Media Release: Innovative Re-Imagine Garden Route WebiShop video and presentations now accessible online

For Immediate Release
2 September 2020

A first ever WebiShop was hosted by the Garden Route District Municipality (GRDM) in collaboration with the South Cape Economic Partnership (SCEP) and Western Cape Tourism, Trade and Investment Promotion Agency (WESGRO) on 12 August 2020. This WebiShop aimed to address several topics relevant to re-imagining the Garden Route in an innovative and creative way. It also provided a platform for representatives from various think tanks, based locally and internationally, to share how they do things differently in a streamlined way to enable a “next” normal. Presenters logged in from as far as the United Kingdom and Finland to share their ideas.

At the beginning of the WebiShop (attended by close to 100 people), Alderman Memory Booysen, Executive Mayor for GRDM, said: “I am in awe when looking at all the brainpower together today”.

“I would like to see all of us putting our ‘thinking caps’ on and come up with innovative ideas,” said Alderman Booysen.

The panel included representatives from the GRDM, SCEP, TOMA-Now, FreedThinkers, Vodacom, The Depository & Clearing Corporation (UK), African Crowd Funding Association, Moxworld (Finland), Brilliance in Business and the Institute for Future’s Research.

The following themes/topics were discussed on 12 August 2020:

• The place to be – Garden Route as a first choice;
• Keeping it tight – the Circular Economy Model, concepts and examples;
• Design it right – service design for the ‘new normal’;
• Get Smart – solutions for a SMART region;
• Funding for impact – Crowd Funding as an alternative to conventional funding;
• The next normal – alternative business models;
• Time to hold onto customers – practical steps to keeping your customers and attracting new ones;
• Where to from here – next steps and way forward; and
• Scenario planning concepts.

The themes and topics discussed provided a perfect baseline from which to begin with a process of re-imagining the Garden Route. The next phase would be to initiate sector-specific workshops. “These will consist of journey-mapping exercises led by three focus sectors namely Tourism, Agriculture, and Construction,” said Mr Paul Hoffman, Project Manager for SCEP. He added that a variety of sector-specific workshops and webinars, training opportunities, sector expert advisors, and business mentors will visit the Garden Route virtually and physically over the next few months to assist individual businesses. “We need to rebuild our economy, and these interventions form part of the Garden Route Recovery Plan that is in progress,” said Hoffman.

Towards the end of the four-and-a-half hour WebiShop, Mr Monde Stratu (Municipal Manager) reflected on the contents of the programme. He also said: “It is clear that COVID-19 has shown us that one sector is not going to be successful without another.” Stratu also stated that government is interested in building partnerships with the private sector. Proof of this commitment is the platforms the GRDM created to attract investment to the Garden Route – including the Garden Route Investment Conference, Green Energy Summit, to name but a few.

“In a month or two we will launch our Growth and Development Strategy for the region. This strategy will help the region to see what needs to be done to change the economic trajectory of the district. Coupled with this, the GRDM is finalising an investment prospectus. “We are trying to show people outside and inside our region what opportunities are available in the district, and that we are open for business,” said Stratu.

View the WebiShop online by browsing to this Youtube page.

Mpho Dondolo: Vodacom

Jaisheila Rajput: TOMA Now

Vicky Bridge: Get SMART

Danielle Ehrlich: Design it Right

Doris Viljoen: Flip it

Samantha Hillion-Burns: Brilliance Customer Experience 

Tarja Castel: Moxworld

Elizabeth Howard: African Crowdfunding Association

ENDS