Accelerating the food and beverage retail business in Africa
Celebrating its 21st edition, Africa’s Big 7 continues to offer high-quality, affordable food and beverage products to meet consumer needs. Our event brings together a global lineup of exhibitors, food and beverage communities, and industry leaders. It’s a prime hub for sourcing, trendspotting, and connecting with top trade buyers and influencers.
Our 2024 edition will set a new benchmark, showcasing the potential to transform the food and beverage landscape in this dynamic region and beyond.
This food and beverage event will be held from 11-13 June 2024, at the Sandton Convention Centre, Johannesburg, South Africa.
Show Dates
11 June 2024, 10:00 – 17:00 (GMT +2) 12 June 2024, 10:00 – 17:00 (GMT +2) 13 June 2024, 10:00 – 16:00 (GMT +2)
Venue: Sandton Convention Centre, Johannesburg, South Africa
Since its inception in 1994, Mining Indaba has grown from a small conference to one of the most highly anticipated events in the industry, welcoming mining professionals from all over the world.
The event is solely dedicated to the successful capitalisation and development of mining interests in Africa, with a unique and widening perspective of the African mining industry. From connecting mining companies with leading investors to provide a platform for important industry discussions, supporting the long-term economic and sustainable growth across the continent.
Mining Indaba continues to support education, career development, sustainable development, and other important causes in Africa. Each year, Mining Indaba makes a significant impact on the regional and wider economy of South Africa. In 2023, Mining Indaba increased GDP in South Africa by R248-million (with 80% coming from international sources), generated 323 full-time annual job equivalents in the country and increased national taxes by R30-million.
In 2024, Mining Indaba will celebrate its 30th anniversary to honour how far the industry has come and discover what the future holds for Africa’s mining industry.
Hydrogen Economy Discussion(4th year) brings together all the key players, including mining companies, OEMs, investors, industry associations, hydrogen equipment suppliers, infrastructure providers and independent advisers, to debate the potential of the green hydrogen economy and its implications and opportunities for South Africa and the mining industry in particular.
Key subjects that will be discussed include:
What is the potential of green hydrogen to support South Africa’s energy security and transform its future energy mix?
What is the outlook for the supply and demand of green hydrogen?
What is South Africa’s strategy for driving the development of the green hydrogen economy?
What are the latest local, regional, continental and international collaboration initiatives on green hydrogen?
What is the potential role of PGMs in the development of the hydrogen economy?
What are the challenges of developing an infrastructure for hydrogen production, storage and transportation?
What opportunities exist for local and international funders to invest in the green hydrogen economy?
Who is developing green hydrogen projects in Africa and elsewhere?
The 5th annual Ocean Innovation Africa Summit is set to take place in Cape Town from the 20th to the 22nd of February 2024. Hosted at The Avenue Conference and Events Centre, V&A Waterfront, this premier event promises a dynamic platform for engagement, collaboration, and inspiration all in the ocean economy.
The summit will feature a dynamic mix workshops, tours and site visits, ocean experts, ocean stories, networking sessions and a startup pitch competition.
Set within the African ocean impact space, the summit aims to inspire more impact entrepreneurs, entice private investors, and catalyse partnerships for a sustainable and equitable ocean economy from all over the world. Although the strong focus remains within the context of the African Blue Economy, the event will expect delegates from all over the world to attend, highlighting the global interest in Africa’s untapped ocean potential.
The event will bring together authorities, representatives from ocean industries, scientists, researchers, foundations, NGOs, private impact investors, and ocean-impact entrepreneurs.
Key highlights from last year’s edition:
Over 500 delegates from 59 countries, with representation from 35 African nations.
88 distinguished speakers.
Tickets are available online. Use the promo code Ocean15 for a 15% discount!
A delegate of the conference stands in the venue of the Ocean Innovation Africa Summit. The Avenue Conference Centre at the V&A in Cape Town, which forms part of the Two Oceans Aquarium.
A turtle at the venue in a Two Oceans Aquarium tank.
An exhibition of seaweed-based food products at the summit by a startup in Tanzania - Healthy Seaweed. A solution aimed to reduce hunger and malnutrition through a sustainable ocean solution.
One of the many exhibition stands at the conference. The exhibition of the Great Blue Wall initiative by IUCN.
Footage from The 2023 Ocean Innovation Africa Summit. Delegates from all over the world join to discuss Blue Economy Solutions for Africa.
