Category: small business

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economic development entrepreneurship Fanon small business violence

Business Day column: Empty economic nationalism does spaza shops no favour

In this column, I turn to Fanon as I reflect on the toxic competition that has fermented between locally-owned and foreign-owned informal retailers:

YOU might have seen those voluminous, woven plastic bags with plaid patterns that many South Africans use to carry their luggage across the country, particularly during the Easter and Christmas breaks. They teeter on minibus taxi roofs or peep out from overloaded trailers. In West Africa, they are called “Ghana must go”, in ironic remembrance of Nigeria’s expulsion of immigrants in the 1980s. In SA, they go by names such as Khumbul’ekhaya bag or Mashangaanbag.

“These alienating names reveal something of the anxiety expressed towards the carriers of these bags in the communities they relocate to. These bags have become global symbols of migration,” writes Nobukho Nqaba about her photographic work, Umaskhenkethe Likhaya Lam.

In a country so marked by migrancy and movement, perhaps the economic ambition of the newcomer is all too familiar. A couple of days ago, I had a tense exchange on Twitter with someone who was unimpressed with my take on the grievances against foreign-owned businesses in our townships. My debater took particular offence to my argument that suppressing such businesses will not improve the economic lot of South Africans.

In his view, I was beholden to what he called “textbook” economics. His characterisation of fellow Africans was quite harsh, despite the red beret featured on his profile picture. And so I appealed not to “textbook economics” but to Frantz Fanon.

The rest of the column is here: http://www.bdlive.co.za/opinion/columnists/2015/02/03/spazas-need-to-adapt-to-new-retail-landscape

Categories
economic development enterprise development entrepreneurship incubator small business start-ups

Branson Centre partners with Liberian entrepreneurs

From the Branson Centre of Entrepreneurship:

Entrepreneurial ties between Liberia and South Africa received a boost recently when a group of 15 entrepreneurs from the West African state attended a foundation course at the Branson Centre of Entrepreneurship (BCOE) in Johannesburg. It was the first time that BCOE has opened its doors to entrepreneurs from other countries in Africa.
While the course covers fundamentals, such as accounting and business planning, the approach is “truly Virgin”! Entrepreneurs are taught the art and science of breaking the rules to capture the imagination of customers and investors alike. In addition to insights from the Virgin Group of Companies and its British billionaire founder, Sir Richard Branson, there were practical tips and real-life experiences from a number of sought-after guest speakers. Among them were:
·                               Paul Smith, South Africa’s foremost authority of entrepreneurship;
·                               Clive Butkow, former COO of Accenture South Africa; and
·              Tracey Webster, Executive Director of Archbishop Desmond Tutu’s African Leadership Initiative.
The Liberians were also given the opportunity to engage South African entrepreneurs who have been trained by BCOE and will act as mentors moving forward.  
Although Liberia is one of the poorest countries in the world, its entrepreneurs are finding solutions that have the capacity to grow the economy and improve peoples’ lives in the future. Some of the entrepreneurs in the group are in agriculture, food manufacturing/processing, renewable energy, transport and water/sanitation. For example, Agro Inc. links farmers to markets, so Liberia can “eat what it grows” and We Trade Liberia specialises in renewable forms of energy. Since electrification is a major issue (statistics put it at 5% nationwide and 50% in cities), solar lighting is an accessible, cost-effective alternative. At the same time, the socio-economic environment is conducive to the emergence of service industries, like beauty, catering, fashion design, marketing, printing and tourism. A strong commitment to social upliftment and the empowerment of women were prevalent throughout.
The entrepreneurs are due back in South Africa in a few months to do BCOE’s advanced course. According to Jane Rankin, the Chief Executive of BCOE, this is where the rubber meets the road. “Between now and then, the entrepreneurs implement their business plans. Once everything is in place, we give them the tools they need to take their businesses to the next level.”
While BCOE provided the training, funding was received from Humanity United, an American NGO focused on overcoming the legacy of conflict and slavery in Liberia and Sudan. The Programme Manager from the University of Liberia in Monrovia, Wilson Idahor, says that the entrepreneurs were identified by means of a print media campaign. “Approximately 250 applications were received. After interviewing the shortlist of 25 applicants, 15 were chosen.”
BCOE plans to offer its courses to other NGOs involved in the fields of entrepreneurial development and job creation. Programmes can be designed around audiences, budgets and timeframes. In the case of the group from Liberia, the foundation course was done over a period of five consecutive days instead of one day a week for six weeks.
BCOE launched in Johannesburg in 2005. Its primary aim is to help entrepreneurs become innovative business leaders who create jobs and stimulate economic growth.
www.bransoncentre.org/southafrica/home
Issued by:
Lauren Winchester
The Red Phone
T. 011 469 3770
C. 083 421 9683
E. lauren@theredphone.co.za 
For and on behalf of:
Gavin Meiring
Branson Centre of Entrepreneurship
T. 011 403 0622
E. gavin.meiring@bransoncentre.org 

/Ends. 
Categories
small business youth entrepreneurship

Call for entries – high school entrepreneurship education programs & clubs

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Communication from Eskom Simama Ranta:

Eskom is inviting entries from South African secondary schools for the 2013 “Eskom Entrepreneurship Education Simama Ranta” competition with total awards of R865,000.00 to the winning schools.
The 2013 edition received a huge upgrade from Eskom in terms of awards. A winning school from each of the 9 South African provinces, together with first runner-up and second runner-up will be selected to give a total of 27 winning schools. The total award of R865,000 will be distributed as follows: national winner – R100,000; each Provincial winner – R50,000; each First runner-up – R25,000; and each second runner-up to receive R10,000. These awards must be used by the schools to support the entrepreneurial projects by the learners.

