Towards an inclusive economy

The Department of Small Business Development, in partnership with the Small Business Development Institute (SBDI), recently hosted the second National Small Business Policy Colloquium at the IDC offices in Sandton. Members of the Portfolio Committee were invited, and I was eager to attend to listen to current thinking in one segment of the small business development ecosystem.

The word that comes to mind in summing up the colloquium presentations and deliberations is exclusion.

Small businesses, especially those in the informal sector, have long been excluded from the mainstream economy. Introducing the Colloquium, Xolani Qubeka, CEO of the SBDI, spoke of the first and second economies, language first used by former President Thabo Mbeki describing South Africa’s dual economy - “one developed and globally connected and another localised and informal, display(ing) many features of a global system of apartheid”.

Mbeki, speaking at the 62nd Session of the UN Security Council in 2007, suggested this was not just a South African phenomenon but a feature of the global economic system.

DA supports the Small Business Development Portfolio Committee BRRR report

Small Business Development 

Portfolio Committee Budget Review & Recommendation Report

Declaration by Toby Chance, Shadow Minister

17^th November 2015

Thank you House Chairperson.

Almost exactly a year ago I spoke at this podium about the excessive time it had taken the newly formed Department of Small Business Development to organise itself and begin to do its work.

Motion moved in Parliament on enterprise and supplier development

Yesterday I moved the following Motion in the House of Assembly:

"I hereby move on behalf of the Democratic Alliance that at its next sitting, this House debates the contribution enterprise and supplier development can make to create a more inclusive economy in South Africa, that broadens the benefits of economic growth to previously excluded sectors and communities."

Small businesses, particularly black-owned ones, cite difficulties in accessing markets as their biggest challenge, followed by access to finance.

If corporate South Africa were to take enterprise and supplier development seriously we could make a real dent into both these problems simultaneously,

Invitation to the Chance Glassworks - Everybody's Story - launch event

An invitation has gone out to attend the Chance Glassworks - Everybody's Story - launch event on November 24th (see my previous post for info on the UK Lottery funding announcement). Sadly I won't be able to attend but I hope some of my readers will make it.

Details of the launch, and links to videos and other articles on Chance Brothers, can be found here.

History West Midlands magazine has done much to revive interest in Chance Brothers, as well as the history of "the people of the West Midlands, their ideas, innovation and industry."

There is a connection between the magazine and South Africa - publisher Mike Gibbs is a regular visitor to and dedicated supporter of Gansbaai in the Overberg region of the Southern Cape.

Gansbaai has just won Gold in the Responsible Tourism Awards destination category - see here for details.

The town, close to Danger Point where a Chance Brothers lens was installed in the newly erected lighthouse in 1895, is a mecca for whale-watching, shark-diving and the launch point for visitors to Dyer Island, breeding ground for tens of thousands of the endangered African Penguin.

The lighthouse was placed close to the site where the HMS Birkenhead went down forty three years earlier - a notorious shipwreck which gave birth to the naval drill of "women and children first." You can read about it here.

Well done to Mike for all your endeavours!

Chance Brothers research project gets UK lottery funding

I have just been forwarded this article which appeared in yesterday's Birmingham Post:

Historic former glassworks in the Black Country which supplied windows for the Houses of Parliament will be the subject of an in-depth research project to discover more about its impact on the area.

A grant of £48,200 has been awarded by the Heritage Lottery Fund to Birmingham-based built environment charity Made to examine the history of the Chance Brothers Glassworks in Smethwick.

Made will oversee the 18-month project which will look at the impact of the Grade II factory on the region as well as investigating its national and international reach.

Read the full article here.

Another sign that public interest in Chance Brothers continues to grow year by year.

BizNews picks up my article on reforming our innovation and venture capital ecosystem

BizNews, owned and run by veteran financial journalist Alec Hogg, ran my piece on what SA needs to do to stimulate and support innovation and high-growth businesses. Click here to read it.

South Africa lags badly in this sector - venture capital financing innovation to stimulate and support new businesses and which create large numbers of jobs.

Is government listening?

There are moves afoot, but they do not go far enough.

City of Johannesburg negligence: Public Protector sticks up for a small business owner

A couple of weeks ago I was listening to Afternoon Drive on 702 with Xolani Gwala, and caught the tail end of a call from a very distressed man who related how negligence by the City of Joburg had resulted in his business closing down and him losing everything. No-one was listening to him and all attempts to get the city to respond had failed. The City was even ignoring a report by the Public Protector that found against the City, and called for remedial action.

I called 702 and asked for this man's details and not long afterwards we were in contact. His name is Tshepo Kgaudi, and his business was the PhindiK line of shoes, designed in South Africa, made in and imported from Brazil.

What I discovered was truly shocking. For five years, the City had done everything possible to protect itself and an ANC local councillor of dubious ethics, Councillor Mzwandile Zwane,  from admitting its liability in the chain of events leading to the closure of the business.