The future belongs to small businesses. 60% of new jobs are created by SMEs, so if we want to reduce our astronomically high unemployment rate, we need to be cheering for small businesses so that they can support the South African economy in the long run.
Micro challenges that they face include aspects as simple as registering a business, currently a cumbersome, costly and time-consuming process. The lack of available investment funding for small businesses often means that entrepreneurs oscillate between a full-time job that pays the bills and their innovative solution sits in their dusty garage (or their brain) because they have insufficient resources to get products/services to market.
Despite our banking system being first class, it lacks the risk appetite for funding the mass volume of start-ups needed to move the needle. This is understandable given the size of our economy. A shift in policy is required to create pools of funds that allow small business owners to view starting a business with less dread of failure.
South Africans are a determined nation. We innovate, we push, we hustle, we always make a plan. We have challenges unique to our country so we’re able to innovate in a way that first world countries wouldn’t ever need to. “The hustle is real, but sometimes it is equally important for entrepreneurs to survive the hustle to prove their concept before looking to spread their wings and fly. Often entrepreneurs try to fly before they’ve learnt to crawl” says Mohammed Nalla, Strategist: Moe-Knows.com and Co-Founder at Magic Markets, his advice? “Find a mentor”.
Many large players in the private sector are involved in corporate social responsibility to varying degrees. This has had a significant impact on the opportunities afforded to entrepreneurs, and has been ramping up in the past decade. South Africa’s private sector is currently one of the most efficient enablers of growth. Projects that are planned and executed effectively can produce massive, long-term results for beneficiaries. This is currently our best hope for supporting entrepreneurship.
South Africa has a reputation for its ‘survival of the fittest’ undercurrent, and we must wonder if it’s possible to shift that narrative in two ways in a sort of cultural transformation. Firstly, we need to shift to a business model where large business becomes a cheerleader of small business, not only in funding but also in providing mentoring and other supportive gestures. One example is joint-venture advertising for related products in relevant industries. Secondly, we need to celebrate small business as SA’s economic powerhouse of tomorrow – which I vehemently believe it is.
If you are interested in finding out more about how I can help your business, visit my services page.
Deborah Aremband(http://www.Deborah.aremband.co.za)