This is a rant….
I’m a young entrepreneur trying to make a living out in the big bad world. I run two separate companies that are pretty complementary but require different skills and experience to succeed. I started these businesses during my time at varsity and then went on after I completed my degree to work on my businesses.
When I look back at where I am I know I’m fortunate that despite the many, many mistakes I’ve made everything somehow came together. I’m fortunate to have a relatively affluent background, which could support me while the business was being founded. I had the thought recently: “What if I didn’t have this backup?” The average South African does not have parents who can fund their expenses while they take a year off to start a business and it was in this moment that I realized the obvious: Big business in South Africa is doing absolutely nothing for the small guy.
My issue is the fact that with the lack of jobs in our country there is a desperate need for entrepreneurs and the only people who will be able to take the massive risk is the youth. This is not only due to the enthusiasm and energy they possess but also due socio-political issues such as lack of education and potential employment. This brings me to the issue of what is big business doing for the young South African entrepreneur? Where are the mentorship programs? Where are the youth venture capital companies? It’s as though the average South African born in the 80’s is something of a lost generation. Most people can’t get a decent job due to lack of skills and have no education.
When the average South African finishes either high school or university there is absolutely no incentive for them to go work as an entrepreneur and I find this quite disgusting. The sad fact of the matter is that money is a tiny factor in becoming an entrepreneur; making critical decision and knowing how to deal with people is the real deal sealer and no one is helping to impart those skills on the youth.
So many times I phone up a big company to sell a product and I get met with indifference and arrogance. I sell a service that provides marketing to the youth for a cheaper price and with a more effective product compared to competitors but no one seems to consider this. On a phone call once I spoke to a marketing manager who broke it down perfectly. His comment was that they use our vastly bigger (I use bigger in terms of revenue) competitors simply because its easier for them to justify it to their bosses. Here’s the rub, people are so conservative and scared to take a chance on young business. All these businesses are so busy chasing a dollar (well a rand technically) that they are afraid to make a change.
All I hear about these days are crime related death and destruction stats and it saddens me that when you break it down to the irony that the average criminal runs their own business. If jobs aren’t available then self-sustaining businesses should be promoted. The only people that can afford to promote and support youth entrepreneurship are large corporate’s.
Unfortunately in South Africa where every industry is either a monopoly or near to a monopoly that there is no incentive for these companies to support anyone else and big business makes other big business richer. It’s a sad fact but this is the reality. My solution is to get a few youth business’s together and work to break into the market but as I’ve mentioned before, I’m fortunate with my background. Without big business coming down to our level many South Africans have no chance.
Enjoy this post? Subscribe to my RSS feed.
True, big businesses prefer to support big businesses. Its a natural mindset of all South Africans. How often do you buy a product like cereal from a local corner shop? Most of prefer going into a supermarket for these things, a loaf of bread or milk and smokes is different, but most of us don’t even bother to check if the local store stocks cereal.
True the financial backing is not the key to successful small businesses, but the sad fact is that money is needed to survive. There are start up costs that can not be avoided. I have successfully started up 3 companies and each with no capital, which was great. I ended up making propositions to huge companies in SA, and I too was shot down by a giant here because I was a small player.
I think the problem should be addressed at a more grassroots level. Communication is not taught in schools, neither is financial management. A tuck shop on the premises does not mean that the kid is exposed to an economy! At this very grassroots level, it will be much easier to iron out these basic issues and also instill the drive and dismiss common misconceptions.
What works for me when handling giant companies, is being more professional than normal. Stand out as being the polite professional guy. And most importantly, ALWAYS be nice to secretaries and PA’s cos ultimately they are the deal breakers.
This article captures exactly how I feel about the present situation in South Africa. I have started my own import and export company with the main goal of being an Export Management company but everywhere I turn either big business or the government is blocking me. I was born in 1980 so there was no way for me to be involved in the previous governments actions. Why must I pay for someone else’s mistakes? When I contact the DTI they only ignore me. We aren’t scared of work we just need a chance, an opportunity….