South Africa rebooted

Article tags AfricaBusinessEconomyMiddle East & AfricaBusiness, Industry

It was an absolute pleasure to host our Johannesburg members at the Sanctuary Mandela on Wednesday morning for the breakfast discussion titled “South Africa Rebooted”. The event provided a fantastic opportunity to network and engage with business leaders at the coalface, and highlighted what needs to be done to get South Africa growing again.

2022 has begun as a difficult year for South Africa. Global events have constrained supply chains, leading to rising input costs that has left C-suites with difficult choices to make regarding new investments, inventory holdings and revenue projections, among other things. However, rapid developments around the liberalisation of South Africa’s energy policy hold the potential to spur innovation and drive growth in other sectors of the economy.

In this informative session, we engaged with key thought leaders in the country to discuss strategies for business for surviving and thriving in a difficult economic environment. We unpacked the global environment, and reflected on how to ensure South Africa’s next growth expansion is not missed by business.

Huge thanks to our fantastic discussion leaders, Busisiwe Mavuso, CEO of Business Leadership South Africa; Dr Martyn Davies, Managing Director for Emerging Markets at Deloitte; Bonga L.D. Mokoena, CEO of BDO South Africa; and EICN’s Sub-Saharan Africa Director Sam Rolland for sharing expert insights with our network members.

For those who missed it, please enjoy a few pictures from the event along with some key insights.

• Bureaucracy remains a significant drag on the involvement of the private sector in growing the economy, and liberalisation should not be viewed in isolation of the need to focus on factors such as intellectual property, access to talent and regulations.
• Urgent reforms are needed, and thinking beyond just fixing broken infrastructure is required to ensure that capital is focused back to South Africa.
• Efforts to retain and attract new talent should be front and center of new policies if liberalisation is to have the maximum impact.

Tue, 13th Sep 2022 Article tags AfricaBusinessEconomyMiddle East & AfricaBusiness, Industry