Chamber Interventions

• We have implemented a strategic plan where we have adopted a more activist, collaborative and action orientated approach in pursuing our vision of being the leading catalyst for Nelson Mandela bay to retain and attract business.
• We have realigned our Task Teams to prioritise the most pressing issues of water and electricity, roads and transport and safety and security.
• We concluded a groundbreaking initiative where we signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Municipality which allows businesses to safeguard sub-station infrastructure within there are of operations, thus ensuring minimal interruptions to power supply and continuity of business operations. (17 sub-stations adopted by 12 companies thus far)
• We have successfully challenged Nersa’s municipal tariff methodology which would have been deployed to determine and approve electricity tariffs to be charged by municipalities for the next two years. The High Court has subsequently delivered a judgement in our favour, and this will have positive effect on changing the way electricity tariffs are set. In the near future, municipalities will not be able to add on costs to consumers for their own inefficiencies. This outcome is going to benefit all South African businesses and consumers.
• As part of the plan to mitigate some of the risks associated with the water crisis facing our city the Chamber established an Adopt a School initiative and member companies are assisting with fixing faulty or damaged plumbing systems at schools across the Metro that have been flagged as high water consumers.  Currently 35% of the Metro’s water is lost due to leaks of which 10% of this happens at schools. Member companies have adopted 75 schools and to date, work has been completed at 53 of these schools. Additionally, assistance has been provided to 30 schools and clinics for the establishment of water tanks to harvest rain, while six boreholes have been installed at six schools for use by the surrounding communities.
• We have also extended our water preservation efforts through the establishment of the Adopt a Leak initiative where businesses identify six residential areas with a high concentration of leaks. This has saved the Metro over 1,5 million litres of water per day.
• We partnered with the Gift of the Givers to ensure that communities have access to water - 45 boreholes were sunk.
• We recently established the Renewable Energy Cluster which has ignited significant interest from some of the Metro’s largest energy users who have now joined forces to explore alternative energy solutions to help sustain their operations.This cluster represents 25% of the Metro’s current electricity usage and could potentially reduce the stages of loadshedding for the entire Metro.
• We are working with some key clusters namely the Deal Party Cluster, Perseverance Cluster, Struandale Cluster, Kariega Cluster with a strong focus on prioritising the resolution of critical enabling environment issues.
• We have facilitated the successful implementation of a more tenable and planned 24 hour voluntary stage 5+ loadshedding schedule for qualifying industry members.
• In 2022, our Helpdesk assisted businesses in unlocking 78 red-tape/bottlenecks issues
• The Chamber issued 13 824 Certificates of Origin during the January to November 2022 period, compared to last year’s 13 471, with the biggest drivers being the Wool and Mohair, the Perishables and Fruit sectors, including general manufacturers.
• The Chamber’s Enterprise Development programme, driven through a partnership with the ECDC as a funder, has entered in its 8th phase and has benefited over 213 businesses in the Metro since inception in 2014. The figure includes 27 graduates for 2022.  
• Our Eastern Cape Exporters Development Programme, which was implemented in 2021, has already attracted the participation of 29 emerging exporters. The programme has migrated smoothly from the initial pilot of last year and has been extended to cover the Buffalo City area.
• Through our partnership with GIZ NatuRes, the GIZ/NMBBC Covid-19 Response we received R1.5 million to support our Covid-19 response effort. The fund enabled us to drive an awareness campaign across different communities in the Metro and to hand out protective facemasks and sanitisers to less fortunate communities. This initiative demonstrated the extent of impact which can be achieved through stakeholders working together to support a common cause. 
• The Nelson Mandela Bay Business Chamber has successfully completed its QINA campaign which focused on driving awareness and education on the importance of Covid-19 best practices and vaccination in the Metro. This project was funded by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ)‘s COVID-19-fund. Through a financial allocation to GIZ’s Natural Resources Stewardship Programme (NatuReS), a special project was designed together with the Chamber as a response to address the spread of the virus and its adverse impacts on economic and social development in the Bay.
• The Chamber also collaborated with other key stakeholders like the Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality, E’Zethu Development Trust and other civil society organisations to facilitate much-needed interventions and discussions affecting the local economy. These led to valuable projects implemented by the Chamber such as the development of a comprehensive restoration plan of the Baakens Valley corridor to harness it for economic benefits.
• We have formed part of the revitalisation of  the Nelson Mandela Bay Civil Society Coalition to take action, as political instability has rendered the Metro incapable of delivering basic services to communities and businesses.
• Five companies have already adopted 17 billboards across Nelson Mandela Bay following the Chamber’s recent call to businesses to assist the Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality with refurbishing 51 billboards across the Metro. 
• We have launched an Eastern Cape Climate Change Coalition to tackle climate change challenges in the Metro.
• We reimagined our approach to Trade and Investment and launched an Investors Forum focused on the issues, which affect the retention of investment in the Metro.
• We established an Entrepreneurship Desk which as of today has 112 businesses registered with it, of which almost 80% are black owned and 54% are female owned.
• The successful completion of the Exporters Development Programme which supported 10 exporters, while 16 have been inducted for the 2022/2023 period
• 27 Businesses graduated from the Enterprise Development Programme.
• We launched an Empowerment Circle, which incorporated a Women’s Circle, a Connect Circle and a mentorship programme.
• Events were back in full swing with 32 held since the start of the year.

MORE ACTIVIST ORIENTATED - RESURGENCE DRIVE!