President Ramaphosa initiated his State of the Nation Address with a reflection on the historical origins of dispossession and alienation of the majority of this countrys citizens as a result of the implementation of the Natives Land Act. He noted that: The effects of that law are still present with us.

This marginalisation process was taken to its logical conclusion through the consolidation of all apartheid-related laws and practices. From a business perspective, this process has left us with a legacy of vastly unrealised potential in our human capital and an impoverished marketplace. Given the head start that our mineral wealth and agricultural production gave us, the current circumstances that we find ourselves in is nothing short of tragic, the result of limited and misdirected vision. Looking to the East provides examples of what could have been for our country.

President Ramaphosa, in his State of the Nation Address touched on the many challenges that we face and, the need to create a fresh vision for our future.

We at BusinessFit believe in business capacity to make an enormous contribution to the new dawn, we believe that business should adopt our presidents theme: Thuma Mina; namely, Send Me (Us). Our position is that business cannot change the past, neither the formative years of the marginalisation process nor the recent lost nine years. We apply thoughtful strategies in response to challenging and ever-changing circumstances. We rise to every occasion!
Political agendas are rarely founded upon sound business sense (consider Brexit). As such, business, as a collective, has to take action to address the clear and present dangers facing us. In terms of King IV, we have a responsibility to all of our stakeholders to create and sustain an environment which mobilises all the talent available to us!

BusinessFit was founded upon the realisation that the gainful employment of our people and, especially our youth, is the key to economic growth. This growth will be achieved through fuelling market demand and, creating opportunities for personal growth through meaningful engagement in business.

BusinessFit was founded upon the vision of a fully inclusive economy, both in terms of employment opportunities and, direct participation in business. One does not have to delve too deeply into research findings to confirm that the most successful and sustainable creator of jobs is the small business sector; driven by entrepreneurs.

BusinessFit has developed a model which, through the enabling environment provided by BBBEE legislation and, common sense, serves to discover entrepreneurs who have established potentially going concerns, to help them grow their business understanding and skills and then integrate them into a supply chain, on the basis of mutually beneficial business relationships.

Our focus to date has been to support the development of emerging business into sustainable and growing enterprises with ever increasing capacity to create employment opportunities. We have well-documented success stories in this regard but, what of the plight of those desperately seeking employment? Those young people who, often with the odds against them, have achieved a level of education, those whose innate abilities have not been discovered, those who have no opportunity to discover their talents and to apply them.

BusinessFit is well positioned, through the capabilities within our own team members and our diverse networks to support established business entities in the discovery, development and mobilisation of talent, as employees; either existing or, future. People who are truly business fit; contributing to business objectives. Again, enabling legislation, which makes provision for the funding of job creating and job enrichment initiatives exist. This includes the recognition of skills development effort and learnerships, for example.

BusinessFit is about developmental and sustainability strategies not, simply doing things to gain BEE points; we advocate, guide and support what makes good business sense!

Be strategic, be Sent!

For more information please contact Tel: +27 (0)31 767 0625 E-mail: info@businessfit.co.za Website: www.businessfit.co.za