A wide range of economic opportunities to grow the green economy in the province have been identified:
Management of natural resources (e.g.watershed management, alien vegetation eradication, and the payment for ecosystem services) and their harvesting and transformation into goods and services (e.g. medicinal tea, indigenous plants)
Subsistence fisheries and coastal recreation
Organic farming, especially for emerging farmer and in traditional authority areas, food security initiatives
Green tourismaccreditation, the clustering of tourism activities, niche tourism, and sourcing products from local communities.
Wind and biomass energy; the forestry reframing itself as an energy industry relating to biofuels and carbon trading; a growing energy services sector; neighbourhood mini-grids
Development of green buildingmaterials, retrofitting existing buildings, and creating decent jobs through the reintroduction of apprenticeships
Alternative road materials and fuels; to improve efficiencies in freight movement (particularly from road to rail), the reform of public transport, and the greening of road construction activities.
Foreign investment in greening initiatives in the retail and manufacturing sectors
Waste management buy back centres, 'Waste for Food', as well as reuse and recycling
Green professional services and related innovative research

Across sectors, green procurement and tendering processes provides a considerable growth opportunity for the green economy as does the potential for corporates to invest in green social responsibility projects.

TOURISM AND SPORT
Despite its distance from the affluent first world markets, South Africa ranks within the top 30 tourism destinations in the world. KwaZulu-Natal is now the market leader for domestic tourism in South Africa, as well as is number two in term of international tourism. KwaZulu-Natal has great accommodation facilities, wonderful leisure and recreation opportunities, a rich history and diverse cultures. Many interesting sites have a colourful history of heroic people, struggles and wars represented in numerous battle sites. Zulu culture and history forms a key part of the province's heritage and the Zulu monarchy of KwaZulu-Natal is the only monarchy specifically provided for in South Africa's constitution. As such KwaZulu-Natal's history and culture has not been forgotten in the face of progress.

KwaZulu-Natal boasts two World Heritage Sites - the Isimangaliso Wetland Park and the Ukhahlamba Drakensberg Park. Superb beaches of world-class quality are to be found along virtually the entire coastline. The Durban ICC remains the best conference centre in Africa and the promotion of business tourism to the province has many spin-offs for the holiday destinations. Conferences to be held at the ICC in 2011 include the 123rd International Olympic Committee Session and the COP17 Climate Conference.

The annual Tourism Indaba 2011 has become an important event on Durban's calendar. Attendance at this year's Indaba was estimated to have been between 10 000 and 11 000 delegates. The eThekwini Municipality's Head of Business Support and Tourism, Philip Sithole, said this year's Indaba, generated close to R300-million for the city's economy. "However it is important to note that this figure is based not only on the four days of the event. Many people come to Durban two days before the event starts and others leave two day after it ends," he said. "The value of having an event of this importance in Durban cannot be underestimated. It creates huge awareness of the City, especially coming after all the improvements of the World Cup last year. "Indaba puts Durban on the centre of the tourism stage and gives us the opportunity to show people all we have to offer," Sithole said.

Cruise Tourism is a burgeoning niche market and more than 60 cruise ships have visited KwaZulu-Natal since November 2010. Cruise liners include the Queen Mary, MSC Sinfoni, MSC Melody, as well as, amongst others, liners from Princess Cruises, and Crystal Cruises. The recent hosting of the Seatrade Africa Cruise Forum attracted many operators and promoted KwaZulu-Natal as a world class and globally competitive destination.

SERVICES SECTOR
The local services industry is the fastest growing sector in the local economy. A strongly performing regional economy is well correlated with the performance of the business support services sector. For the big players to function efficiently, service providers need to be operating effectively too. Many of the sub sectors such as finance, real estate and business services, and wholesale and retail trade are amongst the top performing sectors of the province's economy.

KwaZulu-Natal is deliberately positioning itself as a destination for call centres and business-process outsourcing. Investors are encouraged to invest in these sectors because of the low transport and infrastructure costs, the low attrition rate, excellent communications structure and global connectivity. The newly launched KZN BPO Park will include a plug and play Call Centre facility which investors will be able to use to fulfil their BPS needs. It will boast fully implemented call centre facilities and will cater for a maximum of 4000 call centre operators.

UNSURPASSED QUALITY OF LIFE
And if all the above reasons are not sufficient, there are even more advantages if you look, as the wider social fabric cannot be ignored. There is plenty of land, houses to suit most income groups, good medical care and education.KwaZulu-Natal offers an unmatchable combination of assets- sunshine, leisure opportunities, relaxed lifestyle, and a growing economy.

Pietermaritzburg in the Msunduzi Local Municipality is the capital city of the province. The "City of Choice" combines both style and vitality. Apart from a hub of governance, the city is a regional centre for impressive sports events, outdoor festivals, shows, education, and the arts such as the Comrades Marathon, the Duzi Marathon, the Royal Show, the Hilton Arts Festival, Art in the Park and Cars in the Park and international cycling events.

