“Retrenchments are affecting all our people, whether you are the person retrenched or the business owner whose turnover will be affected. This ripple effect will impact thousands of people and we are forced to stop and take a hard look at the reality we’re facing. It’s time to stand together as a community and find new sectors and opportunities to invest in and our biggest challenge is our own mindsets!” says the Wesvaal Chamber of Business.

The Wesvaal Chamber of Business adopted the GrowSA module which aims to facilitate economic growth and opportunities for all within the various business sectors operating within the Southern Africa region.

“We now need to create a platform where business, government, the community and organised business chambers/forums can liaise and strategize together to drive this new concept,” said a spokesperson from Wesvaal. It’s specically aimed at creating these platforms on local, provincial, national and regional levels where interaction, strategic planning and project implementation will be facilitated.

The focus on specic economic sectors have the potential to affect economic growth in increasing the productivity of the companies per sector, driving innovation in the eld, stimulating new business in the eld and creating opportunities for micro/small business to grow by becoming part of the supply chain environment of large businesses.

During the rst phase, the Wesvaal Chamber of Business will facilitate the various chambers and business forums workshop. The key focus area will be the combined goals for each sector identied, the challenges/blockages prohibiting economic growth for a specic sector and the opportunities for growth within that sector.

Action plans per sector and area will then be communicated per ward to the business owners/community to ensure accountability for the accuracy and integrity of the information.

This information will allow the business consultants working in collaboration with the Wesvaal Chamber of Business to identify new sectors and revenue-generating projects. They will also assist aspiring entrepreneurs with the full scope of expertise needed to start-up businesses.

Current business owners will have info to decide: Am I equipped to handle this shift from mining sector to new sectors, or should I engage with the business consultants to assist me? The economic sectors Wesvaal is focussing on, to start off, with is agriculture and agro-processing, infrastructure and property development, manufacturing, tourism, medical, and arts & culture.

Please email [email protected] with your inputs and Wesvaal will ensure that they consider each contribution during the Chamber and business forums workshop. The outcome and action plans from the workshop will be published from where they will ask the community to volunteer their time and expertise per sector to assist Wesvaal in implementing these projects.

MOJA Magazine – Living (October 2017)