Address by the Deputy Minister Of Telecommunications & Postal Services, South Africa, Hon. Prof Hlengiwe Mkhize, MP, at the 10th Anniversary of African Congress for Women Entrepreneurs In collaboration with 4th Cairo International Women Empowerment, Entrepreneurship and SMEs Summit, 14th Afro Arab Congress for Business and Professional Women at the Mena House Hotel, Cairo-Egypt
The Organiser, Dr. Amany Asfour – President of the Egyptian Business Women Association;
H.E Noluthando Mayende-Sibiya – Ambassador of South Africa to Egypt
Dr. Omnia Fahmi – Vice President Egyptian Business Women Association;
H.E Ambassador Mona Omar – Chair of Advisory Board, Congress of Business and Professional Women;
Dr. Yasmin Darwich – President International Federation for Business and Professional Women;
H.E Sheika Hissan Al Abdalla Alabah – President Arab Business Women Council
H.E Ambassador Inas Mekkawy – Head of Department of Women, Children and Family: Arab League
H.E Mrs. Fatima Acyl Haram – Commissioner of Trade & Industry African Union
H.E First Lady of South Sudan;
H.E Honorable Gutrude Mongula;
UN Women;
Colleagues and friends;
Introduction
On behalf of the South African government and its people, it is an honour for me to address you at this 10th Anniversary of the African Congress for Women Entrepreneurs.
We wish to express our sincere appreciation to the Government of Egypt for the warmth and hospitality provided. As a South African today, this conference comes at a critical moment where Africa’s lack of economic integration get exposed by the unfortunate cases of xenophobic attacks experienced recently in my country, South Africa.
The Government of South Africa condemns these unfortunate acts and will continue to do so until our people realize that economic integration of Africa is of critical importance not only to South Africa but the rest of the African Continent.
The South African government remains committed in ensuring that these unfortunate acts do not resurface again and will do everything possible to advance the economic integration of Africa, also focusing on Women and Youth as they are always at the receiving end of such unfortunate developments. South Africa believes that no African country can exist in isolation from other African countries.
South Africa is deeply embedded in the constitution which advocates for values of Human Dignity, Equality and Social Justice. Our first democratic government president, the late Tata Nelson Mandela once said: “South Africa belongs to all who lives in it and no one must dominate on any ground”.
The South African government has always placed the empowerment of women and youth at the forefront of its economic development.
Our country is in full support of the five key outcomes of the Beijing conference in 1995, which are:
- Promotion of women's economic rights and independence, including access to employment, appropriate working conditions and control over economic resources.
- Facilitation of women's equal access to resources, employment, markets and trade.
- Provision of business services, training and access to markets, information and technology, particularly to low-income women.
- Strengthening of women's economic capacity and commercial networks.
- Elimination of occupational segregation and all forms of employment discrimination.
- Promote harmonization of work and family responsibilities for women and men.
Twenty years down the line we are all expected to evaluate the Beijing conference outcomes. In South Africa we are pleased that as we do the evaluation we are also celebrating 21 years of our freedom which we acquired on 27 April 1994.
The Department of Telecommunications and Postal services which oversees ICTs in South Africa, to which I represent today is also making advances in using ICTs to advance the empowerment of women, not only as users, but as developers, and owners of ICT enterprises. We have commenced with nationwide consultation with civil society in our step to develop a dedicated SMME programme prioritizing women in ICTs. The discussions during this conference will enrich our consultations in ensuring that they are linked to the activities between the region and the continent as a whole. I have been invited to address myself to the topic of The Role of Women Entrepreneurs in Economic Integration of Africa and Role of Governments in the Economic Empowerment of Women and youth and support of SMEs. We are humbled by the invitation we received to join this important conference. We thank the organisers for inviting our participation and to share our experiences in this important topic.
Economic Performance of Women in the Continent
According to the United Nations Food and Agricultural Organisation women in Africa are responsible for 70% of food crop production, 50% of animal husbandry, 60% of marketing and almost 100% of food processing (cooking), in addition to child care and other household responsibilities. This shows a remarkable contribution which women have to the total economy.
South Africa’s Approach to Women Empowerment
According to the Census 2011 data from Statistics South Africa, in 2011 the country's population was about 52 million, of which 27 million (51.3%) were female and 25 million (48.7%) were male. Africans are in the majority at just over 41 million, making up 79.2% of the total population.