The Port of Richards Bay, KwaZulu-Natal Province, South Africa. Credit: Transnet National Ports Authority (TNPA)
By John Young
As 2023 drew to a close, concerns about the functioning of South Africa’s ports and railways became more urgent. Transnet, the state-run utility which has six divisions covering ports, port terminals, railways, engineering, pipelines and property, is investigating partnerships with private operators, but the immediate priority is to fix dockside cranes and unload ships.
President Cyril Ramaphosa himself visited the Port of Richards Bay, and promised swift action. The inability of the state’s other big utility, Eskom, to ensure a reliable supply of electricity has been a concern for some time.
In response to these large national problems, the Chief Executive Officers of 130 South African companies have made a joint commitment to help. In addition to logistics and energy, crime is the third area of focus for a series of Working Groups which regularly meet and report to the President every six weeks. Calling itself “Business for South Africa”, the group first came together in response to the Covid pandemic in 2020 and helped to coordinate the successful vaccination rollout of 2021. Spokesmen for the grouping have said that they are responding to national priorities in the spirit of building a prosperous future together.
Boosting efficiency at ports
The first steps in a move by the state to partner with the private sector in boosting efficiency at ports were taken in 2022: deals were signed at the Port of Durban, Richards Bay and at East London. In 2023, these first steps became a giant leap when International Container Terminal Services Inc (ICTSI), a Philippines-based port operator, was announced as the preferred partner for a joint venture (JV) to run the Durban Container Terminal with Transnet.
Part of the plan for Durban Container Terminal Pier 2 is to increase traffic in such a way that it will be able to increase its handling capacity from the present 2.9-million TEUs (two-million 20-foot equivalent units) to 11-million TEUs by 2032.
The 2022 deal involving a 15-year concession for the loading of grain at one of Durban’s agricultural terminals was won by Afgri, one of South Africa’s biggest agricultural firms. Afgri will deal with the operation and maintenance of all landside operations, and the deal includes a similar arrangement at East London. The other two terminals in Durban are operated by SA Bulk Terminals and Bidvest Bulk Terminals.
A similar plan to concession certain dedicated rail lines to private operators has not gone smoothly. The private sector was initially very interested in the idea of running currently closed branch lines to a railhead delivering grain in the Free State or coal in Mpumalanga, for example. However, the length of contract time offered to the private operators was not long enough for them to feel it was worth their while. There was only one bid so the whole process has been put on hold while the model is reworked.
Seeing opportunity in a crisis
The conversation about the global climate crisis has seized the limelight across the world in a way that few other topics have since World War II. The debate in South Africa has its own unique contours, particularly as so much of the country’s electricity generation comes from coal, about 80%. The fact that many people would lose their jobs if coal mines close down is an important factor in calculations, and a key reason why South Africa is at the forefront about the need for a “Just Energy Transition”.
In addition to this, Eskom has not been able to avoid regular power cuts. An excellent programme exists to procure the energy that South Africa needs to expand the economy, the Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer Procurement Programme (REIPPPP). In Round Five of the REIPPPP, the cheapest solar generation cost was 37.5c/kWh while the best wind cost was 34.4c/kWh. These represent remarkably low costs.
When President Ramaphosa announced that private power investors could create up to 100MW of power without having to wait for licensing, he potentially opened up a path to growth.
Rooftop solar installations surged on news that the City of Cape Town would buy power from individual households. Credit: Versofy Solar
The utility’s inability to provide enough electricity to power the economy (and its huge debt) rank as the biggest risks to the South African economy. Opportunities for private consortiums are expanding and every window of the REIPPPP has been oversubscribed so there is an appetite to enter the South African energy market.
Eskom’s unbundling will be another spur to growth. The legal separation of transmission is the first step, and considerable progress was made on this in 2023.
The Northern Cape has attracted the bulk of solar projects, and the Eastern Cape has become the home of the wind farm, but the Western Cape has a good mixture of both modes of renewable energy. It also has an enthusiastic metropole, Cape Town, and a provincial administration determined to take full advantage of nature’s bounty. Following the announcement by the City of Cape Town that residents could get cash for power in late 2022, Versofy Solar received 1 500 enquiries in the month of January and has experienced a surge of orders for rooftop installations since then.
In 2023 a major wind farm project was announced for Mpumalanga, proving that preconceptions about renewable energy resources in that province were wrong.
