THE South African Foreign Trade Organisation (Safto) relaunched itself in Johannesburg last week following more than a year of restructuring.
Safto ceo Johan Scheepers said the organisation had refocused itself to provide export services to small and medium sized companies.
An extensive market research excercise had been conducted, which showed substantial support for a private sector driven export support service.
Although Safto has downsized considerably, we have nevertherless retained a core of expertise, both internally and through our growing network of local and international suppliers, he said.
Current staff levels are at 70, compared with more than 130 over a year ago. Safto was established in 1963 with government backing to encourage exports. Its role becaming increasingly linked to finding markets for South African goods during the apartheid era.
During the nineties Safto began to lose business and government support as South African producers no longer saw the need to use the organisation as a mediator between them and their newly-discovered markets.
The Industrial Development Corporation (IDC) bought shares in Safto, before taking outright control in July last year. IDC gm Isaac Lessing is chairman of Safto.
