The Entrepreneurship Development Trust, Khulasande Capital and En-novate successfully hosted two economic debates on Tuesday 14 June at Investec’s head office in Sandton. Their purpose was to explore meaningful, tangible ways of re-igniting South Africa’s economy.
 
The event was well attended by a broad range of stakeholders and provided a robust platform for engagement on substantive economic issues among some of South Africa’s preeminent thought leaders from academia and the public and private sector. 
 
Prior to the two debates, ABN Group Executive Director and Editor in Chief at CNBC Africa, Bronwyn Nielsen, interviewed Investec CEO Stephen Koseff. During the interview, which touched on both debate topics, Koseff reiterated the importance of all key stakeholders including business, labour, government and citizens coming together to constructively collaborate to find ways of building and growing South Africa’s economy to be more competitive and inclusive in the future.
 
When asked how South Africa can encourage greater levels of entrepreneurship and inclusive participation in the South African economy, Koseff said, “Both business and government need to find tangible ways of re-orientating and educating our young people. We need to encourage a culture of entrepreneurship in South Africa among the youth and supplement that with mentorship to ensure the correct skill transfers are taking place to help build up our young people.”
 
The interview was followed by the first debate of the evening, moderated by senior CNBC Africa anchor, Gugulethu Cele, which examined whether enough was being done to enable SMMEs in South Africa to be competitive both within a local and global context. Panellists included Mwanele Memani (Director of Enterprise Development at the Department of Small Business Development); Sheraan Amod (serial entrepreneur and founder of Recomed); Murray Legg (serial entrepreneur and co-founder of Webfluential) and Mohale Ralebitso (CEO of Black Business Council) who all spoke passionately about the challenges and opportunities facing SMMEs in South Africa.
 
The second debate, moderated by senior CNBC Africa anchor Nozipho Mbanjwa, centred on Black Economic Empowerment’s (BEE) role in inclusively allowing all South Africans to become active economic participants. Panellists included Brett Levy (Joint Chief Executive Officer of Blue Label Telecoms); Sipho Zikode (DDG of Department of Trade and Industry); Professor Phinda Madi (Author of "Black Economic Empowerment 20 years later: The Baby and the Bathwater") and Fani Titi (Chairperson of Investec and EDT). The debate highlighted the fact that to create empowerment that is both inclusive and sustainable, more must be done to create an environment in South Africa which encourages, motivates and supports entrepreneurship.
 
Investec and EDT chairperson, Fani Titi, when speaking on ways to better develop a broad-based economy in South Africa, mentioned “At the core of the issue is fostering greater levels of inclusion through economic growth. Critical to ensuring this inclusion takes place is education and developing the skills required to be successful.”