Guest post by Proudly South African.

Local enterprises are the lifeblood of any country which has its sights set on sustainable economic growth and real social development. However, growing and developing into thriving businesses that can contribute to employment creation first and foremost requires that a sustained demand is established for the products and services of local enterprises, including SMMEs.

Local support is critical in creating this demand – a principle which applies equally to developing countries, such as South Africa and to well-established first-world economies such as the UK, Germany, Australia and the USA.

It should come as no surprise that established economies have over many years embraced the Buy Local principle as a means of achieving social and economic benefits for local communities.

And perceived shortcomings in quality are a misnomer. It makes perfect sense that local support drives an increased demand which capacitates local businesses to plough back financial resources in further product development, refinement, continuous improvement and job creation.

It is important for us as South Africans to understand that our purchasing behaviour has far-reaching implications, beyond the gratification of a personal need. Every South African has a potentially powerful tool which can make or break local businesses – purchasing choice!

This may be a rhetoric question – but how can we hope to inspire confidence in the products and services of local enterprises amongst visitors, if we as South Africans are not seen to support our own?

Isn’t it time that we all have a change of heart and match our good intentions with the appropriate shopping and purchasing behaviour? Local is lekker. Buy Local for 2010 and beyond – so that we can all prosper. So that our children, too, will have a chance to flourish as entrepreneurs and build sustainable businesses, like many of our Proudly South African member organisations, such as getclosure.