Background The National African Federated Chamber of Commerce and Industry (NAFCOC) is an independent and non-profit business support organisation primarily, but not exclusively, serving the black communityIts main objective is to promote and encourage the development of black business in South Africa and thereby draw the black majority into economic activity and decision making.It aims to promote a spirit of co-operation and unity among black business people, to encourage self-help in the black community and full participation in the economy of the country.Membership:156 000 members – concentrated in the merchandising, building, transport, agriculture, services, manufacturing, mining, security, retail and informal sectors of the economy. Relationships & Representation: Domestic and Multi-National Corporations SA Chambers of Commerce Government Organisations National Forums International Donor organisations Member of Black Business Council (BBC) Black Business Support organisations in the Southern African Development Community (SADC) Countries. History NAFCOC has its origins in the early 1940s when informal black trader organisations in and around Johannesburg began to recognise the need to sharpen their business acumen and to raise the level of business awareness among their members. During the subsequent years black traders’ organisations continued to spring up around the country. This movement led to the formation of the National African Chamber or Commerce (NAFCOC) in 1964 at a conference held in Orlando. in 1968, NAFCOC was recognised into regions under the umbrella of a National African Federated Chamber of Commerce and NAFCO was born despite a government injunction against the forming of a united multi-ethnic chamber of commerce in South Africa. The apartheid state was at the height if its drive to segment the African population and isolate each ethnic group in its own so-called homeland. The government had passed innumerable laws and regulations meant to restrict and stifle business initiative and enterprise among black people in the country. Under such a policy, black people were essentially relegated to operating insignificant businesses outside the periphery of all commercial centre in the country. During the 1970s and 1980s NAFCOC continued its struggle for a place in the SA mainstream economy for black business people. In 1979 legislation was passed effectively allowing black business at last to trade in their own areas, although still not in the designated white areas. On 2 February 1990, the date on which Nelson Mandela was freed, the political scenario changed dramatically. On 27 April 1994 the country went on the polls and elected its first non-racial democratic government into power. NAFCOC was now poised to meet the challenges and opportunities that arose in the new South Africa. Incorporated in 1964 – its early formation can be traced back to 1940 as the Orlando Traders Association.Opposed the past gov