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In their final summit communiqué in 2014, leaders of the Group of 20 countries called for enhanced economic growth that could be achieved by the “promotion of competition, entrepreneurship and innovation”. They made a further call for strategies to reduce unemployment, particularly among the youth, by encouraging entrepreneurship.
That entrepreneurship is our best hope of promoting sustainable and inclusive growth is no longer debatable. Hence, the Gauteng provincial government is embarking on an initiative to celebrate and encourage enterprising individuals, especially in townships.
We are cognisant of the fact that township ventures are subject to various obstacles, starting with financing.
However, researchers reflecting on the type of environment that fosters successful businesses emphasise the need to change the negative sentiment that prevails in townships about entrepreneurship.
In a 2013 working paper titled Culture, Entrepreneurship and Growth, the National Bureau for Economic Research in the US discussed the link between culture and economic growth, citing empirical studies showing the importance of culture in fostering entrepreneurship.
In this paper, the researchers argued that in countries showing faster growth, more people exhibited an “entrepreneurial spirit”. This is an important consideration for our country in general and our province in particular.
Risk tolerance and patience are part of the entrepreneur’s journey to success, say the researchers. Personal accounts by accomplished business owners bear this out as fact.
Given our society’s structural and historical challenges, especially when it comes to the previously disenfranchised, we know that parents’ investment in their children has been, and remains, a challenge when it comes to financing their education.
The post-1994 government has had to step in and fill the deficit created by racial exclusion and denial of opportunity by supporting fledgling businesses. Government and society at large must work together to encourage entrepreneurship as a career choice, especially in our townships.
With the new economy in full swing and government looking to reindustrialise, there is no better time than now for people to showcase their innovative ideas.
We need to instil in the public the value of creativity as well as the perseverance it will take to bring an idea to its full realisation. The potential rewards, in terms of boosting the community’s confidence and the country’s coffers, are too valuable to ignore.
Yet we know that entrepreneurship has not always been considered a respectable or prestigious “occupation” in our society. If we believe that business innovation and the support of enterprising individuals is our hope for achieving the growth we need, we will have to move it from the sidelines into the mainstream. We have to celebrate it in the same way we do people with university degrees and professions.
In pursuit of its growth and development strategy, the Gauteng government has committed itself to enabling township enterprises to take centre stage. In his recent state of the province address, Premier David Makhura reiterated this commitment, saying: “We have made a clarion call to action, and township entrepreneurs have responded overwhelmingly.
In this, the first full year of the implementation of our township economy revitalisation strategy, the provincial government has spent R1.8 billion procuring goods and services from township enterprises.
In addition, municipalities are spending R1.6 billion of their procurement budgets on township enterprises. Clearly, this goes some way towards securing much-needed funding for budding local enterprises and enabling them to access markets.
Furthermore, we are bringing entrepreneurship and innovation into the mainstream by giving individuals and groups public recognition and prestige.
We believe this to be a good start in our efforts to change negative perceptions and inspire people to assume the mantle of entrepreneurship. Government cannot do this alone: we need buy-in from township inhabitants to encourage enterprising activity as a prestigious and viable way to earn a living.
The US has been among the most successful nations to build small enterprises and gain from the job creation these foster. At the heart of this success is their elevation of entrepreneurs to the status of role models.
To this end, we launched the Township Entrepreneur Awards yesterday as a way to change negative perceptions about entrepreneurship in township communities and inspire people to recognise the economic gains that can be realised.
As government, we will have to uphold our commitment to entrepreneurship through funding, putting in place economic policies that encourage entrepreneurship and celebrate this type of achievement.
Maile is the Gauteng MEC for economic development.
