Johannesburg - Philippa Larkin (PL), business content editor for Independent News & Media, including Business Report, interviews Eustace Mashimbye (EM), chief executive of Proudly South African (SA).
PL: What is different about this Buy Local Summit & Expo being held on April 3 and 4? And how many have you held?
EM: We have held five before. This is the sixth this year. The differentiating thing about this summit is that it is bigger and there are more companies exhibiting. Last year we had 150, now we have 200. Local companies punting locally manufactured products and services. We are getting better at streamlining the programme. At the end of the summit we can emerge with solid commitments and pledges from people. So for example, we have never had the clothing and retail sector there. Now we have Edcon.
With Edcon they are not just speaking, but showcasing what is made locally in each subsidiary, CNA, Jetmart, Edgars, Boardman. All those stores carry local content.
For example, Edcon took us to Celrose, their clothing manufacturing plant in KwaZulu-Natal. We went to the factory and saw South African clothes being manufactured. It was an opportunity for us to see which local brands are stocked up in Edgars. So when people go to Edgars, they know what to buy. Edcon must showcase these products. People are still under the impression that retails import everything.
PL: Well, Edcon got hurt by too many foreign brands in the past.
EM: Yes. That is part of the reason they are now Proudly South African. They just joined in March. It is a big coup. One of our strategic partners is the SA Clothing and Textile Workers Union (Sactu). Together with Sactu we have struggled to get the clothing and textiles sector to join, but now the tide has turned. Interestingly Mr Price is also about to take membership. We are in talks with them. Up to 35percent of everything in Mr Price stores is locally made now for the first time.
PL: Why isn’t Woolworths a member?
EM: No, next in line is to talk to Woolworths and Foschini. I am seeing them in the next two weeks. The clothing and retail sector for us is a big deal.
PL: Will you be having a fashion show at your next summit?
EM: Yes at the end of day two Edcon will hold a fashion show showcasing local products.
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The first day will be a one-stop shop that helps with business acumen. All these guys that are exhibiting. We will help them. We are bringing all the funding and non-funding support agencies, such as Seda, Sars, Absa, UIF for example. The Department of Labour will help on the spot. The minister of labour will be there to give support to the exhibitors. This way we help to capacitate members.
PL: I am surprised that people are so apathetic to join Proudly SA. Why?
EM: It is the perception that the membership fee is high, whereas it is not. You need to look at the value proposition. Every single member exhibiting at the summit this year does so for free. Once you pay membership fee when you join you have access to benefits. Every platform that is made available for members is covered by the joining fee.
PL: What are the other platforms?
EM: I will give you an example, when there is a trade expo focusing on a single expo then we are able to take members within that sector to go and exhibit. For example, we had a diplomatic fair at the Union Buildings in Pretoria, where every country that has trade relations with South Africa was showcasing their products. We took members to the South African Pavilion. Through this summit several members made deals.
We have partnerships with people like Smart Procurement. We have access to the private sector.
PL: So you link people up with procurement channels?
EM: That is why we are putting in place a database of local products and services so anyone outside or in the country can have access. We are launching this at the summit. We will demonstrate how this will work. You go on to the website. You can search for any products, and it will give you a list of companies, link them to their website and give you all their details. You can touch base with them and buy.
PL: You said you had 200 members exhibiting at the summit, but how many members do you have at present?
EM: Since 2001 Proudly SA has been in place we have had more than 5000 companies come through our books. With the economic downturn since 2008 we lost a lot of companies as the easiest thing to cut back on is membership fees. We have grown our SME base and provide services. We have close to 1000 members at present. Our target is to sign up 200 quality manufacturers by the end of this financial year.
PL: So this doesn’t have anything to do with black economic empowerment. This is purely South African goods?
EM: This is nothing to do with shareholding. It is about locally produced goods like Hisense. Hisense has a plant in Atlantis, Cape Town. It is a Chinese company and its shareholding does not lie here, but these people have set up a plant employing local people, in an area that was impoverished and battling drugs. They have created hundreds of jobs by manufacturing fridges, microwaves and TVs. We want people to buy products like this with a Proudly SA label.
We want to see the big white businesses supporting the small black businesses so we can grow. Instead of buying abroad there is a black company in South Africa that you can support. It is where the jobs are created.
The department of trade and industry (dti) is helping us find more companies. Roll out more campaigns. They need to see us more on TV. We do a lot of face to face work. We often do pop up shops in provinces and engage business about the campaign and try to get them to buy from each other.
PL: So you have been working more behind the scenes.
EM: The big corporates are saying we used your logo, but no one sees you, so there is no benefit. That is why we are driving a meet the locals campaign to be seen. We want to have enough products in every single sector. We are engaging everyone to roll out this campaign.
PL: How long have you been chief executive of Proudly SA?
EM: I have acted as chief executive from September 1, 2016, and was appointed permanently from December 1. I was chief financial officer of Proudly SA for 10 years.
PL: Is there anything new you aim to bring to the table?
EM: Part of my vision is to narrow the campaign down to three things. And not be everywhere. We have to educate consumers on the importance of buying local. If you buy local you contribute to the tax base of the country. Then there is more money to help deliver services. There is more gross domestic product. The economy won’t grow by itself. It needs to grow beyond 1.3percent by helping to create jobs if you buy local. I want to roll out campaigns that talks to that.
One also has to educate the private sector and to educate the public sector, which is legislated. The database is also important.
PL: Buying local maybe legislated, but how much teeth does it have?
EM: Remember that comes from the Auditor-General. The dti and their office are talking to the Auditor-General. They are looking at how to monitor the legislation and include it as part of their audits. You can’t audit people on something they don’t understand. Our role is to educate.
We are going to educate the public sector and procurement officials in the government on the legislation. It proscribes that you must buy from a local manufacturer.
We will go to each province and educate every sphere of government and all the procurement officials on what the legislation says.
National Treasury has also introduced a central supply data base. If a company is not on it you can’t do business with the government. Now the plan is to talk to the National Treasury and ask to plug into their system.Every member that is on our new database should be on the National Treasury database. Those are some of the plans. At the end of the 12 month period those are the things I hope to have achieved.
We want to also monitor tenders for all that are designated by the government for local procurement products when they are issued, such as stationery for example. These things we will launch at the summit.
When the tender is issued Proudly SA wants to intervene at that point. Sactu has done it for the clothing and textile sector and is doing well in this space of monitoring the procurement act. They intervene with the government. Sactu is advising Proudly SA. We want to monitor all other sectors and see that it complies. We want to look at tenders and tell our members, which tender applies to them. We can tell the government about the local content.
PL: You are doing a lot.
EM: Yes we are.