Keynote address by Deputy President Shipokosa Paulus Mashatile during the Global Entrepreneurship Congress Africa

13 March 2024

Programme Director;
Minister of Small Business Development, Stella Ndabeni-Abrahams;
Ministers, Deputy Ministers, and Heads of Delegation Present, including Representatives from the AU and AfCFTA;
Premiers, MECs, Members of Parliament, and Provincial Legislatures present;
Mayors and Councillors;
President of the Global Entrepreneurship Network, Mr. Jonathan Ortmans,
The CEO of 22ON-SLOANE, Mr. Kizito Okechukwu;
Ambassadors, Representatives from Multi-laterals, and Development Partners Present;
Director General of Small Business Development, Ms Thulisile Manzini;
and Government Representatives and Officials;
Members of the Global and Continental Investment Community;
Business Leaders and Representatives from Entrepreneurship Support Organisations as we as sponsors;
And most importantly, the Entrepreneurs themselves;

Good Morning, Molweni, Dumelang!  
 
Programme Director,

It is with great pleasure that I stand before you today at the Global Entrepreneurship Congress Africa - a gathering where entrepreneurs, investors, policymakers, researchers, and many other role-players explore, engage and inform perspectives that will help us collectively drive economic growth in the continent.

You are most welcome to our beautiful nation, nam’kelekile eMzansi Afrika!

If I recall accurately, at the 2017 Global Entrepreneurship Congress in Johannesburg, President Cyril Ramaphosa, the then Deputy President, challenged President Jonathan Ortmans to organise an African version of that event.

We are proud that this moment, which is a defining moment for entrepreneurship in Africa, has come.

I would like to thank everyone involved in organising this congress, especially Minister Stella Ndabeni-Abrahams of the Department of Small Business Development and the Global Entrepreneurship Network led by Jonathan Ortmans and Kizito Okechukwu. 

This GEC+ Africa Congress is timely and extremely important given the current global economic situation, especially the African continent's continued efforts to reinvent itself as a more influential actor in shaping the global agenda.

Africa is a continent overflowing with untapped potential, a hub of innovation and invention waiting to be re-awakened. The Global Entrepreneurship Congress Africa thus allows us to connect, collaborate, and inspire one another to achieve greatness.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Africa however still plays a subordinate role in Global Value Chains, and is confronted by deeply established structural constraints that stem from our previous position as an exporter of unprocessed raw commodities. 

We do not yet have a sufficiently diversified export basket due to industrialisation. We remain vulnerable to the ebbs and flows of global commodity cycles and have been slow in transitioning toward higher-productivity economic activities.

As a continent, we need to rise to a level where we have well-integrated production networks, are equally participating in global trade, and are rapidly improving our export mix.

Cognisant that approximately 24 countries in Africa will in 2024 be conducting General Elections, the question of regional integration and growing the continents economy is critical.

I am proud to say that the political party I represent, the African National Congress, has through its election manifesto prioritised the use of mineral resources for industrialisation, and regional integration as central to the economic development programme of both our country and the continent.

Ladies and Gentlemen, 

Like the rest of the continent, South Africa needs to be strategic in its goals and actions to increase its competitiveness in higher-productivity trade-able commodities and services, as well as in becoming ready for a digital and environmentally friendly future.

We must recognise that there is a link between the environment, economy, and agriculture. All economic activities either affect or are affected by natural and environmental resources.

Whereas economic development is a process of structural transformation, agriculture is the essential engine to jumpstart the process.

The agricultural sector is made up almost entirely of single-person businesses involved in low-value, low-productivity farming. This keeps us dependent as a net food importer, which has become more problematic with rising fuel and food prices. 

As a result, we need innovation and entrepreneurship, which can be game-changers for us. I believe that precision farming and agri-tech will unleash what the African Development Bank estimates could be a 1 trillion USD economy for the continent by 2030. 

Farmers must therefore, adapt to current farming methods that increase production efficiency. African innovators and entrepreneurs have the power to transform our economy, which will eventually allow us to participate in the global economy as players with equal status.

As policymakers, we have to create an enabling environment for our entrepreneurs.

First, we must ensure that the core foundations of the digital economy are in place, including digital infrastructure, digital skills, cybersecurity capabilities, and affordable and accessible data.

We need to do more to implement the African Union’s Digital Transformation Agenda, adopted at its Summit of Heads of State in February 2019.

We must ensure that by 2030, every individual, business, and government on the continent will be digitally enabled and ready to support a growing digital economy.

Second, we must eliminate red tape and make it easier for entrepreneurs to conduct business. Countries on our continent typically perform poorly in various categories related to corporate performance and competitiveness due to an unfriendly environment, particularly in terms of intra-continental trade.

Therefore, we must take advantage of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) agreement, which seeks to eliminate barriers to trade in Africa. The AfCFTA will significantly boost intra-African trade, particularly trade in value-added production and trade across all sectors of Africa's economy.

Third, we must improve our governance systems! This includes tackling corruption, improving our macro-economic management, and settling disputes through negotiations rather than violent conflict. We must do more to shift the narrative that Africa is a difficult place to do business. 

Fourth, we must address the SMME and start-up credit gap. Africa has 18% of the world’s population but attracts only 2% of global capital, and even less global venture capital for start-ups.

In South Africa, Minister Ndabeni-Abrahams has proposed an SMME and cooperative Funding Policy, which was recently gazetted for public comment. The Policy requires that the Business Development Service providers in South Africa institutionalise the practice of assisting SMMEs and cooperatives with pre-funding support. Without funding, our best start-ups are leaving for tech hubs abroad.

As Africa, we also need to find ways of keeping skilled professionals’ within the borders of our continent. The loss of skilled professionals, also known as ‘brain-drain’ is one of the major reasons for the unsteady growth in our respective countries.

To prevent this, we need to make it easier for skills to move across the continent and increase the number of people who can learn new skills, especially in areas that are important to the digital economy.

South Africa is making inroads in reforming visa requirements, which allows high-tech expertise to work in the country and develop our economy. This move is supported by the underpinning principles of the AfCFTA, and propels us towards the integrated Africa that we want.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

It is critical that as policymakers, we create a more supportive policy environment. Many African countries have developed start-up legislation, and we are looking to this congress to guide us on policy best practice.

I am pleased that you have included a Ministerial Round-table and a dedicated policy workshop featuring thought leaders from around the world in your programme for this occasion.

We should not let this Global Entrepreneurship Congress Africa be like another ordinary gathering of brilliant minds for networking without results.

This event should serve as a call to action for this generation of African leaders to do the work and leave a lasting legacy of economic growth, regional integration and overall African prosperity.  

Guided by the AU Agenda 2063 objective, we must cooperate to create a strong, united, resilient, and peaceful Africa that is a major partner and global actor in international affairs.

As a continent, we need to work together to achieve socio-economic transformation that benefits everyone. One way to start is by assisting small businesses.

In this regard, Minister Ndabeni-Abrahams has informed me that under Minister Yacine Oualid's direction, the African Start-up Conference in Algiers over the past two years has made steady progress toward developing an African Start-Up Roadmap.

Together, this and the AfCFTA are important steps towards the AFRICA WE WANT. I am confident that this inaugural GEC+ Africa Congress will provide the appropriate policy advice and partnerships to take us there.

Minister Ndabeni-Abrahams, well done on launching this important platform, and I look forward to the Exhibition and interacting with some of the  entrepreneurs in the Exhibition Hall.

Thank you.

Issued by The Presidency, 13 March 2024