Page 14 - JCCI Business FOCUS Vol2 No4

IN CONVERSATION WITH ERNEST MAHLAULE

ohannesburg Chamber of perfect fit to my previous role as Our key mandate is to assist the and re- industrialisation Bank from 7 - 9 November. The
Commerce and Industry’s the president at the JCCI. This department to lead, facilitate and spearheaded by the premier of province concurrently co-hosted
J(JCCI) immediate Past relates more specially when it manage sustainable job creation Gauteng, Mr David Makhura. the SME and Finance African
President, Ernest Mahlaule, has comes to issues of governance, and inclusive economic growth Forum on the margins of the
been appointed chairperson enhancing international trade and development in the Gauteng What projects are currently Africa Investment Forum.
for the Gauteng Growth and and stakeholder partnerships City-Region. underway? These are some of the ongoing
Development Agency (GGDA). such as organised business and The GGDA comprises interventions geared towards
the private sector in general, The GGDA’s main goal is to subsidiary entities, such as eliminating the constraints
Congratulations on your organised labour, academic create an enabling environment for the Innovation Hub, Gauteng associated with Africa intra-
appointment as Group institutions as well as civil society. investment facilitation, strategic Industrial Development trade such as lack of funding for
Chairman at the GGDA infrastructure development Zone (GIDZ), Automotive critical projects.
What is the main goal of the and social transformation, thus
Much obliged. I believe that positioning Gauteng as a leading Industry Development Centre The low levels of Foreign Direct
each one of us has a responsibility agency – what would you like to global City-Region. (AIDC) and Constitution Investment (FDI) and Diaspora
not only to be of significance achieve? Hill. All the subsidiaries have Direct Investment (DDI) remain
but also to rise up and serve our The GGDA is the It is important to underscore different projects such as: the a short-term challenge. Team SA
nation even more so now in the implementation arm of the that most of the trade and development of the automotive is currently hard at work trying
prevailing spirit of “Thuma mina” Gauteng Department of investment facilitation work manufacturing sector to to reverse this negative trajectory
as spearheaded by President Cyril Economic Development, which is done through InvestSA, the globally competitive standards and increase the FDIs and DDI.
Ramaphosa. The position is a is led by MEC Lebogang Maile. one-stop-shop in Sandton, in of excellence; innovation and President Ramaphosa has set a
partnership with the Department commercialisation support for target to raise 100 billion dollars
of Trade and Industry (the dti) companies at the Innovation over the next five years, and
Hub. The GIDZ identifies, one is quite optimistic that this
What should people know about designs, packages and enables
doing business in Gauteng? export-driven manufacturing target would not only be reached
but even exceeded judging by
The Gauteng City-Region and beneficiation programmes evidence at our disposal.
is home to a quarter of South for location at the OR Tambo
Africa’s population. It is the International Airport. The It is important that we use
country’s economic powerhouse township economy focuses our collective wisdom to
generating 35% of the country’s on interventions for growth, resolve the challenges as we
GDP. Even though Gauteng including industrial parks want the sustainability and
is only a province in South refurbishments, Ekasilabs etc. inclusive growth of big business
Africa, it is ranked in the increased, SMME sector
top seven economies on the What are the current challenges? growth, enhanced women and
continent; roughly the same The key challenges include youth dividend, increased job
size as Morocco, surpassing constrained economic growth opportunities and sustainable
heavyweights such as Kenya and due to different micro- and growth of the middle class. We
Tanzania. macroeconomic factors. yearn for peace and stability
that can only flow from solving
What are the region’s Over and above the ongoing such challenges.
advantages? BRICS intra-trade and trade with
the rest of the world, the current What projects/ plans have
They are many and include the low levels of Africa intra-trade significance for yourself?
fact that the Gauteng City-Region are estimated at a 17%. Although
is a gateway to Africa and the this is an improvement from the The projects address different
world with a high number of: aspects of the economy all of
recent 15% estimates, it is still which have significance for
■ Global companies low for example in comparison us. The GGDA should be the
■ Diversity of economic sectors to Europe’s 67% estimation. It go-to platform for everyone
■ Leading universities and must however be emphasised who wants to do business in
research institutions, that the huge deficit provides Gauteng and ultimately should
■ Diplomatic missions an opportunity as it represents facilitate at least 90% of the
the potential for scale with the deal flow in the province. The
Amongst other factors its continent accelerating its efforts fact that Gauteng constitutes
infrastructure and democratic towards enhancing Africa intra- 35% of the national GDP tells a
governance are also assets. trade. story – we need to be ready for
The concentration of national For example, Gauteng hosted the anticipated investments and
population and growth makes it the inaugural Africa Investment gear our capacity to be able
pivotal to the current drive for Forum (AIF) in partnership to process the majority of
Mr Ernest Mahlaule transformation, modernisation with the African Development these opportunities. n

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