By forcing people to stay at home, Covid-19 lockdowns accelerated the development of township businesses to the point where many residents now support them and simply refuse to return to pre-pandemic shopping habits. In this fascinating interview, entrepreneur, author and informal economy specialist GG Alcock explains how South African retailers are waking up to this reality, and have launched a land grab into communities inhabited by 'Kasipolitans. Alcock also rips into the ANC's waste of taxpayer funds to subsidise its '500 black industrialists', a group of cadres who qualify for 'Stalinist' style taxypayer handouts through their connections rather than business acumen. Taxpayers would be far better served, he reckons, were SA's government to acknowledge already successful township entrepreneurs who have succeeded by overcoming daunting odds - and whose businesses would rocket with even a modicum of financial support.
29 сен 2024