Caird was invited to present at a conference in Kayamandi in Stellenbosch on Monday. It was a complete eye opener for us. The conference was organised by HOPE Africa and the Finland South Africa Association and included some incredible speakers and delegates. Speakers included the Finnish ambassador to South Africa, Heikki Tuunanen, Tapani Brotherus of the Finland South Africa Association (Tapani is a former ambassador), Sithole Mbanga CEO of the South Africa Cities Network (a charismatic presenter and very outspoken person), the Rt Rev Jo Seoka (Anglican Bishop of Pretoria) and Lynelle Pieterse of Purple Clover Community Projects (a little more on Lynelle below).
We presented on how the BBBEE codes can be used by NGOs and other charities to raise money for their many causes. But what I really learned was what it is like actually developing entrepreneurs out of the poorest of the poor. The challenges run so much further than just finding the entrepreneurial spirit in these people, once this is discovered you have to understand their social and economic environments. Education levels are poor to non-existent, they live so close to the breadline that it makes building a business even harder. But there are agencies and people out there who want to assist and they are desperately looking for help from the private sector. This help is not specifically financial, these entrepreneurs need mentors. And this mentorship needs to be a long term commitment.
If any company is looking for a long term enterprise development project then they should consider talking to people like Lynelle (send me an email and I'll forward it on to her).
Lynelle was tasked with ferrying me around for those two days and I was floored by her ideas and commitment, in fact I am down right jealous of this next idea (which is all hers). She suggested that government tenders should reward companies who have sustainable enterprise development projects on the go. In other words instead of asking for ownership, ask what the company has done for their local community and how they have assisted in making it sustainable. I think this is a brilliant idea.
My host was David Meintjies. I've known Dave for many years, we both worked at UUNET a few years ago. We were discussing BEE and the most effective way of implementing it. We all know that it is only binding on the state and the only effective way of getting it down through the private sector is preferential procurement. This carrot and stick method does have limited efficacy - but if the government starts providing tax breaks to companies who implement it correctly then you might see a greater uptake within the economy. Unfortunately this was not my idea - it was Dave's and it too is a fantastic idea.
I learned more than I ever anticipated and it was a very worthwhile experience. Thank Lynelle, Dave and Bronwyn at HOPE Africa.
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