Eskom’s unbundling will be another spur to growth. The legal separation of transmission is the first step, and considerable progress was made on this in 2023. The other two elements, generation and distribution, will follow. The idea is not to privatise the entities but to find private partners and to allow for competition within the various fields.
The R130-billion pledged at COP26 by the EU, the US, Germany, France and the UK to assist South Africa’s transition from oil and coal to greener technologies is not straightforward; it comes as a mixture of grants, risk-sharing instruments and concessional finance but it will allow South Africa to fund projects that will help the country to move away from fossil fuels without further stretching Eskom’s precarious finances.
The R130-billion pledged at COP26 by the EU, the US, Germany, France and the UK to assist South Africa’s transition from oil and coal to greener technologies is not straightforward…
Eskom made a breakthrough in December 2022 when South Korean company Hyonsung Heavy Industries broke ground at Elandskop signalling the first project in Eskom’s Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) project. The 8MW facility will move to producing an additional 144MW in the second stage of the project. In 2023, a larger project at Worcester, Hex BESS, was launched. Another company that will be involved in Phase 1 of the national rollout of these projects is Chinese company Pinggao.
In Cape Town a Swedish firm has spent $30-million setting up an assembly factory for lithium batteries and Bushveld Energy, a subsidiary of Bushveld Minerals, is producing vanadium battery electrolyte at its factory in East London. An Eastern Cape project involving nascent local utility Earth & Wire expects to start delivering batteries in the first half of 2024. US firm Ambri has the contract to deliver a 300MW/1 200 MWh battery system for a combined wind and solar system near Humansdorp.
Eskom’s Hex BESS site at Worcester is the largest battery storage project in Africa. Credit: SA Government News Agency
Traditional sectors
Gold mining is declining in volumes (even while prices rise), platinum group metals (PGM) prices have gone off the highs experienced during and immediately after Covid, but major activity is still underway in the sector. Vedanta Zinc International’s project in the Northern Cape may the catalyst for the establishment of a Special Economic Zone (SEZ) and an uptick in other mining investment. Already, copper mines in that province are being revived.
The biggest mining news in 2023 was that De Beers Venetia Diamond Mine started producing. This long-term conversion project of the mine to an underground mine will extend its life to 2045 and perhaps beyond.
Sibanye-Stillwater, which quickly became a major player in PGMs, continues to acquire assets in the green metals and processing cluster while Afrimat, best known for many years for concrete and construction materials, has built up a much more varied portfolio by buying mines in three provinces. In June 2023 it went back to its roots in a sense: the company’s Construction Materials division was enlarged by the purchase of Lafarge South Africa Holdings.
The biggest mining news in 2023 was that De Beers Venetia Diamond Mine started producing. This long-term conversion project of the mine to an underground mine will extend its life to 2045 and perhaps beyond.
Grain crops such as maize, wheat, barley and soya beans are among the country’s most important crops. Only rice is imported. Wine, corn and sugar are other major exports. Basing economic growth on a devaluing currency is not the best long-term method of boosting economic growth, but high-value agricultural exports and increased numbers of high-spending international tourists hold some promise for helping to get the South African economy back on a growth path.
Read more in the 2024 edition of South African Business, the premier annual guide to business and investment in South Africa:
South Africa’s rapid transition from global pariah under apartheid to a welcomed member of the global community under the country’s first democratically elected president, Nelson Mandela, brought with it many benefits. It also opened up the country to a range of threats ranging from intercontinental drug networks and arms smuggling to human trafficking. The country’s improved status also greatly increased the amount of trade that started flowing through the nation’s land ports, airports and sea ports.
This was another benefit that brought with it some complications: greater volumes of trade created huge amounts of work for officials for a range of departments tasked with various aspects of border management and increased the possibilities for criminal activity.
In response to these challenges South Africa’s newest entity, the Border Management Authority (BMA), was officially launched in the northern Limpopo town of Musina in October 2023.
Musina is a border town with a busy crossing into neighbouring Zimbabwe, one of 53 ports of entry into the country that are on land. In addition, there are 11 international airports and eight seaports. The land border alone is more than 4 800km long and so the task of policing and administering the border is a big one.
