Black Business Council Summit

A Call To Action: Levelling The Playing Field For Black-Owned Businesses

By Shumirai Chimombe

The Black Business Council (BBC) is the overarching confederation that represents black professionals, business associations and chambers. Its primary purpose is to lobby the government on policy-related matters and to play an advocacy role where policies are in place in order to accelerate the participation of black business in the mainstream economy.

Source: Black Business Council

Transformation and Black Economic Empowerment (BEE) were at the heart of this year’s Black Business Council (BBC) Annual Summit held on 5 and 6 June in Johannesburg. With the theme being “Socio-Economic Transformation and Inclusive Growth in the context of the Government of National Unity (GNU), G20 Presidency, and the Changing Geopolitical Dynamics”, there was an emphatic call for black businesses to push for more meaningful participation in the country’s mainstream economy.

Government Ministers who were part of the line-up of keynote speakers included Mr Ronald Lamola (International Relations & Cooperation); Mr Parks Tau (Trade, Industry and Competition); and Mr John Steenhuisen (Agriculture). President Cyril Ramaphosa addressed the BBC Summit Gala and Awards Dinner at the Radisson Hotel & Convention Centre in the City of Erkurhuleni.

Various issues came under the spotlight including access to finance, skills development, and inclusive growth in the context of the GNU.

To set the tone for the Summit discussions, President of the BBC Mr Elias Monage gave a stirring address outlining the issues affecting black-, women- and youth-owned businesses in the country. He began by saying that: “We are here not merely to discuss or deliberate, but to act, to demand, and to shape the course of South Africa’s economic destiny. The theme of this Summit is not a slogan. It is a call to action. It reflects the momental crossroads at which we find ourselves.”

Monage said that for too long the economic promises made to the marginalised, to black-owned businesses and professionals, to women entrepreneurs and to the youth have remained words instead of policy. Access to funding is not a favor. It is an imperative. The economic liberation of black business is not negotiable. It is essential for a thriving, just and competitive South Africa.

“We are here for one reason and one reason only - to drive decisive action towards economic inclusion, empowerment and prosperity of black-owned businesses, women entrepreneurs and young business leaders. As the world shifts under the weight of political and economic diplomacy, South Africa must step up not as a passive observer but as an active architect of the future. The Government of National Unity offers a unique opportunity. Can we harness its potential for real economic transformation?”

He stressed that the Summit was about solutions - creating bold pathways to economic growth, reindustrialisation, and localisation. And ensuring that South Africa’s G20 Presidency will be a launch pad for African businesses onto the global stage and influence global economic discussions. Therefore the Summit had to be remembered as the turning point where dialogue transformed into decisive action, to define the future of black businesses and demand real change; and to ensure social economic transformation is a reality. “At the heart of this transformation is skills development. Without it, access to funding, re-industrialisation and economic diplomacy will be hollow promises. A nation that does not invest in its people, its youth, its entrepreneurs, its workforce is a nation that is failing its future.”

The world of work is evolving at an unprecedented pace. Technology, automation and Artificial Intelligence are reshaping industries. It is essential that skills development is not just reactive, it must be visionary - producing a workforce equipped for the industries of tomorrow, trained in areas that drive economic growth, and empowered to lead in innovation and entrepreneurship. “South Africa must become a global hub for talent, not just resources.”

Monage gave a breakdown of issues that need to be addressed in order to enable South Africans to participate meaningfully in the economy.

One: Re-industrialisation policies must reflect South Africa’s longstanding industrial history while ensuring that they actively drive BEE, transformation, and economic redress to create a more inclusive and competitive economy.

Two: South Africa’s current economic architecture and market concentration must be addressed. The dominance of conglomerates and skewed market concentration has created barriers to entrepreneurship, BEE and transformation, therefore structural reforms must be implemented to level the playing field for historically disadvantaged businesses.

Three: Trade and re-industrialisation policies must be redesigned to promote economic inclusion, remove systematic obstacles and accelerate genuine transformation and broad-based economic empowerment.

Four: Skills development must be prioritised. An empowered economy depends on equipping historically marginalised groups with skills necessary to participate meaningfully in industrial growth and entrepreneurship.

Five: Education and training must be aligned with emerging industries. Educational programmes need to be explicitly geared towards equipping black businesses and entrepreneurs with skills needed to thrive in future industries ensuring economic transformation is sustainable.

