This exploration of how employee ownership fits within South Africa’s Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment framework was presented as part of the “Employee Ownership in South Africa” session at the 2023 Kelso Workshop. The interview of Shaun Smit, a transaction advisor with Transcend advisors in South Africa, was conducted by Graeme Nutall OBE, Fieldfisher Partner and … Read More
Wages don’t cover the bills. Wealth inequality is growing. Social trust is eroding. There are endless debates about what to do, but one key factor is inexplicably left out: who owns the companies that drive the economy? Ownership matters. Ownership by a few means benefits for a few. But if you spread ownership around, you … Read More
Platform cooperatives make possible a more democratic digital economy. They offer an alternative to extractive “platform capitalism,” one based on cooperative principles such as democratic ownership and governance.
The aim of this article is to investigate the recent emergence of worker cooperatives or “people’s factories” in South Africa. The development of South African worker co-ops is situated in terms of key aspects of the restructuring of the economy and society during the 1980s. New production forms such as producer cooperatives are linked to … Read More