The Chamber was invited by Arise TV Business Editor Michael Wilson to provide commentary on South Africa’s post-apartheid economic progress on Monday April 28. Lyndsey Duff, Head of Secretariat, highlighted the significant gains South Africa has made since 1994 in attracting foreign investment due to a conservative fiscal policy and other regulatory protections.

Also emphasised was the importance of the upcoming national election on 7 May 2014 in fortifying South Africa’s relatively young democracy, and potential issues that might prove to be deciding factors when South Africans cast their ballots.  

Video of the entire segment can be found here, with the story on South Africa’s economy and the Chamber’s commentary beginning at 7:50 and 10:36 respectively.

 

The SACC has contributed to the Arachnys Open Data Compass as an expert commentator on South Africa. Arachnys is a digital platform for due diligence in emerging markets. The company’s software uses human expertise and cutting edge technology to monitor and retrieve critical business information, and allows analysts and investigators to process AML, KYC and other compliance checks while opening up emerging market data for research.

 
Designed for compliance professionals, transparency campaigners and investors, the Arachnys Open Data Compass assesses business-critical data in 215 countries. The Compass covers global and local news sources, corporate registries, government information, court documents and global sanctions lists. The SACC was invited to provide expert commentary on South Africa’s overall rank of 48 out of 215 countries surveyed, and highlighted South Africa’s robust regulatory framework and impressive legislation score. The commentary can be found here.

The full Compass is available for download here.

The South African Chamber of Commerce was honoured to host Frank Dick OBE at our monthly speaker event to address member on “The Winning Difference.” Frank is the current President of the European Athletics Coaches Association, Member of the IAAF Coaches Commission, as well as Chair (and architect) of the IAAF Academy. From 1979 to 1994 he was the British Athletics Federation’s Director of Coaching, where he was widely acknowledged as and remains one of the outstanding sports coaches and coach mentors in the world.  In this position Frank led the British Athletics team into its “golden era” with Olympic gold medallists such as Daley Thompson, Steve Ovett and Sebastian Coe. Frank personally trained Daley Thompson and created training programmes for individuals such as Gerhard Berger, Katarina Witt, Boris Becker and Justin Rose. 

His presence and energy quickly engaged the audience, challenging them that they have a choice in life – “a choice to be ordinary or a choice to be great”. And when it comes to creating a successful team within your business, it’s imperative to align each person in your organisation with the “why” of your organisation, i.e. building a successful team requires you and your team to have a greater purpose than simply a financial motivation. He urged the audience not to prescribe a mission for their team to follow but to have their team create the mission and values as a collective. “Sustainable performance is excellence in what we do and how we do it personally and collectively”, he said.
 

When creating championship-level results Frank said: “You can’t control results. The only thing you can control is your performance and activity.” To produce results, he urged each person to be willing to be coached but also to serve as coaches to serve others on their team. Give your team a sense of responsibility, but in giving people ownership you as the leader must also be willing to let go and trust the process of development.
 

There are 3 levels of responsibility:

– the responsibility for your own performance

– the responsibility for your own development

– the responsibility to coach others

In creating a championship team you as the leader need to find out the strengths, weaknesses and opportunities within each of your team members. He said: “Learn how each person likes to receive the pass because how one player likes to receive a pass is different for another player.” 

He said the only form of sustainable development in your competitive advantage is to learn faster than your competition.

Ultimately, Frank Dick’s fantastic talk left the audience enthused, re-energised and hungry to learn more.

Attendees at the Chamber’s monthly Breakfast Indaba on 10 April were treated to insights from one of the South African community’s most respected businessmen in the UK. CEO of Sable Group Reg Bamford discussed some of key factors that have contributed to his success both on and off the sports field. In addition to running two £10m businesses, Reg has had a distinguished career in the sporting world, and is world croquet champion five years running.

He told the assembled guests at the Chamber’s monthly networking breakfast that the importance of loving what you do is paramount to achievement in either realm. Passion for your business or sport will inevitably lead to success, and this can be augmented by surrounding yourself with people who share your vision and mission, both in business and in the sporting world.

Reg also stressed the importance of differentiating yourself from the competition and instilling staff with a robust sense of customer service. He opined that one great staff member is the equivalent of three mediocre employees or 10 poor employees, and that the key to successful expansion is bringing competent and skilled people on board to spread their wings to take your business to new heights. Further, fostering a relationship with an accomplished and experienced mentor would allow future decisions to be given the consideration they deserve by gaining feedback from your chosen mentor.

The SA Chamber of Commerce UK hosts a monthly networking breakfast for members to generate business and further entrench their contacts in the UK. The Breakfast Indaba will offer a one-minute business presentation by each business present, a presentation on educational and other opportunities by the Chamber, and a special offer to attendees who want to join the South African Chamber of Commerce at the unbeatable price of £15.00. To have exclusive rights to present your chosen profession/industry please ensure you register.

