The organisers of the SiMODiSA conference on start ups and entrepreneurship have sent out a mailer advertising it - click here for details.
It will be an excellent place to learn, network and do business. I am going to be there, for sure.
A place for ideas, discussion and suggestions for making South Africa a better place.
Monday, 29 September 2014
A tale of two festivals
This weekend the annual Soweto Festival
Expo once again provided an opportunity for small businesses from Soweto
and Gauteng to sell their wares, network, and contribute to job creation and
economic growth in South Africa. The three day event also showcased
hundreds of musicians and performing artists, all contributing to the creative
economy of Gauteng.
This same weekend the City of Tshwane was due
to host the Tribe One Festival, purportedly at a cost of R65 million. It was
cancelled at the last minute, amidst accusations and counter accusations by the
City and the event organisers.
Friday, 26 September 2014
Department of Small Business Development: quo vadis?
The
task ahead
”If countries fail
at creating jobs, their societies will fall apart. Countries, and more
specifically cities, will experience suffering,
instability, chaos, and eventually revolution. This is the new world that
leaders will confront.
What would fix the
world – what would suddenly create worldwide peace, global wellbeing, and the
next extraordinary
advances in human development, I would say the immediate appearance of 1.8
billion jobs – formal jobs.
Nothing would change the current state of humankind more.”
– Jim Clifton in The
Coming Jobs War.
This message should act as a stern warning
to the ANC-SACP-COSATU alliance and Jacob Zuma’s government. Unless they design
and implement measures friendly for creating jobs, the National Democratic
Revolution so many of them are wedded to will end up being very undemocratic
and threaten South Africa’s future as a nation. Instead, we will become a
failed state.
How to create jobs, therefore, is the most
pressing problem the country faces today. This is highly contested political as
well as economic territory.
Monday, 22 September 2014
Visting small businesses in Soweto with Mmusi Maimane
Today I visited the Emdeni Industrial Park in Soweto with DA Parliamentary Leader, Mmusi Maimane. This was the first leg in the DA Small Business Tour which my deputy, Henro Kruger (who also came along today) and I will embark on over the coming few months. Its purpose is to meet small business owners all over the country and learn more about the conditions they are working under, the challenges they face and what government and big business are doing to support them.
You can read the statement Mmusi's office issued today here
You can read the statement Mmusi's office issued today here
Monday, 15 September 2014
The murky waters of Soweto politics
On Wednesday I got a call from Cecil Molopo, Chairman of the DA branch in Ward 53, Johannesburg. This is one of the 10 wards that make up my constituency, Soweto West. It's enormous, nearly the size of the whole of Soweto, extending from Doornkop Extension 1 westwards to the borders of Randfontein. Most of the ward is veld, hence its size, and is home to several gold mines. Cecil sounded very distressed and wanted to meet me as soon as possible. So we arranged to meet on Friday morning.
Friday, 12 September 2014
Letter to Business Day - Minister needs to break from past
My letter to Business Day is the lead letter in today's edition.
Dear Sir
Dear Sir
Leon Louw (Preference for small business not productive)
makes suggestions for how the Department of Small Business Development can
avoid being “potentially superfluous”. The DA broadly agrees with his
suggestions.
Minister Zulu has a choice: she can restrict her mandate to
the narrow bounds of what is possible to achieve in her department, or she can
go beyond that and become the government’s first business-friendly minister and
advocate among her cabinet colleagues for the liberalisation of the economy.
While the first is not easy, the second is nigh impossible unless she has the
support of the President and Deputy President, and an unflagging commitment to
the overall strategy embedded in the National Development Plan.
Saturday, 6 September 2014
Nedbank Small Businesss Friday a worthwhile initiative
I support the spirit and intentions behind Small
Business Friday, which was yesterday. Initiated by
Nedbank in association with the National Small Business Chamber, Small Business
Friday encourages people to buy from local small businesses every day but
especially on Fridays.
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