Because the Border Management Authority is a third national armed law enforcement authority (after the South African National Defence Force and the South African Police Service) it had to be formally launched by the Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces of the Republic, President Cyril Ramaphosa. And that is why a formal sword of command was officially presented to the Border Management Authority’s first Commissioner and CEO, Dr Nakampe Michael Masiapato.
The Border Management Authority is tasked with ensuring that our country’s immigration laws are enforced, and that our borders are well-protected and ports of entry well-managed.
Integration
The process of bringing the BMA into being was not done overnight. Months of preparation have seen various officials being moved from various departments to the new, integrated operation.
As Dr Masiapato describes the process, “We had to integrate officials who were actually working at the ports of entry who were deployed by these various government departments. We had to move them out of those departments into the Border Management Authority so that it becomes an integrated border management platform for the implementation of border laws of the Republic under a single command and control.”
Among the entities involved in border management are the police, the South African National Defence Force, South African Revenue Service (customs and revenue collection) and various government departments dealing with immigration, health, agriculture and the environment.
Dr Masiapato notes that there was a level of complexity because it was necessary to “integrate various systems that had been deployed by various government departments which were operating in silos”. The goal entailed “moving away from the implementation of border management through a multi-agency approach” and creating an integrated model, “with a single command and control across the ports of entry”.
The key aspect involves the BMA working closely with “three critical organs of state and those are the South African National Defence Force, the South African Police Service as well as the South African Revenue Service” but could include any other agency or body whose work might relate to border issues. The BMA operates under guidelines which specify that it is “a Schedule 3A public entity that is supposed to be operating autonomously and it operates outside the public service but within public administration”.
In welcoming the establishment of the BMA, President Ramaphosa wrote, “The Border Management Authority is tasked with ensuring that our country’s immigration laws are enforced, and that our borders are well-protected and ports of entry well-managed.”
Tasks
Among the critical functions of the BMA are:
Access control
Environmental bio-security
Protection of human health
Agricultural bio-security
Commissioner Masiapato has highlighted that the method deployed by agents at ports of entry will be a “risk-based model that would be able to identify individuals that would be intercepted and prevented from committing criminal activities”.
One of the biggest upsides of an efficiently functioning border management authority will be to improve trade between South Africa and its neighbours.
A number of successes have already been achieved by the BMA. The large and complex gathering which was the 15th BRICS Summit 2023 went off without a hitch, with the BMA contributing to that success by processing journalists, participating officials and more than 60 heads of state.
Since the BMA started functioning as a separate entity, the following interceptions have been made:
141 vehicles which were stolen or hijacked
More than 5 500 counterfeit goods prevented from entering
95 217 people trying to enter the country with no documentation
35 944 people trying to enter the country who were declared undesirable
Trade and efficiency
One of the biggest upsides of an efficiently functioning border management authority will be to improve trade between South Africa and its neighbours. Dr Masiapato wants to “make sure that we streamline the movement of trade between us and our neighbouring jurisdictions and among the broader global community of nations”.
Work has begun on tightening border control with Zimbabwe and improving trade relations and synchronising systems with Mozambique. Instead of slow movement of trucks and port backlogs, Dr Masiapato wants to “make sure there is a better movement of trade”. Exporters and importers must see results, he says. Working on the efficiency of trade movement must not detract border operations from the security mission. Dr Masiapato stresses: “We also had to make sure that we look after the country’s national security and also its national interest and make sure that we are able to protect the Republic.”
I have always enjoyed writing and as you know I write regularly for Blue Chipand have previously co-authored a book entitled Rethinking Leadership. About six or seven years ago, I began facilitating behavioural coaching programmes for financial planners and frequently got questions and queries about how the insights and ideas from these programmes could reach a broader audience. I thought the obvious way to do this was to write a book. When Covid struck my wife had just signed up to do a PhD so I took it as the perfect opportunity to begin writing the book.
Who do you want to read it?
When I initially began writing the book, I wrote it for the financial planner. I am a firm believer that financial planning is a noble profession that helps people make decisions about their life and money. Until now, the focus of financial planner education has been on the money and the technical aspects of the work, yet I believe human skills are critical to sound financial advice.
When I took the book to my publisher Vindigo Press, they questioned why I was limiting the audience to financial planners as they believed with a little more work it would be appropriate for anyone who was considering getting financial advice, or who worked with a financial planner. The response from both financial planners and the person in the street has been very positive. My hope is that financial planners will see the book as useful for themselves and their clients.
What do you think is unique about this book?
