Clotex - Saving South Africa's Dying Textile Sector

With my international business students, we went to visit Clotex - Clothing and Textile Service Center - an NGO that was created to try and save the West Cape's dying industry. We met with the 2 volunteer executives who has been in the industry for many years and are now fighting to help many of the very small shops to survive. The base of the industry has collapsed and in 2003 South Africa was a net-exporter of clothing. In 2008, it is expected that there will be 700 million Rands of exports and 4 billion Rands of imports!
The German Government, through GTZ, came in to do a study about the industry only to find out that nobody knew what can make it survive and how. The local government decided to provide basic training to many of the smaller companies that had zero access to finance (especially since many did not bother to register as a small business being very afraid of the rampant corruption in the government sector after the fall of Apartheid).
Another HUGE problem, we were told, if the fact that training must be ongoing since so many workers actually die from AIDS every day!
Their mission:
CLOTEX aims - with respect to the growth and pipeline efficiency of the clothing and textile industry in the Western Cape - to facilitate access to information, advice, trade contracts and opportunities as well as councelling for SMME's in the industry and its related sub-sectors, with particular though not exclusive emphasis on the emergent and formally disadvantaged entrepeneurs. CLOTEX's current role is to mainly focus on increasing employment through the development needs of entrepreneurs operating small, medium and micro enterprises (SMME's).
Our host felt that the industry as a whole lacks benchmarks to success (such as those established by Zara and H&M), and its members need to also take advantage of the current exchange rate which really works to their favor in terms of exporting. Yet the organization can only serve as a facilitator outside the trade unions and use countries such as Italy as a benchmark for success in terms of creating high value textile and clothing products.
The small quarters of the organization and its humble leaders made it clear to us that this organization has an uphill battle ahead... Later we found out that many of the industries in this country face similar challenges.

Jewish Museum - Holocaust Survivors' Encounter

CleaPart of our port program for the post graduate international business students included a visit to the Jewish Museum. Clearly i was delighted about the choice, but more so with the fact that the museum was chosen since it chronicles the tremendous contributions the Jews have made to the growth of South Africa's economy as a whole, and Cape Town, in particular. As we entered the museum, after going through a security door, we all of a sudden heard a huge explosion. Our guide, an elderly docent, turned to us with a puzzled look, while I felt fear gripping me... what was it? Another explosion erupted in what seemed like next door and the docent smiled all of a sudden -- "Ah," he said,"it is only the cannon from the parliament building which is next to us. Must be an important visitor coming in." Above you can see Natalie's picture with him. It was her president, Mr. Sarkozy, who came to Cape Town on the day we arrived...

Our docent went on to tell us all about how his great grandfather came to Cape Town and helped build a thriving Jewish community that went on to give birth to some of the country's leading industrialists as well as fighter of Apartheid (the museum was re-dedicated by Nelson Mandela after he became president). When asked about the future, he told our students about his kids, who grew up with all the privileges of the while society during Apartheid, but are now working hard to re-built South Africa...

Next to the Jewish Museum is the Holocaust Memorial which is dedicated to:

• serServing as a memorial to the 6 million Jews who where killed in the Holocaust and all victims of Natzism and teaches about the consequences of prejudice, racism and discrimination while promoting an understanding of the dangers of indifference, apathy and silence. One of the most illuminating exhibits of the memorial is the comparison of ads and pamphlets showing the inferior profile of a black person that proliferated during Apartheid vs. the ones used by the Nazis. aparently, the creator of the Apartheid regime were students of Nazi propaganda...

One of the touching experiences I had after going through the exhibits was meeting the docent there who asked me the sign the visitors book and realized that both our parents were in Bergen Belsen... her mother, that dies recently, was older than my Dad, but somehow we felt a sense of c\immediate closeness as their offsprings. We hugs with tears in our eyes as we shared with each other tid bits about being the child of a survivor. It was as if we knew so much about each other, even though we were total strangers... I was so sorry when I had to rush to join my group but turned around to wave at her and say "Shalom!" out loud... Then I realized, I did not even ask for her name...

