Productivity SA backs Manufacturing Indaba

28th May 2015

Company Announcement - Productivity SA is pleased to announce its endorsement of the second annual Manufacturing Indaba. The event, which is being held at Emperors Palace, Johannesburg, on the 29th and 30th June 2015, will bring together public and private sector players from the manufacturing sector to debate, network and promote the growth of South Africa’s manufacturing industries.

According to Bongani Coka, CEO of Productivity SA, endorsing the Manufacturing Indaba aligns with the organisation’s key strategic objectives. “Productivity SA believes that sustained productivity improvement is the path to competitive success and poverty elimination. In order to address the country’s challenges incremental thinking must abandoned and sights must be set on creating breakthrough levels of productivity improvement, which the Manufacturing Indaba will facilitate in accomplishing,” says Coka.
Productivity SA is a Schedule 3A Public Entity with a mandate to enhance the productive capacity of South Africa by promoting a culture of productivity in workplaces, assisting companies in developing productivity competencies, facilitating and evaluating productivity and competitiveness systems and supporting initiatives that prevent job losses.

Liz Hart is Managing Director of the organisers Siyenza. “We are delighted that Productivity SA is an endorsing partner of the Manufacturing Indaba,” says Hart. “We are very pleased with the launch of the Manufacturing Indaba because we see the growth potential for job creation and skills development of this sector. Our economy desperately needs a strong and innovative manufacturing base and we must continue to work together to promote prosperity through manufacturing, science and innovation,” added Hart. 

The Manufacturing Indaba is also supported by the Manufacturing Circle, which is a lobbying and advocacy body that interacts with government and other stakeholders in order to review, debate and help formulate policies which will have a positive impact on South Africa’s manufacturing base. It is made up of a number of South Africa’s leading medium to large manufacturing companies from a wide range of industries.

In addition to the Manufacturing Circle other strategic partners of the Manufacturing Indaba include the Department of Trade & Industry (dti), the City of Ekurhuleni, Deloitte South Africa and the NCPC-SA. The inaugural Manufacturing Indaba in 2014 drew 240 delegates, with both the private and public sectors represented at the workshop and networking sessions around the growth of South Africa’s manufacturing industries.  Robust debate and discussion were held with delegates from government departments, the private sector, manufacturing industries and the broader African continent considering the role of government policy in boosting South Africa’s manufacturing industries. Speakers included City of Ekurhuleni management, senior macro-economists, dti specialists, global mining managers and manufacturing business experts. The second annual event will build on the success of the inaugural event.
For more info on this event, visit www.manufacturingindaba.co.za 

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