I think you could put personal finance books into three broad categories. First, those that provide advice on technical aspects of investing, financial and retirement planning. Second, those that offer lessons about how to handle your money, whether from stories about people and their money or the author’s life experience. Third, there are books that focus on the person and their behaviour, whether about life planning or informed by insights from behavioural finance, which educates us on our many biases and how they influence our approach to money.
My book is probably closest to this third category, but I believe is unique because it doesn’t only share information but also focuses on applying human skills, both intrapersonal and interpersonal, that are key to influencing behaviour, which I believe is the greatest determinant of financial health.
How would a financial planner find this book useful?
I hope it will challenge financial planners to look into the mirror and perhaps think differently about how they go about their work. There are also practical skills outlined in the book that financial planners will be able to apply immediately upon reading the book. These skills obviously require practice, but there is enough in the book to help a financial planner who wants to become more skilled on the human side of financial advice to practically implement new ways of interacting with their clients.
How would a potential or existing client of a financial planner find the book useful?
Firstly, to recognise that their financial health is not just about money and that the financial planning process provides clients with the opportunity to really think about what they want out of life. Secondly, that a successful financial planning outcome has more to do with our human skills, who we are and how we turn up in the world, than how much knowledge one has about money and finance.
Thirdly, a key message in the book is that a client will be better off working with a professional financial planner than going it alone but that clients can also work on their human skills to improve their financial planning outcome.
If there is one thing that you want the reader to take away from the book, what would it be?
Most importantly, I would like the reader to enjoy reading the book. I love reading, but not everyone does. So, if someone chooses to spend some of their valuable time reading the book, if nothing else I hope they will enjoy it. I also hope that the book is a catalyst for anyone who is hesitant about seeking financial advice, to engage the services of a professional financial planner.
Finally, I hope that financial planners will find the book a good resource for their work and that clients, or potential clients, recognise that financial planning is a noble profession and that their lives will be richer in all senses of the word by working with a financial planner.
Rob Macdonald, Head of Strategic Advisory Services, Fundhouse
Rob Macdonald has held several senior positions in the investment industry. At Fundhouse, he acts as a consultant and coach to financial advisors and develops and facilitates training programmes in behavioural coaching and practice management. Before joining the financial services industry, Macdonald was MBA director at the UCT Graduate School of Business.
He is co-author of the book Rethinking Leadership and has consulted, written and spoken widely on a range of topics.
Macdonald has a Master’s degree in Management Studies from Oxford University and is a CFP® Professional.
YES4YOUTH gives young people work experience. Credit: YES4YOUTH
By John Young
It is in everyone’s interests that the rate of youth unemployment in South Africa comes down. StatsSA has published figures suggesting that as many as 60% of the 15-24 age group are unemployed. The rate for the 25-34 cohort is above 40%.
The single, simplest solution would be for the national economy to grow faster, but because making that happen is actually extremely complex, other solutions have to be found. And this is where collaboration between business and industry, the education sector and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) becomes vital.
Since 1998, South Africa has had Sector Education and Training Authorities (SETAs). These vocational-skills-training organisations were established by an act of parliament and there are currently 21 of them. SETAs create and manage learnerships, internships, short-course skills programmes and apprenticeships. SETAs are well placed to act as the linking factor between tertiary institutions and private companies or to ensure collaboration between NGOs and industry.
Every industry is covered by the SETA network and companies must contribute a skills levy to the appropriate SETA. This occurs within a National Skills Development Strategy.
Role of skills
Whether the goal is to prepare to work for someone else (get a job) or to encourage entrepreneurship (start a business), the need for skills remains essential.
Depending on the priority, the skills training programme would be biased in favour of work-specific skills (welding, computer skills, handling equipment) or business-related capabilities (keeping track of cashflow, marketing).
The South African Council for Graduates Cooperative (SACGRA) sets out to support both approaches, striving to develop both “competent graduates that can become successful entrepreneurs or competitive employees” and like many such hubs, SACGRA offers advice, mentorships and links to markets and opportunity. What makes SACGRA stand out is its focus on co-operatives.
Co-operatives are a successful model already widely adopted across South Africa for savings clubs known as “stokvels”. Old Mutual estimates that more then 800 000 such stokvels represent a value of R45-billion. SACGRA aims to professionalise co-operatives and prepare them to participate in two private-sector initiatives that have become a big part of the South African economic landscape, namely Supplier Development Programmes and Enterprise Development Programmes.
