Mayoress joins thought leaders at Leadership Exchange
19 October 2015
Pilisiwe Twala-Tau, CEO of Toti Capital and wife of Johannesburg Executive Mayor Councillor Parks Tau, was on Saturday October 17 one of the major speakers at a symposium organised by Leadership Exchange, a non-profit organisation that facilitates conversations and promotes thought leadership among entrepreneurs, professionals, academics, students and opinion makers.
Held at Mapungubwe Hotel in downtown Johannesburg, the symposium sought to start trading ideas and sharing innovative solutions to help mitigate the continent’s challenges.
Twala-Tau – who had just arrived from the Women Advancement Forum in Dubai in the United Arab Emirates, where she was presented with an award for her work in uplifting women and children – told the symposium that Africans needed to create 24-hour cities, build more connections on the continent and help change people’s their mindset to be pro-Africa.
She also said the co-operatives concept, which had been successfully implemented in countries such as Bangladesh, was gaining traction in Johannesburg as members held each other accountable.
“But there’s a lack of integration between the public and private sectors. The public sector is the biggest employer in the country. That’s an anomaly. “We also need to harness technology to create more synergy between entrepreneurs in Africa.”
She said it could not be right that trucks had to wait at the Beit Bridge border post for five days for clearance in and out of South Africa.
“And we need to stop being armchair critics. We need active citizenry,” said Twala-Tau.
The Leadership Exchange is open to anyone wishing to assist in tackling Africa’s challenges through active citizenry and participation in dialogue and programmes around technology, media, socioeconomic initiatives, governance, entrepreneurship, leadership, skills development, training and educational matters.
Sanele Zondi, the founder and chairman of the exchange, said she believed Africa was ready to stage its own economic engagement gathering modelled around the World Economic Forum, featuring the continents distinguished thought leaders.
The other speakers at the weekend’s symposium were Thembinkosi Nzimande, the first black president of the South African Forum for Civil Engineering Contractors; Sizwe Nxedlana, Chief Economist at First National Bank; and Napo Ramodibedi, CEO of Mendi Maritime Services. Nzimande told the gathering that black business needed to be treated equally and measured the same way as white business.
“It can’t be right that black business has to walk through invoices from one department to another. This opens black business to all sort of pressures to ensure that the invoice is paid,” Nzimande said.
Ramodibedi said the only way South African business could succeed on the continent was to present a united SA Incorporated front and offer clients turnkey solutions.
“South African companies are struggling on the continent when it comes to getting government work because of their fragmented approach. These companies need to offer a packaged total solution,” he said.
Nxedlana said he did not share the rosy outlook regarding the economic performance of sub-Saharan Africa as the region had failed to diversify and had put its eggs in one basket, becoming too reliant on commodities.
“But blacks in South Africa can’t also think of making it big on the rest of the continent when they haven’t won their home game. The laws are in their favour and opportunities abound for entrepreneurs,” he said.