THE Cricket World Cup (CWC) is one of the worlds largest sporting events and is estimated to bring in 25 000 foreign fans, 2 000 visiting journalists and a large global television audience.

This influx of cricket aficionados is expected to increase international tourism to South Africa, which will, in turn, considerably boost all aspects of our current and future economy.

According to Dr Mike Herrington, Director of the Centre of Innovation and Entrepreneurship at the UCT Graduate School of Business (GSB), entrepreneurs have ample opportunities to grow their businesses and bring in more revenue because of the international exposure that the CWC will bring to South Africa's developing economy.

“Cricket fans are coming to South Africa primarily to watch cricket, but when they are not watching cricket they will be tourists in the various cities where their favoured teams are playing. This is going to create many opportunities in the tourism industry, and if you create opportunities in tourism, there are lots of offshoots, for example, in crafts.

“Here at the GSB we are involved with various entrepreneurial projects, a lot of them make stuff that is uniquely African. Tourists are interested in that, and a lot of small entrepreneurs like street vendors can expect to profit from the world cup.”

Herrington says that CWC is going to create an environment similar to the one that the World Summit for Sustainable Development created for entrepreneurs. “The Summit organisers opened a crafts market in Johannesburg, close to the Summit, and a lot of entrepreneurs benefited from that.

Though there is no way of monitoring the increased profit margin of entrepreneurs in the informal sector during the CWC, Herrington says he is certain that they will benefit.

“How you find out exactly what the sales of those particular entrepreneurs are, is very difficult, it is also not known how many people are involved in the informal sector, but they do employ people and their goods are selling.”

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