In terms of these programmes, large companies are obliged to or choose to help build up and train business owners (ED) which might be part of their supply chain (SD). The programmes often overlap, as it makes business sense for a large mining operation, for example, to have a successful local bus company supply its transport needs. The same would apply to cleaning and maintenance services, catering and many other categories. Given a steady client and a reliable income, these local businesses are much more likely to succeed in the long term and to create employment as they grow.
In launching MTN Xlerator in 2023, CEO Charles Molapisi explained how the scaled-up Enterprise and Supplier Development programme is intended to boost supply chains, drive economic growth and create jobs.
So widespread have ED and SD programmes become that national awards are now presented annually. The Business Day Supplier Awards has no fewer than 11 categories and an overall winner. That winner in 2021 was Tiger Brands, whose R100-million Dipuno Enterprise and Supplier Development Fund impressed the judges and which was cited as an illustration of the best kind of collaboration between the private sector, government, mining houses and their pipeline partners.
The financial sector has an important role in this environment. Old Mutual’s Masisizane Fund is geared to finance small, medium and micro-enterprises (SMMEs) and it is often to funds such as these that participants in SD programmes turn.
Venetia Mine, a De Beers Group mine in northern Limpopo, has more than 50 SMMEs enrolled in incubation programmes and 34 locally owned companies are doing business with the mine. This kind of cooperation creates jobs and can lead to expansion. A woman-owned business which was supplying accommodation on the mine is now in the process of expanding into the nearby town in the form of a hotel which will be in a position to grow its clientele beyond visitors to the mine.
Another example of collaboration across sectors that leads to employment is underway in the small Northern Cape town of Kuruman. Mining company Assmang is working with EduPower Skills Academy in a programme that combines skills training, enterprise development and community upliftment. Training is provided to potential call-centre operators while support is given to entrepreneur to set up a call centre. Once the trainees complete their 12-month learnerships, they are available to employed in the new business.
The country’s biggest private sector youth-employment programme is YES4YOUTH. The idea is for private businesses and corporates to take in young people for 12 months of work experience. Run since 2019, the programme had by 2023 reached the milestone of more than 131 000 placements.
Curriculum relevance
The old debate about how much broad education should be in a curriculum in contrast to how much skills training there should be, is a debate that won’t ever be resolved.
What can be improved is the agility of educational and training institutions. When the economy needs new skills, how fast can the country’s training providers react?
The Chemical Industries Education and Training Authority (CHIETA) is showing how it might be done. Recognising that South Africa is going to need specialists in green hydrogen, CHIETA has set out to focus on the kind of skills that this highly specialised economic sector is going to need. Few people know about electrolysers, fuel cells and the storage requirements of hydrogen. CHIETA has developed a list of 17 specific training and skill requirements as it anticipates that about 14 000 jobs might be created in this new energy sector.
The Chemical Industries Education and Training Authority, CHIETA, is establishing SMART Skills Centres around the country to boost training in digital skills. Credit: CHIETA
Another body exhibiting flexibility is the Food and Beverages SETA, FoodBev SETA. In 2023, it issued, together with the BRICS Business Council, the “Atlas of Emerging Jobs in the Food and Beverage Sector”. Taking into account global trends that include mechanisation, the atlas shows that bio-nutritionists, farm technicians and integration software engineers are going to be in demand. Many of these are jobs that did not exist 20 years ago, and some of the jobs that will exist in 20 years’ time have not even been thought of by the authors of the atlas.
Some universities are also showing an ability to adapt. Enterprises University of Pretoria is the skills division of the university and its short-course offering shows admirable variety. In listing its courses in advertising material, the unit flags the courses that are “trending”. These include project risk management, mine closure and rehabilitation, water quality management and information security management. Enterprise UP issued 11 185 certificates in 2022.
Business schools also need to examine their curriculums to ensure relevance. One way of staying relevant is to hire people who are active in business. Enterprise UP has 148 “subject matter experts” collaborating with staff members from 67 departments.
Hlengani Mathebula became a professor at the University of Limpopo’s Turfloop Graduate School of Leadership in 2023. He has been the managing executive of ABSA Private Bank and is the founder of Ignite Africa Advisory Services Group. Writing in the Sunday Times, Mathebula argued that students attending business schools should also have work experience because, without it “very little of what these schools teach will make sense, putting students at a disadvantage”.
