South African Business 2024
Welcome to the 12th edition of the South African Business journal. First published in 2011, the publication has established itself as the premier business and investment guide to South Africa, supported by an e-book edition at www.southafricanbusiness.co.za. A special feature in this journal focusses on the relationship between tertiary education, training and the jobs market. The youth unemployment rate is referenced in a discussion of the various measures that are being taken in the public and private sectors to help prepare young people for work, or to encourage them to start businesses. The role of the country’s Sector Education and Training Authorities (SETAs) is highlighted. Regular pages cover all the main economic sectors of the South African economy. This includes tracking the rapidly evolving renewable energy landscape and reporting on the progress of exploration and discoveries of oil and gas off the coast and on land. Landmarks such as BMW’s 50-year celebration of making cars in South Africa are noted and a snapshot of each of the country’s provinces is provided. South African Business is complemented by nine regional publications covering the business and investment environment in each of South Africa’s provinces. The e-book editions can be viewed online at www.globalafricanetwork.com and www.southafricanbusiness.co.za. These unique titles are supported by monthly business e-newsletters. The Journal of African Business joined the Global African Network stable of publications as an annual in 2020 and is now published quarterly.
Welcome to the 12th edition of the South African Business journal. First published in 2011, the publication has established itself as the premier business and investment guide to South Africa, supported by an e-book edition at www.southafricanbusiness.co.za.
A special feature in this journal focusses on the relationship between tertiary education, training and the jobs market. The youth unemployment rate is referenced in a discussion of the various measures that are being taken in the public and private sectors to help prepare young people for work, or to encourage them to start businesses. The role of the country’s Sector Education and Training Authorities (SETAs) is highlighted.
Regular pages cover all the main economic sectors of the South African economy. This includes tracking the rapidly evolving renewable energy landscape and reporting on the progress of exploration and discoveries of oil and gas off the coast and on land. Landmarks such as BMW’s 50-year celebration of making cars in South Africa are noted and a snapshot of each of the country’s provinces is provided.
South African Business is complemented by nine regional publications covering the business and investment environment in each of South Africa’s provinces. The e-book editions can be viewed online at www.globalafricanetwork.com and www.southafricanbusiness.co.za. These unique titles are supported by monthly business e-newsletters. The Journal of African Business joined the Global African Network stable of publications as an annual in 2020 and is now published quarterly.
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SPECIAL FEATURE<br />
YES4YOUTH gives young people work experience.<br />
2023, it issued, together with the BRICS <strong>Business</strong><br />
Council, the “Atlas of Emerging Jobs in the Food<br />
and Beverage Sector”. Taking into account global<br />
trends that include mechanisation, the atlas<br />
shows that bio-nutritionists, farm technicians and<br />
integration software engineers are going to be in<br />
demand. Many of these are jobs that did not exist<br />
20 years ago, and some of the jobs that will exist in<br />
20 years’ time have not even been thought of by<br />
the authors of the atlas.<br />
Some universities are also showing an ability<br />
to adapt. Enterprises University of Pretoria is the<br />
skills division of the university and its short-course<br />
offering shows admirable variety. In listing its<br />
courses in advertising material, the unit flags the<br />
courses that are “trending”. These include project<br />
risk management, mine closure and rehabilitation,<br />
water quality management and information<br />
security management. Enterprise UP issued 11 185<br />
certificates in 2022.<br />
<strong>Business</strong> schools also need to examine their<br />
curriculums to ensure relevance. One way of<br />
staying relevant is to hire people who are active<br />
in business. Enterprise UP has 148 “subject matter<br />
experts” collaborating with staff members from<br />
67 departments.<br />
Hlengani Mathebula became a professor at the<br />
University of Limpopo’s Turfloop Graduate School<br />
of Leadership in 2023. He has been the managing<br />
executive of ABSA Private Bank and is the founder<br />
of Ignite Africa Advisory Services Group. Writing in<br />
the Sunday Times, Mathebula argued that students<br />
attending business schools should also have work<br />
experience because, without it “very little of what<br />
these schools teach will make sense, putting<br />
students at a disadvantage”.<br />
Mathebula’s larger argument is that business<br />
schools can play a role in helping rich <strong>South</strong> <strong>African</strong>s<br />
understand and work with poorer <strong>South</strong> <strong>African</strong>s.<br />
He writes that a business school’s first challenge is<br />
to provide skills where both kinds of <strong>South</strong> <strong>African</strong>s<br />
can “find common ground that will transform the<br />
dominant leadership trajectory and in that way<br />
transform the country”. ■<br />
SOUTH AFRICAN BUSINESS <strong>2024</strong><br />
24<br />
PHOTO: YES4YOUTH
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