Know How - Starting a Business in Port Elizabeth

About Port Elizabeth

Port Elizabeth, also known as “Windy City”, has the advantage of reaching out to all amenities within a reach of 15 minutes’ drive from the international airport. Port Elizabeth is one of the largest cities in South Africa and it offers an inland metro service which connects Cape Town with other inland cities namely Uitenhage and Despatch. It is situated in Eastern Cape Province, which is 478 miles east of Cape Town.

The town was founded in 1820 to provide housing facility to British colonists. Presently this city is populated with over 1.3 million.

Post-apartheid era, Port Elizabeth has faced certain issues with regard to low investment chances, deadly disease like HIV/AIDS and an a day on day increase in crime owing to the high level of poverty rate thus highlighting a need for better employment opportunities to employment. Though with the introduction of 2 Industrial Development zone, foreign direct investment have improved over a period of time in Port Elizabeth. With many of such numerous efforts, it has successfully been able to attract excess R140 billion to its investment account into the economy of the Eastern Cape.

Various amenities of this city like harbor, the city center and waterfront were refurbished for 2010 FIFA World Cup, but it could not match it with the rival Cape Town.

Port Elizabeth, also popular as “Windy City” has a marine & oceanic climate wherein winters are cool, but mild and summers are warm but considerably less humid and hot.

Economy of Port Elizabeth

Port Elizabeth has been one of the major contributors in building the economy and trade in this city. The major source of boosting economy are Tourism, Automotive Industry.

Port Elizabeth being one of the important cities of Eastern Cape has tremendous growth prospects. Presently the growth is a decent 5.3% annually.

Automotive, Manufacturing, Agriculture is the three important crucial industries. Investing in priority sectors, namely Agriculture, Tourism and project development units, etc. that attracts lot of benefits and coaching from government and local municipal authorities.

Since 69% of the entire population belongs to the area stricken by poverty, hence the city’s local municipal administration is committed towards having an increasingly modern and export oriented economy.

The government is playing an effective role in promoting development and creating opportunities in attracting entrepreneurs & investors. “Building Two Industrial development zones” and “detailed and written down Industrial Policy” are few of the options extended to the investors & entrepreneurs for providing a cohesive environment of growth.

How to start business in Port Elizabeth

• Opportunity Analysis – One must study and do a proper SWOT analysis before getting into any business venture. It is critically & crucial to be aware of the reason for gap in the market and what has given rise to the gap. For e.g., the city’s local infrastructure is primary reason for slow growth opportunities. Port Elizabeth’s bus rapid transit building system process has got delayed since the 2010 FIFA World cup, but due to mismanagement the project’s deadlines have been missing multiple times. The challenges pertaining to supply chain managements gets minimized if one is well aware of surrounding challenges and positives that the place has to offer.

• Skills & Training – Management skills of an entrepreneur is one of the assessment criteria by the local municipal authority for project development. There is a plethora of skilled resources and this is gaining increasing attention from the government and other major stakeholders who are in turn trying to create a valuable pool of skilled resources. In the top sectors it is envisaged offers in terms of job creation, enhancing skills, precious export earnings and generation of foreign revenue. The economically brimming Bay earns the tag of being “The Automotive Hub of South Africa”. If we talk about automotive motor production, the city enjoys international standard facilities. The automotive industry is strategically defined for the progress of this region and hence it would be economical to start a business where skill and trained manpower & resources are found in abundance.

• Market Survey & Analysis – It would be a good idea to comprehend, detail out and interact with the existing set of people in the same business and flourishing in their business ventures. Being a first timer, the already established entrepreneurs would be friendly, optimistic, and ready to help. However the idea is not just to know details and struggle story at surface level but also the story with regards to details and depth. The initial struggle they had faced in Port Elizabeth, if are made known to a budding entrepreneur, he would be able to sail through faster than any other entrepreneur. This would help in building networking & relationship in the community.

• In the initial days, one should be prepared to do everything without any support. In Port Elizabeth, one can face issues in finding a good and most importantly reliable help. Additionally the local work ethics may surely act as a hitch.

• Become A South Africa Specialist – Through this option one can become a South Africa authority, knowing well of its tourist wonders, thus acting as an enabler to sell the country as a family plus an adventure holiday destination and hence earn foreign exchange currency. This is a free learning experience which helps to know more about South Africa and thus it helps in improving earning prospects, increasing employment opportunities, create deeper marketability and branding. It is advisable to be made oneself savvy in these online courses, whether online or classroom. This would help is collecting information related to product & services and also help in making a good network in that field.

• Careful selection of Vendor is one of the most important parts to start a business as they are the backbone of any new venture. Getting a decent quality product which is priced at a cheaper price should be one of the major focus areas.

• One should indulge in modest advertising expense during initial days of business formation. Participating in fair, trade center organized in the Nelson Mandela Bay area would be one of the fewer options rather than spending on huge billboard expenditure.

Port Elizabeth, is a land of opportunity and huge potential. Various government authorities & departments provide valuable advice on establishing projects if routed through a well drafted and thought through business plan and assessments done in order to check the impact on environment considering tourism is one the major contributors of the South Africa economy.