Mathebula’s larger argument is that business schools can play a role in helping rich South Africans understand and work with poorer South Africans. He writes that a business school’s first challenge is to provide skills where both kinds of South Africans can “find common ground that will transform the dominant leadership trajectory and in that way transform the country”.
The National Environmental Management Laws Amendment Act, 2022 (NEMLAA 4) came into effect as of 30 June 2023 – and it’s another positive shift for our approach to environmental protection.
As per the outline from government, this Act aims to prevent pollution and ecological degradation and ensure sustainable development by providing for air quality measures, norms and standards, management and control by all spheres of government. Now that this Act has been enacted, it should not only help strengthen South Africa’s environmental enforcement but deter non-compliance with environmental laws.
While some might say that South Africa is now making good headway in our fight against climate change, we must still consider that we are in a juxtaposition between fighting climate change and fighting economic turmoil. Which one comes first, or can they coexist?
While the government has already indicated its intention to gain access to higher levels of climate financing with a goal of achieving $8-billion per year by 2030, we know that, considering the current economic environment, this may not be as easy. So, what is the immediate solution or potential opportunity?
…we have a conundrum where many people across business, communities and government are under-informed about the potential of well-managed, compliant and innovative waste-management solutions.
It’s important to note that the waste sector offers a crucial and often overlooked opportunity, not just towards reducing carbon emissions through effective waste management but in meeting the country’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
However, we have a conundrum where many people across business, communities and government are under-informed about the potential of well-managed, compliant and innovative waste-management solutions.
The reality is that with a population of 61-million people which is growing by around 1% a year, and with each person generating around 2kgs of waste per day, we are heading towards a waste disaster that will impact our climate action and our goals significantly. We need solutions.
Solving problems and creating jobs
We are already seeing some movement in the waste and energy sectors through programmes such as the Just Energy Transition (JET), which aims to explore alternative sustainable options to key challenges and where waste can, and is, forming a critical pillar.
But we need to understand that waste, if well managed, can also be a very powerful tool in job creation and social equality. In fact, the global waste-to-energy market is expected to grow from $28.4-billion in 2017 to almost $43-billion in 2024. As far back as 2019, global employment opportunities in renewable energy was given as 11.5-million people gaining access.
The International Renewable Energy Agency (IREA) has also proclaimed the opportunities that exist, stating that renewables have the potential to employ more than 40-million people by 2050.
While this new legislation is very welcome in our fight to protect our environment, the good news is that climate action and economic preservation can coexist and should be seen as complementary. In fact, waste and effective waste management presents a large economic opportunity not only to establish new industries and revenue streams but to meet legislative requirements and to achieve our climate-action agendas. It’s a win for everyone.
Biography
Kate Stubbs is the current Group Marketing Director for the Interwaste Group which forms part of Séché Environment, a leading international environmental solutions business. She has held various executive positions in marketing, sales, strategy and communications over the last 20 years, predominantly working for supply chain, logistics and waste management companies serving a broad range of industries.
Her experience has enabled her to work with diverse local and international teams and she thrives in complex, intellectually stimulating environments. Some of her successes have been in creating and building new brands, achieving growth strategies and assisting with the integration of many acquisitions.
She is passionate about developing sustainable solutions for businesses that are not only economically viable, but which are socially conscious and protect our environment for future.
Welcome to the 2024 edition of the South African Business journal. First published in 2011, the publication has established itself as the premier business and investment guide to South Africa.
A special feature in this journal focusses on the relationship between tertiary education, training and the jobs market. The youth unemployment rate is referenced in a discussion of the various measures that are being taken in the public and private sectors to help prepare young people for work, or to encourage them to start businesses. The role of the country’s Sector Education and Training Authorities (SETAs) is highlighted.
Regular pages cover all the main economic sectors of the South African economy. This includes tracking the rapidly evolving renewable energy landscape and reporting on the progress of exploration and discoveries of oil and gas off the coast and on land. Landmarks such as BMW’s 50-year celebration of making cars in South Africa are noted and a snapshot of each of the country’s provinces is provided.
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A unique guide to business and investment in South Africa
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This was another benefit that brought with it some complications: greater volumes of trade created huge amounts of work for officials for a range of departments tasked with various aspects of border management and increased the possibilities for criminal activity.
Biography
