We Can’t Expect a Meal Without Placing an Order: Why Business Must Lead Policy Reform

Our business environment survey results are now public. They pinpoint exactly what needs to be fixed, where changes must happen, and who is responsible. Here is why that matters—not only for you, but for our overall strategy.  

The survey is, first and foremost, an acknowledgment of a problem. By surveying 369 businesses across our region, we set out to map the specific constraints holding back growth—because removing those constraints is the only way to unlock vital job creation. By conducting a survey that looks specifically at constraints to growth, we seek to accelerate the process of removing these constraints, thereby unlocking vital job creation.  

Our unemployment levels are at crisis levels, partly due to the decimation of our manufacturing sector which has the greatest potential job multiplier effect. Our current business environment has made conditions too difficult for businesses to compete, with prohibitively high input costs and erratic services. Unnecessary bureaucratic burdens imposed by government weigh us down, and we are missing a golden opportunity to extend prosperity beyond a select few.

But it's not enough to state the problem. With our survey we acknowledge that we as business need to take responsibility for shaping the solutions we so urgently need.  

Government may indeed spend our taxpayers' money, but are they in the best position to see what is needed in every sector, and every precinct? Can we reasonably expect bureaucrats to have the necessary line-of-sight to navigate the complexity of an economy simultaneously rooted in a contested past and adrift in a tide of geopolitical change?

Or is it our responsibility as business to make sure that government understands the key obstacles and what can be done to remove them.

Think of it this way: you cannot sit at a restaurant and expect a meal without placing an order. Similarly, if we want an economic environment that nourishes growth, business must clearly articulate its exact specification.  

Different size businesses have different needs; a business in Montagu has different constraints to one in Cape Town city centre. The survey helps us as a business community send the right messages to the right people in government, so that we can collaborate more effectively in the common purpose of accelerating growth.  

With the release of our first round of survey results, we now have a picture of business needs. The findings are both fascinating and, in some cases, surprising. They also confirm our view that we need specific solutions for specific problems – it cannot be 'one size fits all'.

This allows us to steer our work and get meaningful responses from the public sector, and for stakeholders to adjust their plans accordingly.

Lastly, the success of this survey highlights the need to expand its reach, encompassing as much of the business environment as possible.  Yes, we now have a useful sample of business responses, but we need the entire country to respond.  

We need more businesses to become actively involved in improving the business environment, rather than complaining about it. We invite you to contribute, by communicating what you need.  

You can do this by joining the Cape Chamber. We have all the critical parts needed to get this economy working really well, to steer it in the right direction.

We can't expect government to know all the opportunities and obstacles.

We all need to be actively involved, and the Chamber is a great way to start.