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Unpacking South Africa's Road to Building Back Better, Fairer and Greener: Unpacking the Green Economy Ecosystem: Business Development Support Services for Local Green Entrepreneurs

  • Date: Wednesday, 01 June 2022
  • Venue: Webinar
  • Organisation: TIPS, GEC AND EU
 
Presentations
 
Unpacking the Green Economy ecosystem: Business development support services for local green entrepreneurs (Ulrik Jorgensen, Development Policy Advisor, EU Delegation to South Africa)
 
Introducing Future Females green economy programs (Lauren Dallas, Co-Founder and CEO of Future Females)
 
Support to SMMEs during DOVID-19 and adapting to climage change measures (Rest Kanju, Esecutive Director and Head of Operations, Indalo Inclusive SA
 
A Just Energy Transition: Unpacking the Green Economy ecosystem: (Helmut Hertzog, General Manager, SAREBI - South African Renewable Energy Business Incubator)
 
Unlocking impact and prosperity on the African continent ( Dr Audrey Verhaeghe, CEO Anza Capital, and Chairperson SA Innovation Centre) 
 
Media
 
 
Background
 
The COVID-19 pandemic and associated policy responses have disrupted economies and societies worldwide, deepening poverty, inequality and unemployment. Governments have responded through (often large) policy packages aimed at cushioning negative impacts on households and businesses, and reigniting the economy. Furthermore, strong calls for a “better, fairer and greener” recovery have led many governments to commit additional resources towards the transition to a green economy. Green recovery efforts and a just transition to an inclusive green and inclusive economy offer an opportunity to develop and implement a shared vision of resilience and sustainability. Yet, questions remain about the inclusivity and green credentials of recovery packages. South Africa is no exception and such debates are vivid in the country.
 
This TIPS webinar, in collaboration with the Green Economy Coalition (GEC) and the Delegation of the European Union to South Africa, unpacks South Africa’s recovery efforts from a green economy perspective. It unpacks the Green Economy Ecosystem and sheds light on the need for increased support for local green entrepreneurs. Ecosystem builders sharee details of recovery initiatives that provide enhanced business development support services to assist SMEs to building back  better greener.
 
Programme
 
Welcome and introduction
 
Elize Hattingh, Researcher, Trade & Industrial Policy Strategies (TIPS)
 
Overview of Green Economy Ecosystem SME Initiatives
  • Ulrik Jorgensen, Development Policy Advisor, Delegation of the European Union to South Africa
  • Nigel Gwynne-Evans, Team Leader, Ecosystem Development for Small Enterprise (EDSE) Programme
  • Lauren Dallas, Co-Founder and CEO of Future Females (Green Tech Programme)
  • Rest Kanju, Esecutive Director and Head of Operations, Indalo Inclusive SA
  • Ntsiki Gumbe, Acting Executive Director, Youth Bridge Trust
  • Billy Bokako, Seniro Manager of the Climate innovation Centre South Africa and Acting General Manager of the Green Economy Unit at the Innovation Hub
  • Dr Audrey Verhaeghe, CEO Anza Capital, Chairperson, SA Innovation Summit
  • Helmut Hertzog, General Manager, SAREBI - South African Renewable Energy Business Incubator
  • Hilton Theunissan, Managing Director South Africa and VP Global Partnerships, GrowthWheel
About the speakers and panelists
 
Ulrik Jorgensen is Development Policy Adviser to the EU Delegation in Pretoria, where he leads the Team Europe activities for a just and green recovery of the South Africa's Economy. He is a senior diplomat and development professional with more than 25 years of experience from Danida, where his work has focused on green transition, access to finance and jobs creation.
 
Nigel Gwynne-Evans is the Team Leader for the Ecosystem development for Small Enterprise (EDSE) Programme, an EU-funded initiative to support the small business ecosystem in South Africa. It is based at the Department of Small Business and is a five-year programme. Nigel holds a Master's degree in Economics at the University of London and degrees from Stellenbosch University. His career in the development world includes five years as the sector economist at Wesgro, 16 years as Chief Director at the Western Cape Department of Economic Development and four years at the Department of Trade and Industry.

Rest Kanju is the Director and Head of Operations of Indalo Inclusive South Africa NPC and is running the Indalopreneur South African Green and Inclusive Enterprise Awards and Support Programme.

Ntsiki Gumbe is the Acting Executive Director and a member of the Youth Bridge Trust (YBT) Board. YBT's primary focus is on building local youth development ecosystems by empowering community-based organisations to deliver quality programmes to youth at grassroots level. Some of its work includes empowering unemployed youth with entrepreneurial and intrapreneurial skills that will grow youth employment and entrepreneurship in sectors such as the green economy and agriculture.

Lauren Dallas is the Co-Founder and CEO of Future Females. She is a serial lifestyle entrepreneur, growth hacker and social media expert. Lauren supports female-owned entrepreneurs to create their dream online businesses - to live on their own terms, work in their own time and generate both profit and massive impact.

Audrey Verhaeghe is the Chairperson of the SA Innovation Summit and a Pan African Tech start-up enthusiast and ecosystem builder. She leads Anza Holdings, which includes innovation, scalable entrepreneurship and early-stage investment companies such as the SA Innovation Summit, the Research Institute for Innovation and Sustainability (RIIS) and Anza Capital. Audrey is an ecosystem activist and contributor in entrepreneurship. She has received various awards for her contribution in terms of early stage innovation and enterprise development in South Africa. Investment readiness of start-ups is her current focus and drive.

Billy Bokako is the Senior Manager of the Climate Innovation Centre South Africa and Acting General Manager of the Green Economy Unit at the Innovation Hub. He has over 15 years' industry experience, gained from the power cables industry, the automotive industry as well as the enterprise development sector. Prior to joining the Innovation Hub, Billy worked for the CSIR as an Enterprise Development Portfolio Manager, where he led research into new enterprises and commercialisation of various research in the fields of agro-processing, ICT, nano-technology, lithium batteries and the green economy, among others.

Helmut Hertzog is the General Manager at SAREBI - South African Renewable Energy Business Incubator. He has a decade of active service in the renewable energy industry and two decades of business and strategy development experience.

Hilton Theunissen is the Managing Director for South Africa and VP Global Partnerships at GrowthWheel. He launched a new set of Sustainable Development business tools that was piloted with a group of unemployed graduates (youth).

About the facilitator:

Elize Hattingh is a Researcher at TIPS. She has been actively involved in promoting the sustainable development agenda for more than 15 years.

Event details
 
Wednesday 1 June 2022

GRD logo x 3 strip
 
The Green Recovery Dialogues comprise four webinars
 
Next event: Save the date!
20 July - Session 4: Access to Inclusive Finance for Local Green Entrepreneurs in South Africa. Register here: 

Past Events
15 February - Session 1: South Africa’s recovery and stimulus package by global standards - Launch event of the Green Economy Tracker. See details including video of the session here.
6 April - Session 2: The EU’s Green New Deal and its implications for South Africa. See details including video of the session here.

 
 
 
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