Western Cape Business 2022

MESSAGE
Innovation is the competitive
currency of the future
Jacques Moolman, President of the Cape Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
Jacques Moolman
If there is one thing in which
private enterprise and the profit
motive excel above all its other
virtues, it is in its flexibility. Unlike
large institutions and state-owned
enterprises, the private sector’s small,
medium and micro enterprises are
quick to react to market demand
and indeed to all sudden changes.
The Covid-19 pandemic is a case
in point. It demanded swift changes
to operating methods, often making
the difference between survival and
shutting up shop.
The Cape Chamber is an example. Its team made a change
to remote working within 24 hours of the first lockdown. It then
concentrated on help and support for its members, ending its first
financial year of the pandemic better off, despite taking a hit from a
depleted customer base.
Now, having made the transition to a new normal, we and
everyone else have to accept that the economy has changed.
The country is essentially bankrupt – financially and morally.
Unemployment, crime and corruption are now permanent
attributes of the country. That means not simply hoping that things
will get better but making sure that we will get better at dealing
with reality.
The Chamber is now better positioned for doing so because
of decisions we made in the years before lockdown. Since we
are not state-sponsored, we were determined to retain our fierce
independence, so we made revenue generation key. That meant a
single-minded concentration on engagement with our customers,
our members.
Because we recognise the competitive currency in the future
will be innovation, we have a mantra at the Chamber, “If no one dies,
the risk is acceptable.”
We also abandoned three-year plans. We set our strategy for two
days ahead. What we are getting good at is planning the strategy
– that’s more than 150 strategy sessions a year – and we get to
monitor and respond to each one. It is this practice of planning that
is invaluable. The plan itself is just the outcome.
Learning is indeed the greatest gift the universe can give us.
As long as we can learn, “We are alive.” That is why I am confident
that the private sector in the Cape will bounce back and survive
whatever challenges are presented.
The entrepreneurial spirit in the Cape goes back at least 217
years as the Chamber itself proves since it is now entering its 218th
year. That resilience is not unique to us. Nor is innovation.
Both are in the very marrow of the private sector of the province.