If Pick n Pay CEO Richard Brasher were president for a day, he “would embrace the retail sector” as it is a big employer.
Brasher’s comments come as SA wrestles with the highest unemployment rate in more than a decade. The rate increased 0.1 of a percentage point to 29.1% during the third quarter of 2019, according to data from Stats SA released in October.
The Former Tesco CEO, who was speaking at the Consumer Goods Council Summit in Johannesburg on Wednesday, said the retail and manufacturing sectors often undersold themselves despite being the biggest “employer in the country”.
“If you are looking to employ a million people, don’t go to the banks,” he said.
“Making money is not a criminal offence. It creates employment. Manufacturing and retail are the single largest employers in the country.”
Brasher said the sectors absorbed underskilled people. “You don’t have to be Einstein. You don’t need an MBA.”
He said Pick n Pay “was a brilliant place to learn a skill on the factory or shop floor”. Retail across the world hired people with a lower skills base, he said. “I have traded in 25-30 countries. You don’t have to talk right. You don’t have to wear a tie.”
Brasher said criticising the government, and business and political elites was a “national sport” and people spent more time worrying about what was outside their control rather than under it.
However, he said he had been part of seven competition commission inquiries during his career because there was the assumption if “it’s big it’s bad”.
He said big businesses all started small and it was not a given that there was something wrong or anticompetitive because they were big.
Despite using his platform to encourage South Africans to be “optimistic”, he said, “The economy is tough. It will stay tough. I am not a romantic.”
Author and analyst Moeletsi Mbeki, who also spoke at the summit, said business was “vulnerable” and dependent on state-owned enterprises (SOEs), and had little political power. This led businesses to use donations to influence politics.
Speaking of President Cyril Ramaphosa, he said: “What has he actually done? He has called lots of conferences and held commissions of inquiry. Has he arrested anyone?”
Correction: November 7 2019
In an earlier version of this story, we said Brasher had faced seven competition inquiries in SA. He has faced inquiries in a range of countries.
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