28 November 2001
Master of Ceremonies,
Minister Alec Erwin,
Minister Ben Ngubane,
Dr Ken Lum of the Commonwealth Science Council,
Dr Roy Marcus, Chairperson of the adjudication panel,
Representatives from the various sponsors,
Distinguished Guests,
Ladies and Gentlemen:
I am pleased to be here tonight as we celebrate the achievements of men and women who are an inspiration to all of us through the contributions they are making to modernise our economy and to enable us to make our mark on the world stage.
Over the last nine years this competition has steadily developed until it has, without a doubt, become the premier business award in South Africa and rightly so.
What has also stood out in recent years is an improved domestic and global competitiveness of our companies.
It seems to me that as we contemplate the recent history of this competition and the success stories of our companies in mastering and utilising modern technologies, we are also commenting on the commitment of our business community to building a great South African nation.
We are also suggesting ways in which the partnership between government and the private sector can be strengthened so as to expedite our socio-economic development and eradicate poverty.
Through such efforts, I think are all coming to understand what we mean to be as South Africans, as contributors to the prosperity of this nation.
I am convinced that this will serve us well as we go through the uncertain situation of a global economic slowdown and the consequences of the September 11 events in the United States.
Nevertheless, I also believe there have been significant developments, which have taken place domestically, in the rest of Africa and globally since our awards function last year that create conditions that are even more conducive for development and are especially favourable for businesses to flourish.
On the domestic front, the launch of the Proudly South African Campaign last month should serve not only to inculcate in every South African a deeper consciousness of who they are and what they can do to change their lives for the better, but also help in a particular way to promote our exports. This, of course, would impact positively on economic growth and job creation.
Moreover, this campaign has seen the commitments made at the Presidential Jobs Summit come to fruition.
Supported by organised labour, organised business, government and community organisations, Proudly South African provides an opportunity for every South African to do something concrete to support job creation, and help build our young nation. It offers the opportunity for every South African to be truly a nation-builder, to be both an architect and a beneficiary of a new reality and a new way of doing things.
In particular, it offers a unique opportunity to our exporters and trade promotion agencies, such as Trade and Investment South Africa further to entrench South Africa's brand in global markets. In addition to my unswerving support for this campaign, I would like to invite every South African company to join and support its programmes.
To improve investor perceptions and to market South Africa's competitive advantages domestically and to the world, the International Marketing Council (IMC), backed by government and business, is gearing up its Brand SA campaign.
These campaigns, Proudly South Africa and Brand SA, together with men and women like yourselves and the various instruments of government, must work together to ensure that we succeed to raise the levels of domestic and foreign investment.
The SADC region continues to be a significant and growing market for South African exports. This was our fourth largest trading partner with regard to exports in 2000, receiving 10 percent of South Africa's total exports last year.
Of broader relevance, the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD) is yet another important initiative with which our country is intimately involved. Like our own efforts here, this initiative is anchored on the determination of Africans to extricate themselves and the continent from the malaise of underdevelopment and exclusion in a globalising world.
NEPAD has received firm and enthusiastic international support, including the G8, the European Union, the Nordic countries, the World Bank and the IMF. NEPAD is injecting a new impetus to the forging of solid relationships between South Africa, the SADC region, the continent as a whole, and the international community.
Within our own country, we have embarked upon a path to expedite our economic recovery through identifying specific "drivers" of economic growth in particular sectors. These include the automotive and components sector, agro-processing, metals and mineral beneficiation, clothing and textiles and so on.
These key sectors are performing in line with the overall diversification strategy set out for our economy, moving toward focusing on value added exports, away from traditional primary exports.
This phenomenon is empirically supported by the fact that in the year 2000:
In addition, the sustained export growth reported this year demonstrates that the benefits from exchange rate depreciation are not, as in the past, being eroded by high inflation.
To support these "drivers" we have also been looking at bolstering competitiveness in the domestic business environment, examining factors such as the cost of electricity, transport and other economic infrastructure areas, in order to ensure a better environment for exporters and investors. Government is also committed to programmes and incentives of various kinds, which are geared towards improving the investment climate.
