Whenever a large business opens in Nelson Mandela Bay or an existing business builds on its investment, members of the media and people in general invariably have two main questions:
How much money is being spent?
How many jobs will be created?
The answer to the money question makes for a more impressive headline.
It separates the Goliath investor from the Davids – but the Davids of the city are far too important to be neglected.
These small businesses have been the lifeblood of our economy and of many other economies around the world.
The first stage of an SME baseline study published by the Small Business Institute (SBI) at the end of October indicated that formal SMEs make up nearly 98.5% of the country’s formal businesses.
The entrepreneurs behind such enterprises have been working quietly for years to sustain the economy and provide livelihoods for thousands of the metro’s residents.
The value of the city’s large scale investments and industry giants, and their contributions to the economy and job creation, is widely known – but the victories of the small business owner who overcomes numerous obstacles to his business to keep his employees and their families fed need to be highlighted.
The same SBI study notes that though SMEs account for the vast majority of the business community, they only provide around 28% of the country’s jobs.
If we are able to help, we should not let these men and women continue unassisted.
We cannot expect small businesses to create job opportunities if we are unwilling to support them so they may grow into companies that can sustain new jobs.
Perhaps it is time to craft a new parable, one where neither David nor Goliath is defeated, but where the two parties work together to build.
This city’s economic future is too vital for us as a business community to waste time throwing stones at each other.
The Nelson Mandela Bay Business Chamber has been a champion of collaboration through its strategic triple-helix model, which brings business, government and academia together to work towards building a better, sustainable future for the city, its businesses and its residents.
Beyond this, we’ve also rolled up our sleeves to help these small and medium enterprises directly – as we could encourage other businesses to do.
The Business Chamber has established seven task teams that function as the action arm of the organisation.
Through these teams, we lobby for projects that would increase the ease of doing business in the city.
One of these task teams is devoted entirely to the development of SMEs in the city.
Its goals are to provide a platform for businesses to transact with one another, enable small businesses to grow and to develop a culture of enterprise in the region.
Among its many initiatives to support small business development, the SME task team established a pro bono programme this year.
The aim of the programme was to provide a formal structure for entrepreneurs to interact with businesses that volunteered free services to them – ranging from tax advice to HR policies and advice on market access.
The task team also assisted small businesses by creating an incubator platform.
This entailed the establishment of partnerships with several business incubators in Nelson Mandela Bay, towards the mutual goal of developing sustainable businesses in the metro.
This was also to obviate the common practice of various institutions working in solos, where the collective impact would be lost.
To further this development, the Business Chamber hosts big businesses regularly, to encourage business-to-business linkages with small businesses.
This is to ensure that smaller businesses can interact with their larger counterparts and better equip themselves to understand supplier requirements.
At task team level, the Business Chamber has hosted several other events to assist SMEs, including a recent entrepreneurial workshop held in partnership with the Nelson Mandela University Business School.
Our efforts to support small business are not limited to the SME task team.
The other task teams all serve to create an environment that is conducive to sustainable business development.
These include the roads and storm water, electricity, water, transport and logistics, metro collaboration and the trade and investment sub-committee. All these teams lobby consistently with government and other stakeholders on issues that directly affect businesses, such as road maintenance, reliable electricity supply at reasonable rates and a sustainable water supply.
The Business Chamber has also engaged with the city leadership, and will continue to do so, regarding Bay grow (a onestop shop that would enable the city to assist existing and potential investors more proactively).
During our recent collaboration engagement, we emphasised the importance of supporting SMEs and the role that these businesses play in the development of the metro’s economy.
Research undertaken by the chairman of our SME task team, Wesley Augustyn, has shown that, in addition to creating much-needed jobs, SMEs contribute to the greater business landscape by bringing increased opportunities for transformation and skills development, as well as enhancing competitiveness and innovation at local level.
All of these benefits are reason enough for each of us to do what we can to support and develop SMEs. The spirit of collaboration is already in Nelson Mandela Bay, in its business leaders and residents.
Let us harness this spirit and turn it to action, for the greater good of our city and its entrepreneurs. The journey to greater economic development is not one we can – or should – undertake in isolation.