Samsung, in collaboration with the Department of Trade, Industry and Competition (DTIC), is running an Equity Equivalent Investment Programme (EEIP) Service Centre campaign – an extension of last year’s initiative and a call encouraging more suitable, black-owned Service Centre enterprises to apply for participation in the Enterprise Development (ED) programme.
Last year’s campaign was a broad invitation to small and medium-sized (SME) enterprises operating within the Information and Communications Technology (ICT) and Service Centre space to apply for funding.
While the ICT category received a sufficient number of applications – Samsung believes there is a need to focus exclusively on Service Centres and encourage more eligible SMEs in this category to participate in this year’s campaign.
The 2026 campaign is trying to increase the number of service centre participants in this ED programme and is now focusing on black-owned SMEs but targeting mainly underserved provinces. It is therefore looking for skilled service centre entrepreneurs with a minimum of three years’ experience in mobile device and/or consumer electronic repairs.
The main aim of this Samsung EEIP ED programme is to assist SMEs to operate suitably funded accredited service centres in an urban or peri-urban area with sufficient retail footprint.
Nicky Beukes, Samsung EEIP project manager, says: “As Samsung, we understand the number of challenges that affect the growth of local SME Service Centres in the small to medium-term. This ED programme is there to ensure that we bring positive change to more eligible entrepreneurs with experience in the Service Centre market.
“As a company, we are committed to enhancing empowerment and ICT entrepreneurship development that will stimulate job creation. Ultimately, the aim of this year’s EEIP Service Centre campaign is to contribute to the growth of the participating service centres that will lead to job creation and economic growth.”
Some of the immediate challenges experienced by these service centre SMEs include competition resulting in reduced volumes as well as vertical integration of operations from big players. In addition, the improved quality of electronics in general – results in longer time-frames before any breakdown thereby reducing the need for repair services provided by service centres.
The service centre industry is extremely competitive, while sustainable volumes are required to ensure future success of the service centres. The funding support from this ED programme can assist service centre entrepreneurs to overcome some of these challenges.
Besides the funding element, successful participation in this year’s service centre campaign means that eligible SMEs can now have access to supply chain processes that can contribute to their repair volumes as well as specialised equipment and access to genuine parts.
They also have an opportunity to receive full accreditation from an OEM and these benefits combined – can provide these small and medium enterprises with the ability to compete efficiently.
Beukes says: “By participating in this campaign, you could also be one of the selected entrepreneurs with grant-funding to support operations, receive specialist business development support and have access to Samsung’s service repair network.”