As holiday season approaches and we prepare for a well-deserved summer break, I would like to express my deep gratitude for the incredible support the Randburg Chamber of Commerce and Industry (RCCI) has received the past 12 months. As the CEO, it is an honour and a pleasure to convey my heartfelt wishes to our members, partners and stakeholders for your unwavering commitment to ensure that RCCI continues to serve businesses despite challenges we have faced as a chamber.
RCCI was established to effectively protect and promote the interests of business in the Randburg, Sandton and Midrand regions. Our aim is to be the Voice of Business and Community in region B and surrounding areas of Auckland Park, Randburg, Rosebank, Cresta, Sandton, Fourways, Lanseria and Midrand.
Challenges
Traditionally members will affiliate to the Chamber by annual subscription but since Covid years, we have seen a good number of businesses shutting their door resulting in lower membership subscription. As a champion of small businesses development, we have engaged businesses that are either contracting, trading with difficulty or at risk of closure, should the prevailing cost pressure and adverse macro economic environment prevail. Furthermore, 49.7% of member businesses indicated that their profits declined during the past six months while more than half of businesses indicated that the cost of doing business also increased during the past six months. This situation to a large extent explains the high level of small business attention in South Africa. Given all of these indicators of high small business failures, the question can now be asked as to why small businesses are so incredibly vulnerable that they eventually fail.
Many reasons are attributed to this such as high inflation, energy cost, labour mismatch, and lack of access to funding. It is thus important for RCCI to put together programs and enabling platforms to discuss and bring together relevant parties in consonance to address these areas that contribute to both negative and positive business cycles. RCCI efforts aim to turn the tide to assist its members to return to positive revenue cycle.
Achievements
Under the circumstances we managed to keep our doors open, we continued advocating for pro-business policies, boosting local economies through economic development, fostering networking, providing training/resources, and facilitating international trade, ultimately creating jobs for those businesses we have helped improving infrastructure, and giving businesses a unified voice in local government.
RCCI had an eventful year heading and participating in activities such as UAE SEZ business promotion held at the Randpark Golf Club, Pakistan Chamber of Commerce Africa Business Summit held at The Sandton Conversation Centre, China South Africa Industrial Expo, Inaugural SALGA Urban Forum 2025, The Launch of the Rise, Thrive, Innovate Podcast and Business Magazine. These activities and achievements are for the benefit of our members and aspiring members. RCCI will continue with an open door policy because we believe the larger the network and community of businesses under our ambit the stronger the quality of the service we deliver.
Future plans
Looking ahead, we are enthusiastic about the opportunities that 2026 holds for RCCI. We are determined to expand further, forging new partnerships, expanding our services to add value to our members and partners. We have established a strong online presence through our website and social media. We have created email newsletters and multimedia content including a complementary online, print magazine and podcast to engage members and attract partners. We will use these platform to analyse performance metrics and gather audience feedback to refine the future of business in South Africa.