It's not all doom and gloom in SA
Businesses must see the positive signs, says Afrimat CEO Andries van Heerden
Andries van Heerden, CEO of R5.5bn construction, industrial minerals and mining company Afrimat, says one of the biggest threats to SA's chances of recovery is excessive negativity."We've seen how the market has picked up. There's a lot of positive news out there that gets ignored. People want to believe that we're doomed. I'm afraid of that becoming a self-fulfilling prophecy."If you believe things are going to be worse then you don't invest. If you don't invest then the economy doesn't grow."We all agree the government let us down with corruption and a whole lot of other things, but so what? We don't need a government to build this country, we can do it ourselves," he says.In spite of recession, the collapse of the construction sector and lockdown, Afrimat has reported a profit growth from 18.5% to 22.7% for the interim period to end-August.Since 2009 it's achieved a compound annual growth rate in profit after tax of 21.5%, making it one of the most consistently successful compani...
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