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An OAG Aviation study shows that in the top 10 most lucrative air routes in Africa, Emirates was number one with flights to cities including Johannesburg, Cairo, and Cape Town earning it over $830 million between April 2018 and March 2019. British Airways earned almost $500 million dollars in its annual UK flights to South Africa’s major urban areas. SAA was listed fifth on the revenue list with its earnings between Johannesburg and Cape Town.
FACT
AWARDS RECOGNISE AND TELL
KWAZULU-NATAL’S GOOD STORIES
THE TOOLKIT USED BY TRADE & INVESTMENT KWAZULU-NATAL (TIKZN) TO ATTRACT INVESTMENT TO THE PROVINCE HAS BEEN ENHANCED BY THE INAUGURAL 2019 KZN INVESTOR AWARDS PRESENTED AT A GALA DINNER HOSTED AT THE DURBAN INTERNATIONAL CONVENTION CENTRE.
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“We wanted to recognise and encourage investors who have shown confidence in our province, invested here and stayed despite the challenges that might be contributing to the growth of the economy,” said Sihle Ngcamu, TIKZN Executive Manager, Investment Promotion.
“Telling a good story is key to attracting investment to a region, and all the companies that entered and those who won, are KZN’s success stories. Moreover, we hope to raise the profile of the companies; build a better relationship by recognising their effort and commitment; identify problems, or develop measures and interventions to help them grow and reinvest in KZN”, said Ngcamu.
The awards generated interest and excitement and after the event, TIKZN received numerous calls from companies wanting to know when the next awards would take place so that they could gear up.
“However, for those who participated and those who plan to do so, it is not about winning but rather about benchmarking themselves with bigger companies, peer learning, identifying their gaps and areas for improvement, and checking that they were in-line with what government was looking for in terms of investment in the province”, he adds.
As many as 36 companies – a mix of major and smaller businesses – entered the inaugural awards which covered broad categories and showcased government’s key priority sectors.
To promote the awards, TIKZN travelled to the north and south coasts, the Midlands, and Durban, interacting with chambers of commerce, District Development Agencies and municipalities in each region to hold workshops with industrialists, as well as advertising on radio and in newspapers.
It took two solid days for six adjudicators, all business people in their own right with experience of similar processes, to go through the entries and select the finalists. In addition, they provided feedback on the potential they saw in the companies, as well as ways to improve the awards.