In September 2013, 51% of the 4.6 million unemployed were women, putting the unemployment rate amongst women at 26.7% compared to 23.1% for men. Figures in 2012 suggested that 61% of women were living in poverty, and 31% in destitution, compared to 39% and 18% of men, respectively. Women contribute immensely to the country’s economy directly and indirectly but they remain in the periphery.
Although most African States have met most of their MDGs, we have to step up the efforts for women empowerment and the African Post 2015 Developmental Agenda.
Some of the ongoing interventions in South Africa are:
1. Charters
The Charters guarantees the inclusion of women in the various sectors. I will briefly make mention of the few priority charters and their targets:
Financial Sector Charter
The Financial Sector Charter commits its participants to 'actively promoting a transformed, vibrant, and globally competitive financial sector that reflects the demographics of South Africa, and contributes to the establishment of an equitable society by effectively providing accessible financial services to black people and by directing investment into targeted sectors of the economy'.
The Charter had a 2014 target of 33% of the relevant total black representation target for black women representation at all four levels, i.e. junior, middle, senior & executive level.
Mining Sector Charter
One of the objectives of the Mining Charter is to substantially and meaningfully expand opportunities for historically disadvantaged people including women, to enter the mining and minerals industry and to benefit from the exploitation of the nation’s mineral resources.
This is particularly important because part of government’s plans is to have strategic minerals beneficiated in South Africa so as to generate more economic benefits. The benefits derived will be in terms of skills and decent jobs in the country.
ICT Sector Charter
The ICT Charter has an enhanced recognition for certain categories of black people and women form part of this category. The charter states that black women should form between 40% and 50% of the beneficiaries of all elements of the Scorecard.
2. Procurement
In order to promote procurement from local businesses government has a procurement policy which stipulates that for every supplier making business with government 75% of their goods must be locally produced. This is also a deliberate target for women.
3. Development of Critical Skills
Through institutions such as National Electronic Media of South Africa (NEMISA), government is increasing training in the ICT sector. There are also initiatives such as Girls in ICT whereby workshops are conducted countrywide to create awareness and interest in the ICT Sector amongst young girls who are still in school.
There is also an incentive from government for those companies which train their employees. All the monies used towards training employees can be claimed back as skills levies.
4. Education
The country’s National Development Plan, vision 2030 is clear on the targets which the country must reach. It has set a target of producing 5 000 PhDs and post-doctoral degrees by 2030 which will be spread across fields such as engineering and research to increase the country’s skills base whilst promoting innovation in technology.
For the out of school students we have the Sector Education Training Authorities (Setas) which are also spread across various sectors.
5. Incubation
The South African government is in support of women owned cooperatives and has specialised funding for those women who come together and form a business as a cooperative.
The Small Enterprise Development Agency (SEDA) acts as a business incubation hub whereby women in business are offered business skills such as financial management, drawing up a business plan and record keeping.
6. Land Ownership and Leasing to Rural Women
Women in the rural areas can lease land at preferential rates and be able to conduct agricultural projects which will enable them to sell their produce in bigger markets.
7. Egypt-to-South Africa Free Trade Zone
Let me congratulate Egypt for hosting the Cape to Cairo High level discussion of the Heads of States in June.
The prevailing spirit in this house gives an assurance that the Tripartite Free Trade Area (TFTA) which was first endorsed by the Tripartite Summit of Heads of State and Government in Johannesburg, South Africa in June 2011 will fulfil its expectations of improved and harmonized trade regime which reduces the cost of doing business as a result of elimination of overlapping trade regimes due to multiple memberships. This free trade area is a result of merger of the East African Community (EAC), Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) and the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA).
Twenty-six (26) countries ranging from Egypt to South Africa with a combined population of 625 million people and an aggregate GDP of 1 trillion U.S. dollars would be covered by the FTA. These figures represent half of the African Union’s membership and 58 percent of the continent’s economic activity, according to COMESA.
8. Infrastructure
Work on infrastructure development in Southern Africa, particularly through the spatial development initiative (SDIs) is a key priority. The success achieved in deepening and extending SDIs in the region has laid the basis for extending the programme across Africa in support of NEPAD objectives (such as the North-South Corridor).
