There are a growing number of one-stop-shops (OSS) being established by governments around Africa designed to improve the experience of private investors, both domestic and foreign. Over the last two years I’ve worked with GIZ to support the establishment of a number of state-based OSS in Niger, Ogun and Plateau States. The Niger State One…
Photovoice: Street Life in Ivory Park
The recently released Participate report, Work With Us (see my previous post), contains a short case on an interesting photographic assignment that was conducted in Ivory Park, South Africa. Ivory Park is a large township in the City of Johannesburg. The landscape is densely settled, and the street is central to people’s lives, providing space for…
Innovation in business registration
For some years, the system for business registration in South Africa has been in crisis and in recent years there has been a process of reform designed to improve this problem. I have been involved in various business environment reform programmes in a number of countries that focus on business registration and licensing, much of…
Re-regulating business licensing in South Africa
Cartoon by Zapiro, The Times, 30 April 2013 In March and April this year, the South African Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) and its minister, Rob Davies, found themselves in a storm of protest over the attempt to introduce a new law on business licensing – Government Notice 231 of…
Business Development in Renewable Industries – toward sustainable solutions that minimise carbon emissions and boost rural employment
As the United Nations Climate Change Conference (7-18 December 2009) begins this week, I am reminded of a business I came across the other day in the small town of Ladybrand in the Free State Province of South Africa. Willi’s Energy Savers began thirty years ago making solar hot water systems. While manufacturing these systems in a…