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The head of the Metropolitan Trading Company is keen on helping informal traders and public transport operators learn new skills so that they can gradually grow into the formal economy.
Alfred Sam
is
an urbane man who exudes acute business acumen
FROM the moment Alfred Xolani Sam took over his new post as Chief Executive Officer of the Metropolitan Trading Company (MTC), it was "business unusual".
Immaculately dressed in a light blue jacket and tie, Sam fits the part. He says that when he took up the position on 1 April 2008 (and colleagues thought it was an April Fool's joke), he had a strategy in mind regarding how best the company should carry out its mandate to manage informal trader and public transport facilities in the city, taking into account the limited resources available to the entity.
"The company receives an allocation of money from the City's budget but this is not enough to run the company. We have to come up with innovative ways to look for funding from other sources." The MTC is a City-owned entity.
Sam says he takes a leaf from President Thabo Mbeki's mantra in his 2008 State of the Nation address, in which he called for his government to implement innovative, more effective ways to improve the lives of South Africans to move towards "business unusual".
"I asked myself how best can MTC in the City context carry out its mandate and also how best can we source funding to set up programmes to ensure informal trading and the public transport industry in the city runs smoothly, and grow economically?"
He joined MTC from the City's Transportation Department, where he was the Director: Transportation Planning and Regulation. And it seems his experience in the City will work to his advantage.
Exuding sharp business acumen, Sam says he is looking into business partnership arrangements with other City entities and the private sector.
"We are looking into partnering with Pikitup, for example, in terms of waste management in our facilities. We are also looking at a joint partnership with the South African Police Service, the Gauteng Department of Public Transport, Roads and Works, and the Johannesburg Metropolitan Police Department where we hope to pool our resources with regarding to fighting crime and conflict that tend to bedevil our facilities. We will also be relying on technology for the provision of security and installation and monitoring of CCTV cameras in some of our facilities."
He also hopes to continue to work with the City's Facilities Management and Maintenance Unit, which has already started with helping to finance the upgrading of the public toilets in MTC-run facilities, as well as the Johannesburg Development Agency.
One area that should be utilised fully to benefit the company is advertising in MTC-managed facilities. "There is so much advertising space in our facilities and this would be a huge source of funding for MTC."
Established in 1999, MTC manages about 18 trader markets and public transport facilities, strategically located throughout Johannesburg. These include the City's street trading programme in the inner city and markets in Hillbrow, Yeoville and the Metro Mall in the central business district.
Linear markets
As part of better managing and regulating informal trading in the City, especially as part of the Inner City Charter process, MTC is also going to be implementing linear markets in the inner city, Sam says. These markets are provided for in the City's Informal Trading Policy that was approved by Council in 2007.
"The establishment of these linear markets is one of the interventions that the City is looking at to move away from uncontrolled and unregulated street trading in its current form, where traders occupy a portion of the [pavement] to sell their wares, which sometimes results in unnecessary competition for public space with pedestrians. The linear markets are actually built on the street streets like the one currently built in Hoek Street between Noord and De Villiers Streets in the city centre. The idea is that traders will trade in the middle of the road and pedestrians will have the freedom to use [pavements] without being impeded by stalls."
These linear markets will serve as incubators where traders' developmental needs will be identified and programmes will be set up to focus on these needs. This will ensure that the traders grow and move into more formal businesses over time.
Economic development
Sam is passionate that all informal traders need to acquire skills and become established business people; the economic empowerment of informal traders and public transport operators will provide them with an opportunity to grow.
"We are currently involved in the education of informal traders in partnership with tertiary education institutions in the City like Wits University. One thing that I would love to see is a broadening of black economic empowerment. We don't want to see traders as informal traders forever, but we should see them buy stakes in established businesses or opening up their own formal businesses."
"Black Economic Empowerment has historically been seen as benefiting a few individuals in the country and it is high time that it gets redefined and repositioned in the context of the majority of the citizens who are poor, and I think that is the essence of the now Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment (BBBEE)".
Among its major projects, since 2006 MTC has helped informal traders organise themselves into groups that are registered and incorporated as co-operatives at the Department of Trade and Industry. And in February 2007, MTC held a workshop for about 25 co-operatives to maintain the development momentum.
At the workshop informal traders learned about the benefits and technical aspects of co-operatives, which were shown to be a means of job creation, poverty alleviation and economic empowerment. Since then, the programme has been rolled out to all informal trading facilities managed by the MTC, and to the streets.
Sam's approach to the economic development of informal traders and taxi operators is participatory. He sees all users of MTC facilities as inextricably intertwined with the company's developmental agenda.
"We have a duty as MTC to collect rent and user fees from all users of our facilities. To this end, as MTC we plan to develop a sustainable facility management model so that as far as possible, people can participate in the management of facilities in a manner that will benefit them economically, while at the same time paying their user fees."
Concerning the taxi violence that regularly erupts between different taxi associations at the Bree Street Mall, where MTC's offices are located, Sam says the company is concerned about these kinds of issues as they affect the smooth running of the facilities.
"But we cannot initiate a process to intervene to resolve these conflicts as most of them are over routes, an area that rests with the provincial Department of Transport in terms of the mandates and jurisdictions of the various spheres of government. However, we do try in our operational practices to discourage the development of an environment that can cause conflict."
Challenges
He admits that there are many challenges facing MTC, but believes they can be solved if one goes beyond the call of duty.
"The biggest challenge when I got here was to draw up and complete MTC's business plan for the 2008/09 financial year, as this would be the document that informs and dictates how we deliver on the company's mandate next year. This business plan will also address the tightening of the company's financial management systems, which are rather shaky at the moment."
Asked about the upcoming football World Cup in 2010 and the company's plans regarding the event, Sam says there will be more people using the facilities at the time as they will be trying to reach the match venues, training venues, fan-parks and their places of residence. Thus MTC has to make sure that they are in good condition, they are safe and secure, and can cope with the number of people expected.
"I also see our facilities playing a role in marketing the event, for example, with count down to the event advertisements. We also need to take into account the changing face of the city's public transport system in the form of Rea Vaya Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) system, because there will be bus stations located on these BRT routes and where the stations are close to an existing public transport facility, the role of these facilities may need to be redefined. I am sure that as the BRT planning progresses, there will also be some management model that will be adopted to ensure the effective management of these stations."
Funding remains one of the key challenges facing MTC and this is one area where we will be put to the test in terms of our ability to explore alternative mechanisms that can ensure that we are able to raise the kinds of resources that we need, either directly or indirectly.
Marketing of MTC going forward also remains key so that we are able to reposition the company in the context of its new line of thinking and trying to work towards "business unusual".
On a personal level, Sam, who holds a Bachelor of Social Science degree majoring in Public Administration and a Master of City and Regional Planning from the University of Cape Town, says he loves reading, going to gym and the odd night out with his friends.
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