One Awards Trade Mission to South Africa
1st October 2019 Date of publication
One Awards Managing Director, Fabienne Bailey recently visited South Africa as part of a North East trade mission with Business Durham and The Department of International Trade and Development. The aim of the mission was to build on the North East’s strong relationship with South Africa and to explore the country’s export opportunities.
The mission began in Johannesburg where days 1 and 2 were hosted by the Chamber of Commerce, the Trade Commissioner and the Deputy High Commissioner.Trade and investment opportunities were presented by a number of speakers which included much detail on the BB-BEE – Broad Based Black Economic Empowerment.
BEE as it is more widely referred to is a policy of the South African government which encourages companies to help transform the country. BEE is about broad-based activities that benefit black people.
Business matching took place with a number of organisations interested in partnering with NOCN Group including:
Coachability – who we are exploring the opportunity of working together to offer training and development to empower women and girls in rural communities.
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Day 3 -5 of the programme were spent in Durban, again hosted by the Provincial Chamber of Commerce. We had the opportunity to present our businesses to 110 local partners and we had a ‘speed dating’ session with them all. Billions of pounds of investment are being spent on developing Ku-Zulu Natal province where Durban is situated. It has a vast coastline ripe for the hotel and leisure industry, a huge port area which is currently on a 3 year expansion plan connecting container trade with the world. Durban is the 3rd largest port in the whole of Africa (it is the largest in South Africa). The CEO of the Durban Chamber of Commerce, Palesa Phili, is very interested in working with us directly to support apprenticeship development for Durban businesses. we also have interest from the South Africa Women in Construction partnership who would like to consider our qualifications and bespoke accreditation to support more women in to construction.
Overall, the mission was a success in developing new relationships with key international partners and we are now putting together formal proposals with each organisation.
