SA’s small and medium-size businesses have been advised to partner with large American companies for financial and other support.

Donna Oosthuyse, the MD of financial services Citi Group SA and also the chair of the American Chamber of Commerce in SA, yesterday told a US-SA business summit in Sandton that while major US companies such as FedEx and Chevron had stepped up their investment in SA recently and were set to create some jobs in the country, this did not represent large-scale job creation.

She believed that an even more meaningful job-creation move would be for South African small and medium-size enterprises to partner with such large US companies.

"For a start, such relationships would make it easier for small and medium businesses in SA to get funding for projects," she said.

The US had cited SA as a country with which it would like to boost trade and increase the level of business association because the two countries understood each other, a factor that lowered the amount of risk, US Undersecretary for Economic Growth, Energy and the Environment Robert Hormats told the summit.

Mr Hormats was part of the business delegation travelling with US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, which involved various American blue-chip companies, as well as small firms and dignitaries. He said that members of the delegation had an interest in SA as an investment destination, partly because past business relationships had been fruitful and SA offered many business opportunities.

"As a diverse country, too, you get us. We like to work in diverse countries," Mr Hormats said.