Jobs are not created through government announcements, but by people using their resources to start and build businesses, former finance minister, Nhlanlha Nene, said in Midrand last week at the opening of a new Cash Converters store in Sanridge Square

“The inactivity of broad sections of our society reduces the country’s potential for economic growth and development. Therefore inclusive growth must, by definition, increase the participation of South Africans of working age,” he said.

Nene said he agrees with the OECD observation that a more dynamic business environment with higher rates of entrepreneurship and where small businesses are growing, can contribute to job creation. Other research has confirmed the OECD finding that South Africa lags far behind other emerging economies regarding starting new businesses. “To halve unemployment, South Africa must create an environment conducive to entrepreneurship.”

He also emphasised the importance of financial inclusion. “We have made remarkable progress with financial inclusion, with our measure at 85%. Financial inclusion is especially important for the poor who will easily fall into vicious poverty traps when hit by unforeseen emergencies. Access to credit and insurance not only helps the poor to raise their standard of living, but also prevent their living standards from falling sharply in an emergency.”

The economy will only grow if people create more new businesses and employ more people. “Government can only tax profitable businesses and employed people who have money to buy goods and services. In simple terms, this is how you get growth going and create a pool of revenue that government can use for the needs of the poor,” he said.

Richard Mukheibir, managing director of Cash Converters, said every time a new store opens, 12 new jobs are created. “We are contributing to the development of the country with our franchise stores. We create jobs as the world’s largest franchised trader of second-hand goods and we are promoting financial inclusion through our range of personal cash loans to give people who would not otherwise qualify for credit, access to cash.”

About Cash Converters

Cash Converters Southern Africa was co-founded in 1994 when Richard Mukheibir (Managing Director) and Peter Forshaw (Financial Director) bought the licence to establish a master franchise of the Australian brand, the world leader in trading and marketing second-hand goods and now the world’s largest cash and asset converter. Cash Converters Southern Africa purchases merchandise from customers, enabling them to have instant access to cash. Since 2007, it has also offered short term loans against a customer’s valuables or against their salary.  Cash Converters Southern Africa is built on a solid foundation of franchisee owner operators, guided by core values of passion, professionalism, integrity, respect and collaboration. It has already empowered nearly 100 franchisees to run their own businesses and create their own wealth. Each franchise store, in turn, provides job opportunities for an average of 12 employees, each supporting about five other people. This network of businesses is supported by robust processes and systems and ongoing training programmes for franchisees and staff.

Dynamic growth of up to 20% per annum has created more than 80 Cash Converters franchise stores in Southern Africa (as at 1 July 2017). These stores process over 2.2 million transactions a year and have a combined annual turnover in excess of R1.2bn across all products and services.

They are part of the rapidly expanding Cash Converters International network of more than 700 stores around the world. These can be found in such diverse countries as Australia, the founding country, the United Kingdom, Thailand, New Zealand and the UAE, as well as South Africa. Cash Converters Southern Africa was a finalist for the Franchise Association of South Africa Franchisor of the Year Awards in 2014, 2015 and 2016.

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