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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Banking and financial services<br />
Carbon credits and green investing are catching on.<br />
OVERVIEW<br />
Carbon credits and renewable energy certificates can<br />
now be traded on Africa’s largest stock exchange,<br />
following the launch in 2023 of the JSE Ventures<br />
Voluntary Carbon Market. JSE Ventures is collaborating<br />
with US company Xpansiv, which has experience in global<br />
environmental markets. <strong>South</strong> Africa has had carbon taxes<br />
since 2019.<br />
One of <strong>South</strong> Africa’s newer stock exchanges, the Cape<br />
Town Stock Exchange (which started life as 4AX), oversaw the<br />
listing of an initial tranche of preference shares of the Gaia<br />
Renewables REIT, a fund that caters to investors who want to<br />
have a stake in the burgeoning renewable energy economy. It<br />
is expected that more investors will want to be part of a sector<br />
that is showing enormous potential.<br />
TymeBank is taking the concept of “retail banking” to<br />
another level. Having run banking kiosks within retailers such<br />
as Pick n Pay and Boxer for several years, TymeBank has signed a<br />
deal with TFG, a group that has a big presence all across <strong>South</strong><br />
Africa. What used to be known as the Foschini Group has 34<br />
brands, including Markhams, Totalsports, Jet and Dial a Bed,<br />
and 30-million customers. In the short term, TymeBank will<br />
have access to 600 TFG kiosks, taking the bank’s total in <strong>South</strong><br />
Africa to 1 450.<br />
Another relatively new bank is Capitec. Investment holding<br />
company PSG has reduced its holding in Capitec Bank from<br />
32% to 4%, earning about R4-billion by selling those shares.<br />
Discovery Bank reported in 2022 that it was signing up 750<br />
new clients every day which puts it on course to achieve more<br />
than 600 000 customers by <strong>2024</strong>. The bank, which launched<br />
in 2019, has already opened more than one-million accounts.<br />
Long-term insurer and asset manager Liberty has delisted from<br />
the JSE and has been integrated into the Standard Bank Group.<br />
Financial services group Old Mutual received permission<br />
from the prudential authority of the <strong>South</strong> <strong>African</strong> Reserve<br />
Bank to apply for a banking licence. The bank will spend R1.75-<br />
billion on setting up the bank and intends to launch in <strong>2024</strong>.<br />
ONLINE RESOURCES<br />
Financial Sector Conduct Authority: www.fsca.co.za<br />
Insurance Institute of <strong>South</strong> Africa: www.iisa.co.za<br />
<strong>South</strong> <strong>African</strong> Institute of Chartered Accountants: www.saica.co.za<br />
SECTOR INSIGHT<br />
The JSE has launched a<br />
carbon-trading market.<br />
<strong>African</strong> Bank has signalled that<br />
it is ready to grow, with an<br />
agreement to buy Grindrod<br />
Bank and an R80-million deal<br />
to purchase lender Ubank. After<br />
going into administration in<br />
2014, <strong>African</strong> Bank took some<br />
time to recover and is still halfowned<br />
by the Reserve Bank<br />
but it has materially added<br />
to its retail client base and<br />
the addition of more than<br />
4.5-million clients with the<br />
purchase of the troubled Ubank,<br />
which had as its base mine<br />
workers, will further strengthen<br />
its position. The R1.5-billion<br />
purchase of Grindrod Bank gives<br />
<strong>African</strong> Bank a stronger position<br />
in business lending.<br />
PHOTO: John Young<br />
59<br />
SOUTH AFRICAN BUSINESS <strong>2024</strong>
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