Productivity SA CEO, Mr Mothunye Mothiba, to attend the Africa Kaizen Annual Conference (AKAC) in Cameroon, 4 – 5 October

Productivity SA heads to Cameroon to promote productivity improvement.

The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Productivity SA, Mr Mothunye Mothiba will address delegates at the Africa Kaizen Annual Conference (AKAC) 2022 to be held on 4-5 October 2022 in Yaoundé, Cameroon. Mothiba will attend the event as the secretary general of the Pan African Productivity Association (PAPA).

Productivity SA is the secretary general of PAPA and has been invited by the African Union Development Agency New Partnership for Africa’s Development (AUDA-NEPAD) and Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA). PAPA was founded through a declaration made by delegates representing six African countries at the 7th World Productivity Congress in Malaysia in November 1990. The objectives of PAPA are:

• To provide a forum for promoting and sharing ideas and experiences on strategies, techniques and practices for productivity enhancement, accelerated economic growth and social development in Africa.
• To encourage the development of a productivity culture in African economies in order to ensure better living standards on the African continent.
• To foster co-operation and collaboration between national productivity organisations and other related bodies in Africa as well as those outside Africa with a view to promoting sustainable growth in productivity in the economies of Africa.
• To facilitate the establishment and development of national productivity organisations, centres or institutions in all African countries.

Currently PAPA has representation in ten countries: Botswana, Namibia, Mauritius, South Africa, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Kenya, Burkina Faso, Ghana and Nigeria. Recently PAPA held its general assembly (GA) at Emperors’ Palace, Ekurhuleni from 12-13 July 2022. The GA, which is held every two years, was hosted in South Africa in a collaboration between PAPA, International Labour Organization (ILO) and the African Union Commission (AUC). One of the outcomes of PAPA’s GA is to pave the way for more African countries to join the organisation.

Mothiba said “participation at the AU’s ministerial meeting in October is critical to the success of the productivity movement in Africa. PAPA will also demonstrate to the African Union Commission the need to take a strong perspective in playing a facilitation role and providing the necessary resources to promote productivity and institutional building of NPOs of member countries”

This conference will focus on reviewing Africa Kaizen Institutes (AKI) activities in 2022 and exploring ways of streamlining them with the aspiration of Agenda 2063 and in particular efforts of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA). AUDA-NEPAD and PAPA will also sign a Memorandum of Understanding(MOU) that will see the two organisations cooperate and collaborate to enhance the functioning of National Productivity Organisations (NPOs) as a bridge to improve the productivity and competitiveness of Micro Small and Medium size Enterprises (MSMEs) and public institutions supporting and facilitating cross-border trades.

Mr Mothiba says “The conference comes at a time when most economies on the continent are still grappling with recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic and navigating the associated impact of 4IR. Many small enterprises (both formal and informal), which characterizes emerging and developing economies were severely impacted. Most had to scale down operations and others shut down, with devastating impact on Employment growth and job losses for millions of workers. What we require now is social compacts to resuscitate these enterprises and save the much-needed jobs”.

Productivity SA is the South African government entity of the Department of Employment and Labour (DEL) established under Section 31 of the Employment Services Act, No. 4, with a mandate of promoting employment growth and productivity thereby contributing to South Africa’s socio-economic development and competitiveness. The entity provides productivity and competitiveness improvement solutions to enhance the productivity and operational efficiency of enterprises throughout the business lifecycle to accelerate the creation of wealth and decent work.

ENDS

For more information, please contact the Productivity SA media liaison office, Maupi Monyemangene, on 011 848 5397/ 0824473232 or send an e-mail: maupim@productivitysa.co.za.