Benny Malakoane
The Free State provincial government this week held the second edition of the Free State Global Investors Trade Bridge in Bloemfontein. The event which ran from October 3-5 is aimed at bringing together experts and captains of industry and find ways of promoting investment in the province.
The Weekly’s Martin Makoni sought more information from the newly appointed MEC for Economic and Small Business Development, Tourism and Environmental Affairs Benny Malakoane, whose department was involved in organising the event.
Makoni asked the MEC about the importance of the event to the province and how it’s expected to benefit the province in future. Excerpts:
What does the FS Global Investment Trade Bridge seek to achieve?
The Free State Global Investors Trade Bridge (FSGITB) is a platform to strengthen relations and partnerships with international communities for the development of the Free State province.
It’s aimed at providing an environment for the local business community to trade within a global environment, specifically in Africa and the rest of the world. It also seeks to expose small businesses to the market and to develop their selling and marketing capability.
The trade bridge is also a platform to exchange best practices amongst the business community within the Free State across the spheres of micro, small and medium businesses and across various sector value chains.
What would you say were the major factors that made the province come up with this global platform for investment promotion?
The province, led by Premier Ace Magashule and the provincial executive council, has been on outward missions to various countries and has identified the gap from a business to business co-operation perspective to enhance the economic profile of the province.
Business delegations that have funded their own travel during these outward missions have received access to global business and global supply chains have had the opportunity to expand their businesses at an international level.
These businesses have also had access to embassies which provide ease of doing business in these countries.
The vision is to create a platform for those businesspeople who do not always have the means to travel on such missions. It also allows embassies in the country to furnish local businesspeople with information on business opportunities in their countries.
This year’s edition builds on the first conference held last year, what would you say are the major developments of the trade bridge to date?
Our local business people have had the opportunity to highlight their growth after the previous trade bridge and their approach to the international business community which was held on the second day of this year’s FSGITB.
We have also had several big companies coming here such as Chinese company Lenova Construction and Development, Shanghai company MediPro SA, Indian company Tech Mahindra and German company, ALUGAS.
What sort of expectations did the province have going into this year’s trade bridge and how much of these were realized?
The expectations were to understand and grow from the trade bridge year on year. Last year we had four countries in attendance.
This year we had representatives who included: minister of small business development Lindiwe Zulu, a delegation from the office of the premier of the Eastern Cape province, deputy minister of tourism Tokozile Xasa, ambassadors and consulate general from Angola and Cuba, high commissioner and a delegation from Lesotho, consulate general from Portugal, representatives from the embassies of Belarus and France and business delegations from Chinese companies in in the Free State.
So far, would you say the province has started realising the gains that were set out when the idea of trade bridge was initiated?
From a labour economics perspective, we have realised our objective to the identified skills to drive the economy of the province. As much as we believe we can improve we do believe that the gains outlined above are on an upward trajectory.
What sort of business opportunities would you say the province has for potential investors?
The province has a pronounced special economic zone which provides various incentives for foreign direct investment, such as: tax incentives, skills development incentive, export promotion, incentives for machinery and equipment as well as services for regulatory and business process advice.
The Free State often exports unprocessed goods to other parts of the country or out of the country, do you find this year’s event effectively addressing this?
We believe that we can improve on sector development, specifically within the core identified sectors within our province.
Our most recent co-operation agreements have been drafted with action plans which will facilitate the implementation of our co-operation agreements. Our intention is to continue with the action plans across all countries to drive economic corporation between countries that we have relations with.
What major deals are expected to come out of this year’s event?
It may be too soon to tell. We will have a debriefing session with exhibitors and the different spheres of businesses that attended. It is from that meeting that we will be able to know which potential deals may come through.
The youth and women often complain that their businesses are overlooked because potential clients don’t have confidence in them, what did you do at this year’s event to create an enabling environment for them?
This year we have provided a platform through exhibitions to give them the necessary exposure and 70 percent of the businesses that exhibited this year are run by youths. We have also acknowledged the youth through the Young Male Entrepreneur and Young Female Entrepreneur of the Year events.
We believe that the process of competing for the “recognition awards” provides them with the ability to have focus on certain developmental goals for their businesses.
The Free State economy has been on a downward slide since demise of the agricultural and mining sectors, any lessons from the Trade Bridge on how to revitalise the economy?
Our commissions have provided the province with the opportunity to have public participation on the following primary sectors of the economy: mining, agro-processing, green economy and tourism. These commissions relate to sectors that would increase production and infrastructure to enhance job creation and economic growth.
The Trade Bridge has also provided the drivers of the economy with an opportunity to consolidate learnings and experiences from other provinces and countries.
How many companies were at this year’s trade bridge and roughly how much business was generated?
The data will be analysed within the week after which the province would be able to provide a more accurate record of the business generated.
But basically, we had 108 stalls, there were 1 470 registered delegates and 987 people attended the special Cuba celebratory event.