Infrastructure development has been identified as a catalyst which would reinforce co-ordination and cooperation in implementing projects of all our priority sectors. The South African government’s infrastructure development plan is coordinated through the Presidential Infrastructure Coordinating Commission (PICC), which is chaired by the President himself. This twenty year project will cost over US$ 1 billion. Six hundred (600) projects have been identified in partnerships with the private sector and grouped into eighteen (18) Strategic Integrated Projects (SIPs).
The government of South Africa has invested in the undersea cable projects coming down the east and west coasts of Africa through its interests in Telkom and Broadband Infraco. These projects will create an additional eight (8) terabits of capacity for Southern Africa which is over sixty (60) times the capacity available from the SAFE cable project that preceded the two projects. The two projects connect the African continent with the rest of the world at high speeds and these increased capacities will result in a reduction in the prices of broadband connectivity.
The South African government has always been at the forefront of creating an enabling environment for modern ICT broadband infrastructure investment. In 2006, SA government was pivotal in the development and adoption of the Kigali Protocol. This is the Protocol on Policy and Regulatory Framework for NEPAD Broadband Infrastructure. This Protocol led to substantial investment made by government and private sector in the laying of submarine cables and providing infrastructure to enable more bandwidth across Africa.
To date Africa is connected to eight (8) submarine cables, which are:
- SAT3/ SAFE - Links Portugal and Spain to South Africa,
- GLO-1 - Connects Nigeria with the United Kingdom and other African countries,
- TEAMS - Connects Kenya to the rest of the world,
- SEACOM - Serves the East and West coasts of Africa,
- LION - It connects Madagascar, Reunion and Mauritius,
- EASSy - Links South Africa with East African Nations,
- MAIN ONE - links South Africa with Portugal, and
- WACS - links South Africa to the United Kingdom
This has culminated into the convergence of mobile communications and internet, radically transforming the lives of billions of people. The influence of the ICT sector can never be underestimated and we need to take advantage of the benefits derived from this for enhancement of economic inclusion.
We have put together a structure which involves leaders from across the ICT sector; this includes women leaders in government and the private sector. This structure is called South African Women in ICT. We see it as hub for transformation of the industry and youth inclusion. Similar structures have been formed in other critical sectors.
Women were previous not active in the infrastructure sector but nowadays because of the deliberate government interventions we see women actively participating.
9. SMMEs
Small and medium sized enterprises will play an important role in employment creation. According to a study conducted in Malaysia in 2013 SMMEs accounted for up to 99.2% of total business establishments. These SMMEs then account for over 3.6 million employment placements in Malaysia.
In South Africa small and expanding firms will become more prominent, and generate the majority of new jobs created. They will also contribute to the reduction of inequities in patterns of business ownership. They will be stimulated through public and private procurement, improved access to debt and equity finance, and a simplified regulatory environment.
The main reason for small firms not growing their employee numbers is the current economic environment followed by the financial constraints and skill challenges.
The challenge is therefore twofold: to create a more enabling environment for small enterprises to grow, expand their operations and employ more people; and secondly to create the conditions under which start-ups can flourish and more entrepreneurs enter the market. Government has designated the relevant Ministry of Small Business Development to ensure the SMME sector development and growth.
10. Youth
South Africa has an urbanising, youthful population. This presents an opportunity to boost economic growth, increase employment and reduce poverty.
The National Development Plan, recognising that young people bear the brunt of unemployment, adopted a “youth lens” in preparing its proposals, which include:
- A nutrition intervention for pregnant women and young children.
- Universal access to two years of early childhood development.
- Improved schooling system, including increasing the number of students achieving above 50 percent in literacy and mathematics, increasing learner retention rates to 90 percent and bolstering teacher training.
- Strengthen youth service programmes and introduce new, community based programmes to offer young people life-skills training, entrepreneurship training and opportunities to participate in community development programmes.
- Strengthen and expand the number of FET colleges to increase the participation rate to 25 percent.
- Increase the graduation rate of FET colleges to 75 percent.
- Provide full funding assistance covering tuition, books, accommodation and living allowance to students from poor families.
- Develop community safety centres to prevent crime and include youth in these initiatives.
- A tax incentive to employers to reduce the initial cost of hiring young labour-market entrants.