The Ostrich Farm - So Glad We Got To See It!

OK, so I look stupid sitting on top of an Ostrich! But who could have resisted such an opportunity? We were delighted when we were told we will be visiting an ostrich farm to learn about the important industry of ostrich farming. But we were NOT ready to fall in love with those beautiful birds only to be told, in great detail while eating their delicious meat, how wonderful they are as a "product" since ALL of any bird can be used - for meat, feathers, leather, and eggs!

The South African owner of the farm was very proud to tell us how he makes designer purses from the leather and tries to sell the meat for profit either locally or abroad (depending on the bird-flu alert that exists each season) while using the egg shells for create beautiful works of art. We all learned about his opinion on how South African farmers lack in intelligence to push the industry forward while the Southern European are pushing theirs forward with a true long term vision. Yet somehow watching him having lunch with his wife and two children on a beautiful porch with amazing vistas surrounded by his big farm and beautiful birds, it was hard to relate to his words...
Yet, as business students we had to acknowledge that the he had a real challenge on his hands with an industry that has an extremely volatile demand curve and a highly fickle market, working with animals that can turn wild at any moment, even when you assume they have become fully domesticated that you try to climb on their back and take a stupid picture...

University of Cape Town

The University of Cape Town is one of the most beautiful campuses I have ever seen! Furthermore it is overseeing this beautiful town from a mountaintop surrounded by plush greenery and blue skies, like in a post card! The business school, however, is part of the waterfront and is housed in a former prison that has been fully renovated and turned up looking like a series of classrooms in the midst of a tranquil courtyard with little signs left of any horrible sad stories of the people imprisoned in there...
We had a couple of lectures at the university; one that we shared with the communications group given by a local author/professor that seems to cause my business students to be grateful for having chosen to study a field like business that was less froth with philosophical musings, while the other being an observation we made of a graduate business class let by a dynamic business professor.
In both cases it was made clear to us that University of Cape Town is clearly a fine academic institution. We were also pleased to hear that....

During the apartheid era, roughly 1960-1990, UCT consistently opposed apartheid, and was a bastion of liberalism and racial integration. 1987 particularly saw frequent clashes between protesting students and police. The official student newspaper, Varsity, frequently had its journalists and editors come under scrutiny from the ruling apartheid National Party government.

As for the business school, their own words express it best:

The Graduate School of Business is developing new streams of learning around communication, leadership, entrepreneurship and sustainable development. This enriches the learning experience, helping to ensure that students gain the broadest possible perspective of business.

The school is the only business school in South Africa to make these streams an explicit part of its core curriculum.

The school also supports two centres that are dedicated to developing a deeper and broader understanding of these areas:

• Southern Africa-United States Centre for Leadership and Public Values
• Centre for Innovation and Entrepreneurship.

Some two-thirds of the world's population lives in emerging economies, which are characterised by an unusual degree of complexity and uncertainty. The significance of these regions to international business, and to the role of business schools in equipping leaders and managers to be effective in such circumstances, is obvious.

The GSB is taking advantage of the fact that it is located in Africa to respond to these challenges. It is pioneering a new model of a business school, one that is both international in orientation and suited to countries where simultaneously there are imperatives of socio-political transformation, international competitiveness and economic development.

The school believes that it is only by taking this route that it will equip business leaders with the knowledge, depth and vision needed to steer South Africa and other developing societies to success both at home and on the international stage.

Research focus

Through its research, the GSB is enlarging and articulating its understanding of the role and future of business in emerging economies. This research is laying essential foundations on which to build South Africa's international competitiveness.

Current research programmes range from the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor, which looks at South African entrepreneurs in a global context and at what makes them successful or not, to individual research carried out by faculty and students.

