PROGRAMME
8:00 - 9:00 Arrival and Registration
9:00 - 9:15 Opening and Welcome
- Geraldine Reymenants (Government of Flanders)
- Gaylor Montmasson-Clair (TIPS)
9:15 - 10:30 Presentation and discussion of research findings
- Small business development in the adaptation space
- Shakespear Mudombi and Muhammed Patel (TIPS)
- The water innovation story
- Mao Amis (African Centre for a Green Economy)
10:30 - 11:00 Tea break
11:00 - 12:15: Presentations by entrepreneurs followed by group discussions
- Bulelwa Ntsendwana (EWEF Sustainable Technologies)
- Jacob Bossaer (Bosaq)
- Rori Mpete (TnM Innovations)
12:15 - 13:15: Lunch break
13:15 - 14:30: Presentations by entrepreneurs followed by group discussions
- Sabelo Domo (Arumloo)
- Mogale Maleka (AB Farms)
- Wolfgang von Loeper (MySmartFarm)
14:30-16:00: Panel discussion on support programmes/initiatives
- Grant Prince (Fetola)
- Chantal Ramcharan-Kotze (Water Research Commission)
- Claire Pengelly (GreenCape)
- Dorah Marema (Gender CC)
- Judy Abrahams (Industrial Development Corporation)
16:00: Wrap-up and closing remarks
BACKGROUND
Climate change is increasingly identified as the single most pressing challenge facing society in the 21st century. In the near future, it will have exponential and disastrous effects on economic development, social progress and environmental sustainability. Such developments render the need to adapt to expected (and unexpected) impacts paramount, in order to improve the resilience of the economy, society and the environment. Water is the primary channel through which climate change influences planetary and socio-economic ecosystems. Adaptation relies on innovative solutions. Small businesses are particularly well-suited to seize such opportunities. However, this potential remains largely unexplored. The Roundtable aims to contribute towards filling the gap between the need to adapt to climate change and the potential to bring out socio-economic development benefits in the process. It investigates the interplay between climate change adaptation and small business development in the South African context.