Where to now Knysna business?

Property and tourism have provided the economic climate - now it’s up to business to build on that foundation
ED HARRIS of the Knysna Business Chamber looks at an exciting new initiative

The Garden Route, and particularly Knysna, is booming, bringing in property owners with a wealth of expertise, ready to invest not only their capital but their knowledge and experience in the area. Because of the price of property, these investors are generally affluent and unlike in the past, have not necessarily come here to retire. Investors need an outlet for their capital.
Knysna is already the flavour of the month property-wise and “Town Of The Year 2003”, but can the same be said of business? Despite having an active Chamber of Business, at the moment the answer is probably no. The root of the problem probably lies in the fact that Knysna is largely tourist orientated, as opposed to George which is more Manufacturing and Industry based.
Where to now Knysna business? The Knysna Chamber has come up with an innovative initiative to stimulate local business by the establishment of a local Business Centre. A committee has already been appointed to look into the matter and over the past few weeks has been hard at work liaising with interested parties. Two successful meetings have been held at the Municipal offices to which, on the second occasion, NAFCOC, Black Caucus, Sedgefield and Plett Chambers, Tourism, Garden Route Investments, Knysna Chamber and Knysna Municipality, were invited. Not everybody attended but the turnout and enthusiasm was encouraging. Dr Wolfgang Thomas, the former Chairman of WESGRO, will guide the initiative.
The idea is to establish a 2 000m˛ Business Centre which will amongst other things house a permanent Secretariat and Information Centre for the Chamber, as well as a representative of the Municipality; provide space for local enterprises to showcase their businesses including emerging businesses from all communities; cater for tourists by providing ATMs, Internet, fax and photocopy facilities and an import/export desk. Black empowerment will feature prominently and courses for emerging entrepreneurs will be high on the agenda. George has an existing Business Centre called the Southern Cape Business Centre but although this has apparently proved highly successful, it is an NGO. This model will not necessarily be followed in Knysna. It is understood that this does not have the direct backing of the Municipality but it does have the support of the Department of Trade and Industry.
By contrast, the idea has been enthusiastically accepted by the Knysna Municipality in the person of the Manager of Operations, Mr Richard Martin, which is an added bonus because the Chamber does not have the resources to run with the idea by themselves. At a recent meeting Mr Martin said, “I fully support the concept and will mobilise all the necessary resources at my disposal to see that the project comes to fruition”.
A possible site has already been identified for the Business Centre but this is still subject to negotiation. Suffice to say that it is very central (in the CBD) and there is every possibility of acquiring the premises on very favourable terms.
The establishment of a “Business Centre” will place business on even terms with property and tourism and will ensure that Knysna becomes a growth point with obvious spin-offs such as employment and reduced crime. This extends not only to the formal but also to the informal sectors, resulting in a win-win situation for all concerned.