In the ICT sector, recent efforts to liberalize telecommunications across Africa also demonstrate the realisation by policy makers and industry across the African continent, of the vast benefits presented by adoption of ICT and e-commerce in their quest for economic growth and poverty eradication.
An example of this development is the continued commitment to invest in communications networks by the M-Cell Group, which to date has already committed over R10 billion in investments in communication networks across Africa.
Furthermore, the recent award of a GSM (Global System for Mobile Communication) licence in Nigeria, to a South African firm, has earned this particular firm the reputation of being a pioneer of commitment to the African renaissance in general and to economic development in Africa in particular, and has served to making South Africa proud of her own capabilities.
Globally, South Africa finds herself in a relatively stable position. The series of strategic trade agreements entered into by our country across regions, such as the EU, and on a bilateral basis with countries such as the USA through the AGOA, have ensured a natural risk hedge by diversifying exports into these markets. These strategic agreements are to be extended to include Mercosur, which is currently in the pipeline.
This diversification strategy invariably reduces the exposure of South African exports to regional economic slowdowns, as recently experienced in some parts of the world.
It is in this overall positive national and continental context that we find ourselves and must locate our business perspectives. The challenge facing all our companies here tonight is to find the best possible ways in which we can use this climate to make more inroads into the international markets.
This year's President's Awards for Exports Achievements are particularly interesting for we see the introduction of various award categories for Small and Medium Enterprises (SMMEs).
For the first time in the history of this competition, I am pleased to say that 40 percent of the total field of qualifiers are small and medium enterprises (SMMEs).
I have felt strongly that this very important section of our business community had not received the kind of attention it deserves. This year we are correcting this oversight by recognising them as a vital force in our economy.
However, in terms of representativity, more work is still needed. Nineteen percent of the SMME entrants are under black management, while only four percent of the SMME category is under female management. Clearly, black business still has a tenuous foothold in our economy, and small businesses are still struggling to overcome major challenges.
The companies represented here tonight have excelled under often difficult circumstances in the global market. Whilst employing less labour intensive technologies, these companies have for the most part succeeded in increasing the number of people that they employ. They have come to the realisation that in order to be a true global competitor, companies need to develop their own technologies and for this, they spend large proportions of their turnover on research and development.
They have also realised that critical to meeting the exacting requirements of very demanding customers, is the need to have people working in your operations who are both well motivated and skilled.
Many of these companies have created innovative environments in which there is a constant reassessment of how they conduct their day-to-day business so that they are better able to reduce costs, improve quality and thereby gain even greater market share.
Ladies and gentlemen, this competition, which rewards technological innovation and celebrates entrepreneurship, is vital to the search for the better life, towards which we aspire as a nation. It is a true reflection of how we can practically and measurably develop South Africa, and Africa to be globally competitive.
Government is very clear in its focus on effective and enabling legislation, which is geared towards helping organisations such as those represented here tonight, to be globally competitive. In so doing our objective is clear, we need to generate much needed foreign revenue to achieve a better life for all South Africans.
Ernest Renan in his essay "What is a Nation?" tells us that:
" A nation is therefore a large-scale solidarity, constituted by the feeling of the sacrifices that one has made in the past and of those that one is prepared to make in the future. It presupposes a past; it is summarised however, in the present by a tangible fact, namely, consent, the clearly expressed desire to continue a common life." (from Nation and Narration, edited by Homi Bhabha, London and New York, 1990, p. 19)
I think we meet here tonight to celebrate with the finalists and the winners of these awards, conscious of their valuable contributions in developing our nation, embracing "this large-scale solidarity" that Renan speaks of, and with the collective will to perform great deeds together and build a common life.
I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate all those companies that have qualified for the President's Award for Export Achievement and the Technology Top 100 Award.
I also wish to extend my heartiest congratulations to those organisations that have won the various category awards.
I challenge all South African companies to follow your example of being willing to open up your organisations and subject yourselves to a rigorous adjudication process which is geared to helping you become even more competitive in local and international markets.
On behalf of our Government, I salute your commitment to excellence, to performing great deeds for the people of our great nation.
Thank you.