Rotary Club Hermanus recently hosted a thought-provoking presentation titled Building bridges between Hermanus’ formal and township economies.
The speaker, marketing guru GG Alcock, has published three books on the subject, the most recent being KasiNomics Unleashed. The morning’s formal presentation was followed by a lively interactive discussion with Alcock that afternoon.
Participants included a cross-section of Hermanus businesspeople from the formal sector, NGOs operating at grass-roots level, local government and township youth.
Alcock challenged the traditional description of township business as merely informal, underdeveloped or survivalist. He presented it as a large, diverse and highly active economy, driven by entrepreneurs who understand their markets and respond quickly to changing needs.
He painted a picture of ‘kasipreneurs’ with out-of-the-box thinking, who see business development as a journey rather than an end. They identify opportunities in their own communities and find creative ways to fill them.
Although most of our townships and informal settlements are characterised by severe poverty, there’s a growing middle class that aspires to high-quality household furnishings and equipment, owns vehicles and digital devices, and is interested in personal beauty.
In Alcock’s opinion, beauty salons, informal car repair and panel-beating workshops, taverns and eateries specialising in kasi-kos (more profitable than spaza shops), as well as home rentals and efficient transport services are among the fastest-growing sectors in the township economy.
In various parts of the country, formal and informal business sectors, at corporate and local levels, have formed mutually profitable partnerships. For such an arrangement to succeed, however, Alcock emphasised, it should be based on a clearly identified community need, rather than being externally imposed.
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