You could read more on the 2012 winning schools here: http://www.scribd.com/doc/104159197/Eskom-Simama-Ranta-Provincial-Winners-2012

For more information: Simama Ranta webpage

“Simama Ranta” means empowering the South African economy through entrepreneurship, education. The competition aims to identify, honour and showcase those South African secondary schools that are exemplars in entrepreneurship education.
These schools are addressing a principle of the South African government’s economic development policy in preparing learners to consider entrepreneurship as career choice – and become job creators rather than job seekers.
The goal of the Simama Ranta competition is to highlight the variety of comprehensive, quality entrepreneurship education in South Africa’s education system and to showcase the winning schools as leaders in mentoring other schools. 
Education With Enterprise Trust (EWET) – who manages the Simama Ranta schools competition for the Eskom Foundation, is a non-profit organisation that has for year’s devoted their knowledge, skills and talent to enhance enterprise education in high schools. They work in over 800 schools throughout South Africa, empowering educators to promote entrepreneurship and enhance teaching and learning in economic and management sciences
Who can enter?
Previously Simama Ranta was only open to schools in the Education With Enterprise Trust network but this year any enterprise club operating at a high school in South Africa can enter.
All South African intermediate and secondary schools are eligible to enter. However schools must run an enterprise club that teaches learners the basic of business through practical application. Each club must also give consideration to and respond to the socio-economic challenges in your school’s community.
Categories
enterprise development public policy small business

Small business financing update

Business Day reports that the state has allocated R2 billion to small business financing over the next three years. This will be channeled mainly through a subsidiary of the Industrial Development Corporation called the Small Enterprise Financing Agency boosted by lending from the China Development Bank. It will be interesting to see how small business financing fares within this new agency .

Business Day article

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barriers to entry enterprise development public policy small business

What’s up – Global Entrepreneurship Week, agencies merge, DBSA Development Report

There has been much buzz about entrepreneurship lately. It’s Global Entrepreneurship Week (GEW) from the 14 – 20 November with various events planned around the country. Endeavour South Africa describes GEW as “the world’s largest celebration of innovators and job creators who launch start-ups that bring ideas to life, drive economic growth and expand human welfare”. GEW is celebrated in 115 countries. In South Africa, planned events include a summit on 15 November (sponsored by FNB and SAP) featuring Adrian Gore as a panellist that will examine the state of entrepreneurship in South Africa. The summit will also examine the different contexts in which entrepreneurial activity emerges.
On the public sector front, government plans to merge three enterprise development agencies also seem to be well under way. The South African Microfinance Apex Fund (SAMAF), Khula and the Small Enterprise Development Agency (SEDA) are to be merged into one entity capitalised with an R921m shareholder loan raised by the IDC. SAMAF and Khula are wholesale lenders. The government lends them money, which they on-lend (or use to provide guarantees) to microfinance organisations in the case of SAMAF and small business lenders (such as small business divisions in commercial banks) in the case of Khula. SEDA is a development and advisory agency that builds the capacity of small businesses through non-financial support.
I think most people would agree that these institutions have struggled to lead a small business development revolution, which is what we need to achieve significant levels of growth and development.  So many studies have been produced that try to identify what ails small business development in South Africa – the most oft-cited maladies are lack of access to finance and skills, especially practical skills that allow business-people to develop products, sell these products and keep accurate records.
These agencies have been bedevilled by two categories of challenges as far as we can tell – business failure and a lack of accountability. The high rate of business failure means that the capital and grants invested in small businesses have to be written off, and unfortunately the agencies end up with appalling results in terms of default rates and financial self-sufficiency. Some of the institutions that the agencies fund default on their commitments due to weak governance. The capacity of the agencies themselves to deliver on their mandate has often been questioned. We can only wish the best to the new entity. It won’t be easy.
The Development Bank of Southern Africa (DBSA) has recently highlighted the need to develop entrepreneurs in addition to traditional black economic empowerment schemes. The DBSA quotes Moeletsi Mbeki who argues that BEE handicaps entrepreneurship as it removes talented black people from creative activities and into redistributive schemes in existing companies.
The DBSA’s overview report goes on to identify the barriers to the creation of a black entrepreneurial class as high barriers to entry and lack of access to finance and markets. The inability of state institutions and commercial banks to tackle these obstacles is noted. Further, the report cautions that “slow changes in the monopoly structure of the economy, despite the valiant efforts of the Competition Commission, are also likely to impede SMME development for some time to come.” Sobering point of view.
The report proposes a systematic approach to developing opportunity-seeking enterprises. We have been here before. Sentiment in policy circles sways between seeing small business development, and entrepreneurship in general, as a solution to the job creation challenge; and then back to seeing the state and big business as the real job creators of significance. So one hopes that this moment won’t be undermined by backlash if renewed efforts at enterprise development do no deliver immediate results. The DBSA’s full report will be out at the end of the month.