What Recession?

Recession! What recession? This is the kind of response you might get from South Africa’s BEE individuals (Black Economic Empowerment). They are the newly found rich segment in South Africa. They are the ones who found the golden pot at the end of the rainbow after 1994 once the democratic government came into power. They are South Africa’s “black diamonds”.

And they are spending. The latest findings of the UCT Unilever Report shows that, despite the recession, this markets’ spending power has grown by 39%, from R150 billion in 2007, to R250 billion to date.

Solly is just such a guy. He is rich. He is sleek. He’s an eternal optimist. And he knows what it means to fight for what you want. So what we might call a recession, he calls a “social struggle”. An opportunity to roll with the punches and come out stronger as a result. “I grew up in the struggle, I laugh in the face of what you call a crisis”

We met him at the Radisson restaurant situated in one of South Africa’s most prestigious hotels in Sandton City. He arrived, dressed in a black shirt and sleek designer black jacket, jeans and very shiny shoes. Waving keys to a  R2,4 million Bentley, he quickly tells us that this is his new investment.  He is thinking of buying this “baby” to add on to his other high profile portfolio of cars parked in his garage. “I am an optimist,” he tells us “I believe that the recession is a state of mind” he says with a look of determination on his face.

Solly is not the only rich guy who shares the same sentiments about the recession. 

Bonnke, a self-made

 man, struggled through life to become the man he is today. A man who knows what it means to grow up in a “recession / struggle” all his life says “this is just another opportunity for me.”

The same is true for other high-flying BEE people.

In an email we got from Thami, a Senior Sales Trader for an international company, he writes about his friend who recently went on holiday in Greece. In the long conversation emails we had, he sarcastically writes in huge bold letters:

They are happily going about their holidays, buying new cars and expensive furniture for their houses because they feel that if it is not directly affecting them, they should keep spending.

“Buying a couch worth R120 000 is easy for these people” says a sales executive at one of the most prestigious and high-flying furniture stores in Johannesburg. With commission of at least R50 000 a month, it means Sipho has to sell furniture worth just over a million a month to make this income and Sipho tell us, doing this, is quite easy.

“The months have been good thus far. In a month I know I can make that much because these people are buying. They do not mind spending that much money, even in the recession.”

The truth is that these BEE guys are still living quite comfortably and spending quite freely. Perhaps they feel they deserve it. Perhaps they made smart decisions. Perhaps the recession really is small when compared to a life filled with struggle.

One thing is for sure, they are tenacious and one can only be humbled by such resilience.

Opportunity: Recognize Them For Their Tenacious Spirit. 

- Adene