The KwaZulu-Natal office is one of the Industrial Development Corporation’s (IDC) most successful regional offices in the country. The office is the second-busiest office in terms of transactions, beaten only by the corporation’s head office in Johannesburg. Having disbursed R1.2 billion in the 2016 financial year, the office is truly delivering on the IDC’s commitment to advancing regional economies. The office accounted for close to 35 000 jobs that were either created or saved by the IDC in the last 10 years.

Pat Moodley, regional manager for the IDC in KwaZulu-Natal, is passionate about shoes and fabric as they create jobs. However, his biggest motivation is a passion for his province to succeed.

The IDC also invested R814 million in the textiles, clothing and leather goods industry as at December 2016 as well as R779 million in the basic metal industry during the same period.

Opportunities for entrepreneurs
KwaZulu-Natal is truly the province with all industries, and the IDC in the region tries to capitalise on this. “This is a diversified province that comes with a number of industries, from textiles, agro-processing, tourism, chemicals to the automotive industry,” says Moodley.

One of the province’s biggest economic drivers is the Port of Durban, which is the largest in the southern hemisphere and among the top 50 busiest ports in the world. There is also a seaport at Richards Bay, and these two ports make it attractive to potential import and export entrepreneurs.

“The IDC’s mandate is to create jobs and we need to fund more businesses that do just that. “Clothing and footwear are two areas that have low capital expenditure, but high job creation,” said Moodley. “My responsibility is to find these businesses so that we can fund them and increase the IDC’s footprint and to stimulate our regional economy. “We proactively go out to meet with stakeholders. I look at what the opportunities are and then try to get all the stakeholders [government and industry] together to capitalise on these. We also involve other financiers because together we can make it work.”

The KwaZulu-Natal office’s success grows out of the relationships it has forged with government, private businesses and clients since its inception. One of its more valuable partners is in the South African retail space. Because of this partnership, a number of the IDC’s textile clients have become suppliers to a South African retail clothing giant.

Making a wave through textiles
While South Africa’s textile industry has seen a significant decline since the early 2000s as a result of increasing global competition, government, in collaboration with the IDC, is trying to resuscitate this jobs-rich industry.

“Textiles, clothing and footwear are my passion. It is heartwarming to see our investment create permanent jobs. “If one person has a job, they are feeding five to seven other people per household.”

One of the reasons textiles has had a resurgence in South Africa is because imports from the East are no longer cheap. Production costs have increased and the turnaround time for high fashion items can be anything up to three months, and local retailers want it faster.

“Local manufacturers can respond more quickly to these high fashion requirements, and their turnaround is much quicker. Large companies are tending to move to locally produced goods if the quality and price are right.” “If South African consumers were more conscious about buying local, it would have a major impact, we would create more jobs and the standard of living would go up.”

The Production Incentive Programme, one of the funds specifically aimed at the textiles industry, funds textile businesses to invest in new technologies and equipment to achieve higher efficiencies.

With KwaZulu-Natal being one of three provinces that account for the lion’s share of activity in South Africa’s textile industry, the KZN Clothing and Textiles Cluster estimates that the industry accounts for thousands of jobs in the province.

Into the future
With a solid team who have a drive for fulfilling their office’s mandate, Pat has a clear vision for his office to achieve even more than they have in the past few years. With his efforts being directed towards advancing women, the youth and black industrialist, Pat and his team have their work cut out in boosting the KZN’s economy and created much needed jobs.