Local and national engagement

A key part of the school's philosophy is to ensure the relevance of the curriculum to local and national circumstances and needs, as well as to ensure that, wherever feasible, its activities are undertaken in a way that achieves positive developmental impacts.

In the Western Cape, the school has initiated a number of projects that are designed to add value to the local economy, as well as to enrich students' appreciation of context.

Examples include:

• the work of the Centre for Innovation and Entrepreneurship, which is working with local businesses, ranging from township enterprises to those that are knowledge-based and internationally ambitious

• the Centre for Leadership and Public Values (CLPV), which is running an Emerging Leaders' Programme that is engaging directly with the needs of, and challenges facing, young leaders across Southern Africa.

The School, in association with Cambridge University and the National Business Initiative, is also involved in running a programme that is grappling with critical issues around sustainable development in Africa.

African initiatives

In the last decade, the GSB has been building its connections with Africa.

The school now regularly hosts students and short course delegates from sub-Saharan Africa.

In 2002 it began a recruitment drive in East Africa.

Other initiatives include a distinctive programme for policy-makers, regulators and executives on the privatisation and regulation of public utilities in Africa.

There is also an executive development programme that is tailored to the needs of multinational companies operating in Africa.

The school also now runs its flagship executive short course, the Programme for Management Development, in Kenya once a year.

Beyond Africa, the GSB is working to form additional alliances with top-class institutions in Asia and other developing countries to complement and augment its partnerships in Africa and the industrialised world.

StreetWire - Using Profits to Save A Community

Patrick claims he was born "with a silver spoon in his mouth." He got a great education which he was puzzled what to do with. Post Apartheid he felt that most young people in South Africa were voting with "their heads rather than with their hearts." But he wanted to empower people to move towards middle class. He believed that by that empowerment of real ownership (something the black population had been denied up till then), votes will not be able to be bought and sold anymore which will enable black people to be in control of their own destiny. So he was looking for a way to allow black township people to earn enough money to educate the next generation who will then have more formal skills that will get them true entry into the South African middle class.

He was aware of the incredible rich cultural history of black South Africa, especially the artistic one that ran very deep. He decided to build onto the value of the previous generation's rich culture in order to employ the new generation. So he started out by employing 2 artisans to create his design studio for wire and beads sculptures. The culture they drew from is labeled "closer culture" which is attached existed within the cattle people had in the rural areas. They turned that into a form of craft that gave birth to its own present value. So StreetWire was formally created in 2001 by Patrick as a for profit company that will employ black township people. Today the company employs 60 men and 60 women with the men creating the shapes from the wires and the women doing the beading (40% of what they produce gets exported to EU counties) With the 120 to 160 Euros a month they earn, each one supports about 7 people back home. Every person gets nurtured in terms of their career in the company so the current management came from within from people that started working in production.

People work in groups with a group leader being in charge. The group leader acts like a head of family. This mimics the tribal social structure where the workers come from. The group sets up their own goals for production and they get paid commission for every piece they produce.

"social Entrepreneurship" is what Patrick calls his enterprise. His workers used not to even have a bank account. Now they manage their money and he is even setting up an employee trust of up to 25% of the employee's income to teach them how to save and invest. The studio space has become the safe haven for the workers from many problems they face at home. It is also a source of pride for holding a job in a society where unemployment is the rule and not the exception.

Nowadays they are also learning about competition. Some places around the country have started importing the same craft made in China... So they are all putting their head together to create new revenue stream. They have started working on customized pieces. Anyone can send a picture to their studio and have it made into a prototype that can be used then for custom mass production or to make a unique one-of-a-kind piece. They are also faced with the challenge of a fluctuating currency that happens to be unpredictable, so they do not always know if they can export their work profitably. However, Patrick is confident that he will eventually be able to make himself redundant and let his people run their own company. He sees his country moving forward and is proud to say that the poverty in their midst in nothing like that of neighboring countries like Zimbabwe. South Africa has become a destination for immigration from countries like that. His people are now no longer to be pitied...