Publisher of History West Midlands magazine, Mike Gibbs has a passion for the Black Country, an area centred on Wolverhampton, Dudley and Smethwick a few miles west of Birmingham in the UK. He was born and bred there and apart from a few years in South Africa has lived there all his life.
A successful and now retired businessman, he devotes most of his time to establishing and supporting ventures which aim to uncover the rich history of this part of Britain, which was the crucible of the Industrial Revolution and home to many famous inventors and industrial dynasties.
One of these dynasties was the Chance family, who from the 1770s built a trading then a manufacturing business of considerable scale which for five generations led Britain's glassmaking industry. At its height in the early 20th century the firm employed over 3 500 people. The factory finally closed its doors in 1981.
A place for ideas, discussion and suggestions for making South Africa a better place.
Tuesday, 14 July 2015
Sunday, 12 July 2015
Solving the small business finance conundrum
Today's Sunday Times carries my opinion piece on small business finance - you can read it here.
I had to cut it to 750 words. For the full version, read on below.
I had to cut it to 750 words. For the full version, read on below.
Most surveys of small business cite
difficulties in accessing finance as one of the top three challenges they face.
But talk to providers of finance and they say the opposite: there is a scarcity
of fundable small businesses out there.
Solving this conundrum is at the heart of
South Africa’s biggest challenge: how to create the 11 million new jobs we need
by 2030 to reduce unemployment to 6% from its current 36%.
Saturday, 11 July 2015
Attacks on foreign nationals driven by competition for resources
Film-goers will recall director Neill
Blomkamp’s sci-fi movie District 9
for its dystopian portrayal of a Johannesburg township under the menacing
influence of the Prawns. These
creatures, from a distant planet, established a precarious existence in a camp
set up to keep them away from locals, who despised them for being “non-humans”
yet admired their advanced technology and weaponry.
The film was released in 2009, shortly
after South Africa suffered an outbreak of violence against foreigners which
left over sixty people dead. The parallels between these attacks and the anti-Prawn sentiments of District 9 were not
lost on political and social commentators.
The 2008 attacks were labelled xenophobic
because most of the victims were foreigners. They were accused of taking jobs
from South Africans and using unfair and sometimes illegal practices to out-wit
local traders, putting them out of business and leading to widespread
resentment and envy.
Monday, 29 June 2015
BizNews carries my OpEd on Minister Zulu's speech on al-Bashir's escape from justice
Alec Hogg's BizNews website features my opinion piece on why it was wrong for Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir to be allowed to leave South Africa, defying a court order to detain him.
See it here.
The DA has been vocal on this issue. Our view is categorical: South Africa must uphold the rule of law and the constitution. Our international commitments go further than Africa.
Read this interview in City Press with a former ICC judge for a broader perspective on the issue.
See it here.
The DA has been vocal on this issue. Our view is categorical: South Africa must uphold the rule of law and the constitution. Our international commitments go further than Africa.
Read this interview in City Press with a former ICC judge for a broader perspective on the issue.
Tuesday, 23 June 2015
Minister Zulu chooses African unity over the rule of law
Minister of Small Business Development, Lindiwe Zulu, has clearly forgiven Robert Mugabe for describing her as "a stupid woman" and as "a little streetwalker" after she called for the 2013 Zimbabwe elections to be delayed.
In this evening's snap debate on the escape of Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir from the AU Summit in Johannesburg last Monday, Minister Zulu was deployed to trot out the ANC party line that African unity is more important than observing both international and South African law for the government in which she serves.
The decision to let him leave the country was a collective cabinet decision, she said.
In this evening's snap debate on the escape of Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir from the AU Summit in Johannesburg last Monday, Minister Zulu was deployed to trot out the ANC party line that African unity is more important than observing both international and South African law for the government in which she serves.
The decision to let him leave the country was a collective cabinet decision, she said.
Saturday, 20 June 2015
False Bay TVET college - Centre for Entrepreneurship
Yesterday I visited one of the three Centres for Entrepreneurship that have opened their doors since the DTI conceived of them a couple of years ago, before the formation of the Department of Small Business Development. This is one of the better ideas the DTI has had, among the raft of programmes devised in the past twenty years aimed at stimulating entrepreneurship in South Africa.
My visit confirmed for me there is no substitute to seeing something face to face, and speaking to the people involved, if you want to get a true picture of what is going on. In Parliamentary speak, I was conducting an "oversight visit."
My visit confirmed for me there is no substitute to seeing something face to face, and speaking to the people involved, if you want to get a true picture of what is going on. In Parliamentary speak, I was conducting an "oversight visit."
Friday, 19 June 2015
Letter to Minister Rob Davies about alleged corruption at the DTI
Today I wrote a letter to Minister of Trade and Industry Rob Davies requesting him to institute an investigation into corruption in his department.
The allegations of corruption came up during Wednesday's Portfolio Committee meeting where the King of Midlands cooperative described how they were led down the garden path, at a cost of R270 000, but the DTI and a consultant who made promises that were not fulfilled.
I am looking forward to Minister Davies' response.
The allegations of corruption came up during Wednesday's Portfolio Committee meeting where the King of Midlands cooperative described how they were led down the garden path, at a cost of R270 000, but the DTI and a consultant who made promises that were not fulfilled.
I am looking forward to Minister Davies' response.
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