Six: It is critical that funding opportunities are expanded. Financial support must not only provide business capital but also actively contribute to transformation, BEE and redress through structural skills development initiatives, and accelerate financial instruments for black-owned enterprises.

“Let this Summit be remembered not for its discussions but for its decisive action. South Africa’s economic future will not be dictated to us. We’ll define it.”

Reflections From Some Of The Speakers

Nolitha Fakuda - Chair of Anglo American’s South African Management Board.

We know that energy security is one of our critical opportunities and challenges because we are transitioning into a new energy dispensation that includes green energy. Therefore it is important that we have a stable energy supply because manufacturing and processing of critical minerals at source will happen when you have energy that is stable, that will enable the processing that is needed to be competitive.

Secondly there are renewable energy opportunities and other new industries where black people, women and young people need to be part of. Africa as a continent has the youth dividend, therefore I was pleased to hear the President of BBC talk about skills development because we do need to build that capacity and capability to be able to leverage the youth dividend.

Adv. Prof. Thuli Madonsela - Director of the Centre for Social Justice, Stellenbosch University

Employment equity is one of the best things that we did in this country because it’s really free for all. But to augment employment equity we need to look at expanding the reach of social security to those who are outside. To ensure social justice because if a person is self-employed and there’s no social security then less people are likely to become self-employed. Wits University did a study that shows that for most countries jobs come from the informal sector and also small and medium-sized businesses.

So that’s the sector we need to grow. So it’s music to my ears when I hear the minister talk about diversifying the economy more meaningfully and in that diversification we need democratisation. The G20 and the GNU opportunities are wonderful for meaningful dialogue on these matters and then finding each other.

Dr Mteto Nyathi - Chairman, BSG Group

On the issue of critical minerals beneficiation at source - why are we not doing this ourselves? Why don’t we create companies that will be able to do exactly that? We may not have all the skills but we can always import them. One of the ways of sorting out South Africa is to focus on small businesses. These are the people who are going to be making a difference in our country. We have many problems in our country which can be solved by us.

We are asking the financial houses to back the people who are trying to solve those problems - these people who are hiring five to 10 people. If we multiply this by thousands and thousands of people, we are going to be addressing unemployment in our country. So my point is that the systemic inequality we face can be addressed if we were just to be laser focused on supporting the people who are sitting here in this room.

PK Naicker - General Manager, Fibre Processing & Manufacturing SETA

Improving economic performance will be dependent on having a highly equitable skills system that is aligned to relevant, fit-forpurpose and demand-led skills. Therefore we need to have proper leadership in addressing the skills challenge going forward. We have some excellent government policies such as the National Development Plan that aims to bring the unemployment rate to around 6% and create 11 million jobs by 2030. In terms of the future workforce we cannot depend on the formal economy to create jobs. We need to focus on entrepreneurial skills; to make sure that more of the youth are geared towards entrepreneurship-type programmes.

We need to focus on skills for the digital economy such as AI, virtual reality, ICT skills, blockchain, internet of things. We need to get our children involved in occupational learning linked to jobs which will give them an opportunity to learn while they earn. Occupational qualifications that are registered with the Quality Council for Trades and Occupations (QCTO) and NQF-aligned are just as good as any higher education qualification in this country.

President Cyril Ramaphosa At The Gala Dinner and Awards

Transformation is not simply about just reform. It’s about rethinking systems to ensure that there is dignity, there is equity, there is also sustainability and resilience for the future generations that will follow us. It is to this end that we adopted the theme for our G20 Presidency - that it should be about fostering equality, fostering sustainability and ensuring that there is full transformation.

This transformation is necessary if we are to unlock the capabilities of all our people and realise their full potential and also the full potential of our economy. And we must dispense with the false notion that we must make a choice between growth and transformation. The growth of our economy will happen through transformation. It is vital if growth is to be meaningful and is to be inclusive as well as to be sustainable.

We must recognise that economic empowerment is in the end an undertaking that requires deliberate action across nearly every area of our national life. There are those who say please stop talking about what happened in the past. It is precisely what happened in the past that we must never forget because it must inform what we need to do now and inspire what we should do in the future.

Watch videos of the full event on the Black Business Council’s channel on YouTube: @BlackBCouncil

Source: Black Business Council | The Presidency | SABC News