The Pietermaritzburg area is ideally positioned as a base for manufacturing, particularly aluminium, chemicals, food, furniture, timber and leather products. Many major companies, like Alltube, Willowton Oil and Hulamin have established themselves in the vicinity and further opportunities exist.

The Pietermaritzburg Airport Airlink service has recently doubled its flights to Johannesburg allowing for greater ease of access to the capital city.

eThekwini Metropolitan (Durban and surrounding towns) is the economic powerhouse of the province and a very promising global competitor. The GDP generated ranks eThekwini as the second largest economic centre behind Johannesburg. eThekwini is not only an investment capital, a tourism and leisure centre, an international logistics management centre, retail node, but also a cultural and entertainment hub. Currently, the municipality is a substantial administrative centre, providing key public services within the metropolitan area as well as to the wider region.

Recently many of KwaZulu-Natal's firms have moved their head offices to the La Lucia Ridge and Umhlanga area. Large corporations such as Unilever, Rand Merchant Bank, Discovery Health, Deloitte and Liberty Life have chosen the Umhlanga Town Centre as their address.

The impact of the King Shaka International Airport is particularly evident in the growth of Ballito, adding to its status as the fastest growing node in the country. The establishment of the iLembe Chamber of Commerce and Industry goes a long way to confirm the economic growth and potential of the region.

Ballito is experiencing major new developments and investment, including a new interchange off the N2 freeway where construction is well underway, and soon to be followed by a new four lane entrance into Ballito, which will ease traffic flow. The joint project between South African National Roads Association Limited (Sanral) and the municipality will see the improvement of the entrance to Ballito from the R102 up to the M4. Clive Greene, Pam Golding Properties' area principal said, "While Ballito remains primarily a holiday town, figures show that in excess of 50 percent of homes are now permanent residences and this is increasing rapidly as more and more residential developments come on stream as more people choose to move here."

The main Lifestyle shopping centre is being further expanded by approximately 3 000 m� to incorporate an Edgars store, and two new shopping centres are also being built with Woolworths, Game, Checkers and Pick n Pay all taking up considerable space. In addition, the business park is almost complete with new businesses constantly opening their doors. Currently under construction, The Quarter, will include showroom, retail and office space and feature a piazza-style food area. The new complex will be adjacent to an 800-seater conference centre, the first dedicated venue of its kind in Ballito, which will be operated by the Signature Group. The aim is to attract both the business and leisure markets as well as service the needs of the proposed conference centre and its out-of-town visitors. The completion date is set for the end of November 2011.

At Blythedale a new town centre is presently going through town planning which should be launched within the next three years. The approximately R60 billion development is expected to offer shopping centres, hotels business parks and residential components.

uThungulu District Municipality on the north coast of Zululand in KwaZulu-Natal perceives tourism development in the area to be a key local economic development initiative. The upgraded Umfolozi Hotel Casino Convention Resort in Empangeni will be an economic draw card for the town.

Positioned as a major domestic tourist destination, Ugu District Municipality on the south coast of KwaZulu-Natal is home to several championship golf courses, game reserves, crocodile farms and traditional cultural attractions. The Ugu Sports Complex, a new sports development initiated by the Ugu District Municipality is intended to become a catalyst for growth in the region. The development has been designed to appeal to the local community while at the same time providing world-class facilities.

GROWING FURTHER
The Government of KwaZulu-Natal recognises that investment is critical to the growth of the provincial economy and aims to ensure that it creates a conducive environment for investment to thrive. MEC for the Department of Economic Development and Tourism KZN, Mr Michael Mabuyakhulu together with Trade & Investment KwaZulu-Natal recently launched an Investment Protocol Handbook for KZN. MEC Mabuyakhulu said, "As the province of KwaZulu-Natal and the country, we have - over the past few years - made a sustained focus on removing bottlenecks and to ensure efficiencies
in order to ensure that our province becomes the investment destination of choice". The Investment Protocol Handbook serves as a guide to various business policies and processes within KwaZulu-Natal, with particular focus on the ease and cost of doing business with regard to local and foreign investments.

A number of packaged projects are available for investment from Trade & Investment KwaZulu-Natal. These include:
The Amajuba 60ha Hydroponic Tech Park
The Durban PointWaterfront
The Intathakusa Tourism Retreat
Mthonjeni Alumium Slug Plant

Currently a major theme in progress has to be that of developing synergy between the more and less developed sectors of the local economy and between the public and private sectors. A number of projects are at different stages of development around the province and face different challenges. Tongaat Hulett Development company head, Michael Deighton, said "Each specific initiative has its own dynamics. All role players in the economy need to commit themselves to working in cooperation towards the objectives of inclusive sustainable economic growth. Difficulties abound, but alignment around a common vision, with a determination not to be put off by short-term challenges will produce results beyond most people's expectations."

Premier Dr Zweli Mkhize in his State of the Province speech 2011 stated, "We call on all leaders of all formations of our people to unite and hold hands in partnership and work together to build KwaZulu-Natal and take South Africa forward."

Grant Adlam
www.topbusiness.co.za