development services through a network of accredited service providers. We invite you to enlist for one of our broad range of services, specially catered for your business's needs, and notice improvements in the quality of your product and service offering.
>> Project Development
The unit has helped businesses establish pilot projects that are of a strategic nature, are sustainable and which will serve to generate economic activity. The unit recognises that business ideas need to be nurtured in order to become viable. We provide advice on how to go about establishing projects and consider funding various business-related studies in the form of business plans, feasibility studies and environmental impact assessments. Projects will benefit from the unit's willingness to explore entrepreneurial ideas, take calculated risks on new ideas, to conduct investigations and in-house professional services.
>> Property Management Development
If you are a small, medium, micro enterprise or a labour intensive company in search of suitable industrial and commercial premises, look no further. ECDC's Property Management Unit offers your small to medium enterprise suitable premises at affordable rates through its diverse and substantial property portfolio. Over the years, the unit has provided business premises to the general public, business people and government departments who want to initiate projects. The unit has also been instrumental in providing warehousing and manufacturing space to small businesses.
>> Spatial and Rural Projects Unit
Interested in unlocking investment opportunities in the Eastern Cape's rural areas? Are you interested in the development and the economic growth of the former Ciskei and Transkei? The Rural and Spatial Programmes Unit assists initiatives or projects that focus on strategic economic development clusters in the province. Our objective is to unlock the investment opportunities in the former Transkei and Ciskei, fast-track government decision making, provide planning advice to municipalities and provincial government departments, project scoping and planning, facilitate active participation of communities, and co-ordinate development efforts in those areas.
