This anticipated slowdown will affect South Africa’s fortunes adversely if the trading focus continues to be with our traditional markets, such as China, Germany and the US.The fastest growing economies in the world are in Africa – Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Ghana and Ethiopia.
As Teddy Daka, CEO of Etion, a digital technology solutions provider, said in a Wisdom Personified Conversations with me last month: “We are not getting the level of support we need to get locally. It is almost that you have to make it outside for you to make it internally. The three major challenges which I have heard other small business owners mention: Having a strong pipeline of business to ensure a healthy and stable cash flow; getting paid timeously, if at all; and having the required capability and capacity to scale the business beyond the survival stage.
To be successful at being a supplier, there is a lot of hand-holding that is necessary to get you to the level of having your product on their shelves.
True south Africa is a big economy it needs to do more.