- A subsidy to the placement sector to identify, prepare and place matric graduates into work. The subsidy will be paid upon successful placements.
- Expand learnerships and make training vouchers directly available to job seekers.
- A formalised graduate recruitment scheme for the public service to attract highly skilled people.
- Expand the role of state-owned enterprises in training artisans and technical professionals.
These are examples of the role governments can play in Africa in the economic empowerment of women, youth and SMMEs.
Rationale for Economic Integration in Africa
In the African continent, regional economic integration has been at the forefront of economic and political discourses in Africa since 1960s. The Organisation of African Unity and the African Union have over the years promoted regional economic development.
African leaders have committed to implementing the regional economic integration agenda, recognising that without economic integration most African countries, many of them land-locked, have small domestic markets that restrict economic growth and limited individual negotiating power.
As we are all aware, most of our countries have low per capita income levels and small populations which result in limited economic markets. Indeed, small domestic markets and continental fragmentation translates into a lack of economies of scale in the production and distribution of goods and services.
We all appreciate that access to regional and international markets on more favourable terms allows trade to be an engine of economic growth. Improved efficiency within a country’s economy through reduced tariff and non-tariff barriers (NTBs), fewer barriers to market entry and lower transaction costs, including for transport, stimulates investment.
This will contribute to improved agricultural production and economic diversification, and ultimately lead to increased food security and improved welfare, including in the areas of health and education.
The need for effective implementation of the regional economic integration agenda, as a path to job creation and poverty reduction, is critical if African countries are to become internationally competitive.
Strategies for Women Entrepreneurs
Regarding the policy debate on The Role of Women Entrepreneurs in Economic Integration of Africa, I consider the following policy approaches critical for this Conferences’ consideration:
1. We need to adopt regional policy protocols and policies in our individual countries to propel forward movement on the active participation of women to our regional economic growth. We need to adopt strategies that support women to play an active role in the business environment allowing them to grow in their business development.
2. We also need adopt policy on development funding set-aside for the promotion of women businesses in our individual countries, regions and the continent.
3. We advocate for a policy for business set-aside for women businesses which will trigger aggressive growth for women entrepreneurs.
4. We must also promote massive skills development for women and youth, starting from university admission policies with an aim of delivering skilled women business entrepreneurs and professionals for the economy. We support the call for Entrepreneur Networks across the African continent, access to capital and operational knowledge; and also
5. The creation of centres where innovators can meet, share ideas, and collaborate.
The research conducted by the African Development Bank indicates that the sub-Saharan Region has the highest number of female entrepreneurs an increase ranging from 10 to 30 percent in the number of women-led enterprises over the last decade. These women are mostly owners of small businesses and local community shops serving the unmet needs of their homes and consumers.
This not only reshapes the incorrect perception that African women have marginal input in overall economic output, but a socio-economic conscious business environment that includes full support of women entrepreneurs could potentially bring millions out of poverty and reduce an alarming gender income gap seen on the African continent.
Women have dynamic and valuable characteristics, to make a particularly strong contribution to the economic well-being of the family and communities, poverty reduction and women’s empowerment.
Thus, entrepreneurship can provide a way out of poverty for women faced with few other opportunities as it may lead to greater personal autonomy and a route around discriminatory practices. In fact, some experts believe that greater female economic independence promotes geopolitical stability and world peace.
Women play a crucial role in money spending as they control the majority of the purchasing decisions in the household. This means they have the greater influence in the market and ultimately the economy.
Regional Integration and Africa’s Economic and Trade Performance
Africa’s regional integration record has not been impressive. We haven’t set up mechanisms for effective project management e.g. in the case of women we don’t have business associations and chamber of businesses led by women, we do not have the much needed critical skills for production and we do not have a direct link with the Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs).
African economies have largely been over depending on very few export products – primary commodities representing more than 80% of its total exports in recent years. Such high dependence on commodities creates severe constraints on growth due to commodity price volatility, a factor which is external to these countries and beyond the scope of their domestic policies. Many of our countries need to build the industrial capacity for diversified manufactured goods, as it is lacking.