The South African Chamber of Commerce UK was interviewed on live international television on Arise TV, a brand new international news network with a focus on Africa. On Tuesday 11 March, Head of Secretariat Lyndsey Duff was interviewed by Business Editor Michael Wilson (formerly of Sky News) on his show Business Report. Topics of discussion included the challenges posed by the glass ceiling faced by women in business as well as the impact of gender in entrepreneurial investment.  

The SACC in collaboration with the SA-UK Trust Network hosted a seminar for non-profit organisations (NPOs) on Wednesday 26 March 2014. Brand new SACC Corporate member Maitland Group hosted the event, the aim of which was to foster business skills and expertise within our charity partners and those of the SA-UK Trust Network.

Sharon Evans of Dot Com Children’s Foundation shared some of her experiences in setting up two charities, the difficulties faced in changes in government and some of the successful projects her charities achieved in the UK and in South Africa. She was joined by Kristina Rihanoff of Strictly Come Dancing, and shared her experiences of engaging with the top tiers of the UK Government at the Home Office by hosting a fundraiser in their office.

Adam Stephens, an insolvency practitioner at Smith & Williamson, gave some useful advice on how charities can avoid insolvency, sharing some of the warning signs of charities in distress. Of particular importance was the need to act early – the earlier charities sought professional advice, the more options would be available to them.

Saskia Johnston of Sable FX spoke about the five essential criteria charities should consider when selecting foreign currency providers, highlighting the importance of choosing a regulated provider that has competitive fees and a reasonable spread from the interbank exchange rate.

The Chamber hosts three such events every year as part of its ongoing corporate social responsibility (CSR) programme, and is always on the lookout for specialist who could provide insight into some of the key challenges faced by the charitable sector.  

Recently-elected Director of the South African Chamber of Commerce UK Carol Freeman has been invited to join the advisory board of Commonwealth Exchange (CX). The strategic alliance between the SACC and CX will facilitate trade, business and development links between South Africa, the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth nations.

The Commonwealth is a 53-nation club that consists of developed, developing, and emerging economies and spans all habitable continents. English is its lingua franca with Common Law and a commitment to democracy its notable features. South Africa was re-admitted to the Commonwealth in 1994, after the first democratic elections were held.  

Commonwealth Exchange exists to create a Commonwealth ‘brand’ in which people and organisations can exchange and build upon ideas. CX uses tools such as charitable social action projects, research papers, seminars, keynote events, and advertising to help all sectors of the Commonwealth, from educational projects for the younger generation to cultural and sporting endeavours, as well as providing assistance to small and medium-sized businesses.

Last year, President Jacob Zuma officially opened the Commonwealth Conference on Education and Training of Youth Workers hosted in South Africa.  In his remarks, the President used his Commonwealth Day message to draw attention need to build strong political, economic and social structures that support young people in realising their aspirations.

“It is important to note as well that more than 50% of the Commonwealth’s population is under the age of 30. Therefore, the future of the Commonwealth is tied inexorably to the future of young people.  

In this regard, we applaud the fact that the Commonwealth invests in the youth in the manner that it does, especially in education.”

The South African Chamber of Commerce UK had the opportunity to address the Business Innovation and Skills Parliamentary Select Committee (BIS SC) on 4 March prior to the Committee’s trip to South Africa to investigate extractive sector industries. Since late 2013, the Select Committee has been conducting an official inquiry into these industries in the United Kingdom.

The Committee has been taking oral evidence on how the UK can contribute to the supply of the extractives sector, and is particularly interested in the demand for skilled labour in the sector and how the UK can engage with, and benefit from supplying the global industry in this respect. Chamber Board members Anglo American and Deloitte LLP presented alongside former SACC Chairperson Mary-Anne Anderson on key issues facing the South African extractive sector at present, and sought to contextualise recent developments in the industry.

In Johannesburg, the Committee met with a range of representatives from the oil, mining and gas industry, small and large NGOs as well as British and South African officials. The Committee also visited gold and coal-mining regions in other parts of the country. This included Bloemfontein and its surrounding areas, which hosts a number of suppliers to the industry.

 
Twenty-one mineral extraction (mining) companies listed on the London Stock Exchange have projects in South Africa. South Africa’s mining and utilities sector was worth approximately USD46.7bn in 2011, accounting for approximately 11.4 per cent of the country’s GDP that year.

The Committee was also eager to investigate South Africa’s efforts to place transparency in the industry at the top of the country’s concerns. It was hoped this would inform its inquiry about the conduct of UK listed companies on foreign soil, as well as the attitudes of, and impact on, the host economies.

The UK has also begun the process of becoming a member of the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI), which aims to bring greater transparency and accountability to the oil, gas and mining sector. The UK has taken the lead in pushing for more transparency in the sector, particularly in its role as chair of the Group of Eight industrialised countries. Despite South Africa not having signed up to this agreement, the South African Government is still committed to transparency through its participation in the Open Governance Partnership.