The concept of organised business is centuries old — the first chamber of commerce was founded in 1599 in Marseilles, France, and still exists today. The Nelson Mandela Bay Business Chamber was established more than 150 years ago.
The original concept clearly still has relevance today — businesses working together to promote the interests of local business, encourage trade and doing business with each other, creating a stronger voice for business in local decisionmaking through strength in numbers.
But with the state of our country today — and particularly the dysfunctional state of local governments and service delivery collapsing in many metros, cities and towns — we are seeing the rise of organised business taking a more activist role and leading positive change.
Business activism means businesses collaborating and working as a collective to find solutions to problems that detract from the enabling environment needed to protect investment and jobs.
Simply put, it’s about less talk and more action.
Towards the end of last year, the board of the Business Chamber adopted a new strategic plan, a vision to be the leading catalyst for Nelson Mandela Bay to retain and attract business; and to do this by collaborating with a broad range of stakeholders to develop solutions.
We aimed to be more action-orientated, to do something about our common problems, to be active corporate citizens and encourage a more active civil society in the Bay.
Over the past year, less talk and more action has seen local businesses working together to save more than 1.5-million litres of the metro ’ s clean water per day through a targeted Adopt-a-Leak intervention, adopting 75 schools to fix leaks and install rainwater tanks, and sinking 45 boreholes in partnership with Gift of the Givers.
These initiatives have been crucial in reversing the tide of clean water wasted due to leaks and securing alternative water sources, staving off day zero and moving towards more efficient water management.
Businesses have together so far adopted 17 substations to guard against cable theft and vandalism, protecting electricity supply to ensure continuity of manufacturing operations.
In a trailblazing initiative for the country, more than 20 of our largest manufacturers are moving at high speed in our renewable energy cluster to an independent renewable energy generation. As well as reducing their collective carbon footprint, such an investment will lower their demand on the grid and potentially reduce load-shedding for the entire metro.
The collaboration and support of our high energy users enabled victory in our recent court challenge to Nersa’s electricity tariff methodology, ultimately benefiting businesses and consumers across the country.
Businesses in various industrial and commercial areas and sectors have joined forces in geographic clusters, supported by the chamber, to get the basics working right in their areas and preserve investment and jobs. These clusters so far include Perseverance, Deal Party, Struandale, Kariega and North End, with more likely to come on stream in the new year.
Within five months of launching our Entrepreneurship Desk earlier this year, the one-stop service for SMMEs had not only attracted more than 110 members but also a growing number of large corporates and local businesses offering pro bono services to support growth of small businesses.
We initiated the Eastern Cape Climate Change Coalition in which businesses, environmental experts and activists, and other role players, are working together to drive the readiness of the metro to minimise the impact of extreme weather.
What all this action has in common is a willingness to volunteer time, expertise and resources to make a difference for the greater good; and a focus on taking action rather than on past mistakes and assigning blame.
We know the many challenges that have reduced our municipality’s ability to deliver services, and have focused on a two-pronged solution — one is for business and residents to become more self-reliant, and the other is to provide expertise to help solve problems.
By working collaboratively with the municipality and other stakeholders, forging a social compact and sharing information transparently (such as the best practices learnt in our Adopt-a-Leak initiative), we can move from positions of frustration and defensiveness to focusing on solutions for an improved future.
What is really heartening is that the collective action has come not only from the big names in business in the metro (and they have certainly played their part exceptionally), but that many mediumsized and smaller companies have come on board too to improve our business and living environment. This is about all of us joining forces for the greater good.
This new breed of corporate activism sees the value in partnerships and collaboration, and rather than struggling on discontentedly, seeks to bring about positive change as a collective.
There are valid questions as to whether solving service delivery problems is the job of business, which already pays rates, taxes and utilities bills.
The reality is that under the current circumstances, we can either get involved in fixing things, or keep complaining while nothing changes.
A cleaner, safer, bettermanaged, more efficient and effective metro — a metro that works, for business and for residents, and where more people have work — is in all of our best interests.
The strength of the chamber is our access to specialist skills and expertise. We can deploy teams of experts to identify problems and propose solutions, but the municipality must do its job, and the funding as far as possible must come from the public purse to which we contribute.
The narrative of a failed state, and a failed metro, risks becoming a self-fulfilling prophecy unless we act together with common purpose to rebuild.
Looking at the positive developments over the past year, it has become possible to have hope in the power of people working together to make a practical, positive impact.
If our metro and our country are indeed at rock bottom, then the only way now is a slow climb up. Let’s do it together.