We consider that although Sub-Saharan Africa is known to be one of the fastest growing economic regions in the world at present more must be done to concretise growth within the sound economic fundamentals and integrate within the global trading system. A change in trade composition, coupled with industrialisation, an improvement in infrastructure, and structural transformation, would be key processes in triggering sustainable growth paths in Sub-Saharan Africa.
We have seen in the recent past an adoption of economic empowerment policies adopted within countries. This is a positive development so that we improve the economic participation of women in the economy. In South Africa for example, we have been implementing a Black Economic Empowerment Policy adopted in 2002. The implementation of this policy continues in several sectors of the economy. The challenge has been to find ways in which women are promoted to play active role in the economic strata of our society in their own right.
However, we need to implement deliberate strategies that promote women in business, women in science, women in mining and women in transport and women in Information Communications Technologies. We do this in order to allow for women participation in key sectors of the economy. Our experience in this approach is that we are able to bring a cohort of stakeholders to work towards active participation of women in the economy. We are also able to mobilise relevant capacity for women to have their voice heard and to direct effort to the relevant structures in government.
In 2009, Our President, Jacob Zuma established a Ministry for Women and Children, as well as a dedicated Youth Development Agency to address women and youth issues. South Africa has also established a Commission on Gender Equality which works with various sectors of the government institutions including the Military and the police service. Recently, in June 2015, the President also announced the formation of the Ministry for Small Business Development charged with the mandate to ensure the development of small businesses in the country. These are high level political commitments to ensure that women are at the centre of what we call radical economic transformation. It further calls for more than 50% representation of women leadership in political leaderships.
South Africa and Economic Integration
South Africa supports African regional economic integration and development. This is in line with continental objectives and strategies set out by the African Union (AU) and the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD). We give particular attention to integration and development work in Southern Africa through the Southern African Customs Union (SACU) and the Southern African Development Community (SADC).
In advancing integration in both SACU and SADC, it is increasingly clear that trade integration must be complemented with more determined efforts to build diversified production capacity in the region. This is essential if the opportunities that arise from more open regional markets are to be shared equitably.
In SACU, our government Department's approach would aim to transform the customs union from an organisation held together by a common external tariff and revenue sharing formula into a vehicle for deeper integration, through coordinated economic development strategies. We would also seek to ensure that SACU is an anchor for deeper integration in SADC and engages the rest of the world as a unified trading block. In SADC, the focus will be on consolidating the achievement of the free trade area, and working to extend African integration through pursuit of the Tripartite SADC-EAC-COMESA FTA negotiations.
South Africa will continue to engage with the EU to ensure that Economic Partnership Agreements support and not disrupt - integration in Southern Africa.
Work in Africa is also underpinned by a strong bilateral country agenda. South Africa pursues a systematic methodology that includes strategic and technical missions that identify areas of cooperation with partner countries. These generally include cooperation to promote infrastructure development, trade and investment and offers technical assistance particularly for institutional and policy building. This work will continue on the basis of stronger involvement and coordination with South African business that will ensure a broad based engagement in African development activities.
Interventions by the Department on Telecommunications and Postal Services
The Department strives to contribute to realising the objectives of the Africa Connect goals adopted by the African Union. We are undertaking policies and strategies for investing in Broadband. Recently our government adopted the South Africa connect – Broadband Policy to bolster broadband connectivity in the country. We aim to connect cities and towns, villages and rural areas, government centres and business centres with high speed capacity broadband for improved service delivery. It is important for our government to modernise e-government for online service delivery and this is our priority for the medium term of government strategy. My Department of Telecommunications and Postal Services in South Africa will continue implementing its mainstreaming programmes this year in line with departmental priority projects, focusing on Gender Equity, Children’s Empowerment and Protection, Youth Development and Disability.
The Department will implement the following targets:
- ICT and Gender mainstreaming promoted through the implementation of the Mobinet and Techno Girl projects
- ICT and Children mainstreaming promoted through the implementation of Child Online Protection programmes across all Provinces
- ICT and Youth mainstreaming promoted through the implementation of e-Social Cohesion Programme across all Provinces
- ICT and Disability mainstreaming promoted through the implementation of the ICT Accessibility Programme.
Making use of the regulatory authority to ensure that there is a balance between commercial aspirations and developmental objectives.
Working together as regional economies through a revived strong and vibrant women’s movement, women are best positioned to be the face of a revolutionary economic inclusive agenda.
