Be honest and show respect

manufacture of moulds for injection of thermoplastics, die casting and tools for the automotive sector. in 2015 cr Moulds established a plant in port elizabeth in the eastern cape. the company supplies several automotive manufacturers such as (volkswagen) vW, Skoda, BMW, ford or toyota, as well as other brands such as Siemens, Miele or Bosch.

for the Sa expansion, joaquim rodrigues joined forces with edwina and Morgan Waterboer to found Mcr plastics, a B-BBee level 2 company headed by Waterboer. Waterboer is a plastics engineer with more than 17 years’ experience in the oeM industry. the company’s investment allowed an expansion and investment in 1K and 2K injection moulding technology.

Mcr plastics has integrated this technology into its manufacturing facility – a process of merging hard plastic with rubber in the same cavity during injection moulding, done by very few manufacturers in Sa. this has allowed Mcr plastics to be approved as a tier 1 supplier for vWSa and tier 2 supplier for toyota Sa.

“We are speechless. this Sa investment conference has just shown how important the connection between portugal and South africa is, and no, we are not talking only on an economic level, not only regarding the business exchanged between the two countries, no! We saw, that through the environment that surrounded this whole conference, we are connected in terms and cultural ways that no one can imagine. people connect people, and we are here to stay,” said joaquim rodrigues.

the investment drive was founded in 2018 by cyril ramaphosa, soon after becoming president of the country. he set a target of reaching investment of r1.2 trillion by 2023. he has so far managed to secure about r1.14 trillion in investment pledges, reaching 95% of target.

at the 2022 conference, South africa registered 83 direct announcements which amounted to r332 billion worth of fresh commitments from investors alone. So far, r316 billion of the r774 billion pledged in the previous annual investment conference has already been invested, while the rest is still in the processing stages. Before the 2022 conference, the country had registered 152 investment pledges; 45 of these have already been completed while 57 remain under construction and 15 are said to be on hold because of the covid-19 pandemic.

the provinces of gauteng, KwaZulu-natal (KZn) and the northern cape secured the largest investment pledges from big business securing about r30 billion, r22 billion and r16 billion respectively.

in his opening address, president ramaphosa was frank about South africa’s current challenges, including the energy crisis, logistics inefficiencies, a skills shortage, and covid-19, among others. ramaphosa nevertheless called on investors to contribute to the country’s growth, saying that it is focused on reform, recovery and rebuilding. he reaffirmed his commitment to put an end to the country’s power supply crisis, port inefficiencies, slow digital migration, skills shortage and failing stateowned enterprises, which have historically hindered economic growth. he also committed government to reducing the red tape involved in doing business in the country and facilitating economic reform that will allow for economic growth.

the african continental free trade area (afcfta), which kicked in early 2021, added a new dimension to this year’s conference, in making South africa a more attractive investment destination as a gateway into the continent. the afcfta brings together 55 african union member states. South africa has for long been the first choice of many foreign companies looking for a relatively stable country on the continent to establish their regional headquarters. cabinet in a statement on friday said it was in a period of growing african integration through the african continental free trade area (afcfta), which promotes intra-african trade.

While the pledged investments are good news for Sa, many caution that there is insufficient new money in greenfield projects. it is not a flood of investment coming into South africa: it is more on a deal by deal basis, in specific sectors, where people can see an opportunity. During the panel discussions business representatives stressed what they needed the government to do to create a stable, investor-friendly environment anchored towards growth. there were calls on the government to focus on equipping young people with the relevant skills that will allow them to be significant economic participants.

joaquim rodrigues and Morgan Waterboer at the investment conference