While the COVID-19 pandemic has widely stymied South Africa\u2019s economic activity, some of the country\u2019s largest conglomerates say there is a silver lining.<\/p>\n
A standout example, the third annual South Africa Investment Conference in Sandton, Johannesburg, heard on Wednesday, is Aspen Pharmacare.<\/p>\n
Two years ago, the company vowed to invest R3.4 billion \u2013 the single largest pharma investment ever in the country \u2013 for further development in the company\u2019s steriles capabilities.<\/p>\n
Stavros Nicolaou, Aspen senior executive, said this has proven to be a sought-after capability during the COVID-19 pandemic.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe capability was original and aimed at manufacturing anaesthetic products \u2013 general, regional and topical. This is all complex to manufacture and will turn Port Elizabeth into the world\u2019s single biggest manufacturing hub for anaesthetics.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is quite an achievement for the country,\u201d Nicolaou said.<\/p>\n
Aspen Pharmacare built a new pharmaceutical manufacturing plant in Nelson Mandela Bay, which was one of the first investment pledges at the inaugural conference.<\/p>\n
In a joint spin-off of the collaboration with pharmaceutical giant, Johnson & Johnson, the company has already manufactured 300 million doses of the COVID-19 vaccine candidate.<\/p>\n
\u201cAll is going well with the clinical trial\u2026 [It is a] vote of confidence in South Africa\u2019s capabilities. Johnson & Johnson are a large multinational and partnering with a South African company speaks volumes, and it shows that the globe is starting to see us differently,\u201d said Nicolaou.<\/p>\n
However, Airports Company South Africa (ACSA) chief executive, Mpumi Mpofu, said the global aviation industry had not been spared the effects of the pandemic\u2019s economic fallout.<\/p>\n
\u201cSince 2019, the sector has lost $104 billion and the forecasts indicate a reduction in passenger revenue of 60%,\u201d Mpofu said. <\/p>\n
In the face of these challenges, the company has had to rethink its business approach. The recovery plan, Mpofu said, has been guided by the lifting of the national lockdown levels.<\/p>\n
\u201cPrincipally, we\u2019ve had to think about a tactical strategy that has helped us to recover the aviation sector in South Africa,\u201d said Mpofu, adding that they have had to cut capital projects.<\/p>\n
During last year\u2019s SA Investment Conference, ACSA committed to investing R15 billion in its network of airports. This, however, has nearly ground to a halt due to the pandemic.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve literally had to cut down to R1 billion per year as a result. We have also had to cut our operational expenditure, and position the company to respond with resilience to what is a complex aviation sector,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Among the interventions the company is considering is diversifying its revenue.<\/p>\n
Telkom chief executive, Sipho Maseko, said the company experienced \u201ca high level of innovation\u201d during the pandemic.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve seen both the capabilities of the private sector and the State being brought together to disrupt the pandemic. For instance, from Telkom, we\u2019ve made our experts, our data scientists, available. They worked with the Department of Health and developed a solution to track the disease,\u201d Maseko said.<\/p>\n
The company has also seen how agile and resilient the private sector can be.<\/p>\n
\u201cInstead of shutting down, we\u2019ve seen the economy move from the CBD into our neighbourhoods – where you have to run your big corporates from the comfort of your home. That\u2019s where Telkom and our counterparts in the ICT sector have had to provide network connectivity and a backbone for the economy to stay resilient,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Stefano Marani, CEO of emerging natural gas and helium producer, Renergen, said the company had begun construction of the first phase of the Virginia Gas Project, a pilot project that is expected to come online 2021.<\/p>\n
Renergen was awarded production rights in 2012.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat is probably the key take away message that South Africa needs to grasp and tackle if it is to be serious about bringing natural resources in the energy sector online,\u201d said Marani.<\/p>\n
He bemoaned what he described as \u201ca lot of red tape\u201d, saying this made it difficult to get things done.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis nine-year journey doesn\u2019t even capture the eight years before that in getting the production rights. Although it\u2019s great that we are getting these gas finds, it\u2019s a very long process. Getting rid of the red tape is significant if we are to get these assets on line,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
On a positive note, Marani believes South Africa is massively naturally endowed with \u201cfantastic opportunities\u201d. – SAnews.gov.za<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" While the COVID-19 pandemic has widely stymied South Africa\u2019s economic activity, some of the country\u2019s largest conglomerates say there is a silver lining. A standout example, the third annual South Africa Investment Conference in Sandton, Johannesburg, heard on Wednesday, is Aspen Pharmacare. Two years ago, the company vowed to invest R3.4 billion \u2013 the single […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[38678],"class_list":{"0":"post-172517","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-south-africa","7":"tag-sanews","8":"entry"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/172517","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=172517"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/172517\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=172517"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=172517"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=172517"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}