There is no question that the 2021 financial year will prove challenging for many business owners, but there is a very real shift taking place in the global economy right now and this is an opportunity for industrial businesses to expand in the new financial year.
Everybody in South Africa is asking the same questions:
- How can you grow and deliver excellence in your business amidst China/US, Middle East/Russia, Covid-19 and Eskom’s electricity insecurity (read about how to finance solutions for the energy crisis)?
- Where are the green shoots in the local and regional economies and what business opportunities exist in the short, medium and long term?
My view is that business must be built with a long-term strategy in place.
While the very real challenges of trade wars, health pandemics and power insecurity affect our status quo as business, what are the potential opportunities which stem from them?
The past decades have seen an emphasis on centralised economic and industrial power in the east with China, India and other countries in the region monopolising international supply chains.
The Covid-19 virus has already had economic impact on the traditional industrial powerhouses and the business owners who have been unable to operate for a number of weeks and who will have no option but to implement defensive business strategies in the coming years.
One of these strategies may be to decentralise their manufacturing capacities.
South Africa has the potential to benefit from support such decentralisation through our efforts to reindustrialise and the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) has many incentives for the manufacturing sector and our countries access through the African Free Trade Agreements to the continent and specifically Southern Africa is significant.
Prudence in expenditure, investment into growth areas and leveraging of DTI and other incentives to support your sustainability is what every business owner should be investigating and actioning.
If you believe your business is well positioned to benefit from this global shift in industrial capacity and you would like assistance in applying for these grants and incentives then let’s see how we can take your business to the next level.
