Seers and Visionaries
March 2, 2023
Incapable in Ekurhuleni
March 20, 2023
There’s little doubt – BEE needs a rethink
Chris Bishop is a veteran journalist and the founding editor of Forbes Africa and Billionaire Tomorrow. He describes the process he went through writing his book, The BEE Billionaires, which questions the impact of one of the biggest economic experiments in Africa that began a quarter of a century ago: black economic empowerment.
WORDS AND IMAGES: CHRIS BISHOP, ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN THE PENGUIN POST, A MAGAZINE ABOUT BOOKS FOR BOOK LOVERS FROM PENGUIN RANDOM HOUSE SOUTH AFRICA.
“It is tough writing a book on a controversial subject knowing, as worthy as it may be, you are on a hiding to nothing.
Nearly a decade of commenting on government policy as well as juggling the lives and egos of the rich and powerful as the editor of Forbes Africa, and now the online publication Billionaire Tomorrow, taught me it is never easy and often fraught. You always get flak, from all quarters, when you write about the wealthy.
Throw in politics, controversial government policy, and the growing issue of poverty, and almost everyone has a strong opinion.
Yet, I decided to put my arm in the fire by spending more than a year penning my second book, The BEE Billionaires. It was a good omen, fi rst off, that the respected former finance minister Nhlanhla Nene saw enough value in the book and in me to take time to write an insightful foreword to help set the tone.
The world of black economic empowerment is a confusing one that is as murky as it is fascinating, and likely to loom ever larger in the struggling South African economy. I thought there was no better time for a critical look at the policy after nearly 20 years of road testing through the potholes and profits …
continued in the February – March edition of The Big Issue.
