SA guru to address National Business Council

LEKOPANYE MOOKETSI
Correspondent | Friday July 16, 2010 00:00

 

The BOCCIM-sponsored conference will run from 26 to 29 September under the theme 'Deepening Diversification Through Private Sector Leadership.' President Ian Khama will perform the official opening. 

The NBC is held every two years. The aim of this year's conference is to explore issues of diversification while strengthening the leadership role of the private sector in the process. It is organised around a number of sub-themes, among them deepening diversification, opportunities for the private sector, the policy environment, education and skills, the business climate and public investment.

Renowned economist Dr Keith Jefferis of Ecosult addressed a media briefing on some of these topics this week.He said the conference would have an overview of Botswana's economic diversification experience and examine how much the investment thus far made in education and skills meets the needs of the economy.

The conference will also look at regulations affecting business and investment as well as discuss improving and promoting competition with a focus on the new Competition Act and Authority.

The World Bank will also come under discussion. The Executive Director of BOCCIM, Maria Machailo-Ellis, said the initiative of organising the conference was started in 1998.

Machailo-Ellis said the conference has already borne good results because some of its resolutions have informed a lot of policies. 'We had a good success in terms of resolutions,' she said. 

The Chairperson of the Organising Committee, Dr Pansiri, said they expect about 400 delegates drawn from the government, the private sector and civil society at the 'high level forum' that will tap into a mixture of local experiences and international expertise. 

The conference will make a set of recommendations for both Government and the private sector to help drive reform and enable the country to successfully meet the diversification challenge.

Meanwhile, the conference brochure shows that Godsell is the Chairperson of Business Leadership South Africa, which represents that country's 70 largest public and private companies.

South African President Jacob Zuma appointed Godsell to the National Planning Commission this year. As a South African businessman who championed workers' rights while simultaneously creating one of the most successful gold mining companies in the world, AngloGold Ashanti, he has a unique reputation.

Despite being the former CEO of AngloGold Ashanti and a former president of the SA Chamber of Mines, he has the support of both the powerful National Mineworkers' Union and COSATU's general secretary, Zwelinzima Vavi.

Golsell's rise in the mining world was extraordinary in its own right. He joined Anglo American in 1974, becoming a labour relations expert and getting involved in forming the company's employment practice policies.

He was appointed head of Anglo's gold division in 1995, and despite what many regarded as his lack of operational experience, he successfully drove the merger between AngloGold and Ghanaian gold group Ashanti, creating the world's second biggest gold mining group. 

It was also Godsell's idea to explore South Africa's potential as a gold jewellery manufacturing centre. He persuaded the world's central banks to limit their gold sales at a time when the gold price was plummeting.

Godsell co-chairs (with Vavi) the Millennium Labour Council, a body that provides for social dialogue between South African business and labour leaders. He is the non-executive chairman of Freeworld Coatings, a listed company, deputy chairman (non-executive) of Optimum Coal Holdings and a non-executive director of African Barrick Gold plc.

He is an honorary professor at Wits Business School where he teaches Philosophy of Management courses.Godsell has worked extensively on issues associated with economic development in South Africa, building upon the country's natural resource base.According to BOCCIM, with his successful business career and understanding of the regional economy, he is expected to share insights that will help Botswana's private sector lead the country's economic diversification.