What Can Small Business Do About Crime?
by Fred Roed on 19/02/07 at 11:47 am
13 comments
15% of urban adults (16+) say that a member of their household has been a victim of serious or violent crime in the last 12 months (FutureFact 2006)
In his state of the nation speech two weeks ago, President Mbeki commented on the 60,000 new policeman employed since 2003. ‘Zero Tolerance’ is the policy adopted by the government, and the police are being jacked up big time. I can see why it sounds great, but it’s been proven not to work. From a marketing and communication perspective, the good thing is that at least it makes it look like the government is putting up a fight instead of doing nothing.
Unfortunately, we know that Zero Tolerance is not the answer. There is a whole lot more to this problem.
Anybody read Freakonomics? It puts some interesting theories towards why crime in New York really subsided. I won’t write about it here, but I highly recommend the book.
The truth is: clubbing criminals on the head is going to encourage many of them to fight back. A different approach is needed. Now, I have a whole bunch of theories about what can be done on a grand scale, but since Ideate is about small business, let’s talk about what we, as small business owners, can do about crime. Here are some thoughts off the top of my head.
Practice what we preach. We throw stones, but we don’t often look in the mirror. We say ‘the criminals are overrunning the country’ but what about us overrunning our community? ‘Huh?’ I hear you say. Take a closer look. Scratch beneath the surface and see what you uncover. Are you totally blameless? Software? Taxes? Maybe these little ‘white crimes’ as I call them are not killing anyone, but do we have the authority to give our leaders stick if we’re taking a dump on our own doorstep, so to speak. It’s not murder, but it’s still crime, is it not?
Become a leader within your community. I’ve often heard people putting forward the argument: ‘How can we fight crime if the people supposed to fight crime are criminals themselves?’ They’re talking about corruption at the highest level. Just look at our Minister of ‘Safety and Security’ who is allegedly leading stakes in the Travelgate scandal. As small business owners, we are all leaders. So, the challenge is to be a great leader. This not only means ‘don’t run your personal grocery bills through the business’, but also means that you must become a light to those around you. Inspire your staff of 3 people; pay your suppliers on time; pay your team well; don’t rip off your clients; keep your fees consistent, etc.
Don’t just talk – Act! You have two choices. You can settle or you can pioneer. You can sit on the porch or you can take a close-up look at what is actually going on in this beautiful country of ours. There are a lot of us who have a whole bunch of things to say – which is great – but we have to mix up the talk with a bit of action. Personally, I have a lot of work to do in this department, and something I need to focus on, but it is my intention to take off the blinkers. As a white South African, I have a bit of a rose-tinted view of my surroundings. I have a lot of admiration for guys who are venturing out of their suburban fortresses, looking closer at the townships and the rural areas, and helping out where they can. Some ideas:
- Give money. Take a look at your needs. Take a look at your profits. Where possible, give surplus to well-chosen social investment NGO’s. These guys are the unsung heroes. While we need police – we need teachers and social workers more.
- Give your skills. Look at how your expertise could potentially uplift the community around you, and get stuck in. Give 3 hrs of your weekly time away for free.
Be positive. I read somewhere that South Africans are gaining a reputation worldwide as being racists, bigots, cynics, and generally a pretty unpatriotic lot. Now, I don’t know how true this is (I have a bunch of exceptionally patriotic friends scattered around the globe), but when you read stories about ex-pat Saffas hurling abuse at the black cricket players in our team down under, then you start to realise how damaging the voice of a few can be.
This does not mean being blind to the injustices and inequalities within our country, but it does mean having a balanced point of view, and most of all, it means being informed. A good start to gather information is to point your news reader at sites like SouthAfrica.info, SArocks.co.za and, of course, Ideate!
Here’s another crazy stat: 25% of adults in South Africa who have purchased jewellery in South Africa in the past 12 months have been victims of crime in that period. For those that haven’t made a jewellery purchase, the figure is 14%. (FutureFact 2006)
So, once again, the question is not whether we have a problem or not. It’s what are you going to do about it?
Fred Roed is the marketing guy in the Ideate crew. Fred is the CEO of web marketing company World Wide Creative and the co-founder of online learning portal Heavy Chef. Fred loves writing about people out there doing marketing right. Follow Fred on Twitter here. View more articles by Fred Roed.
Nic
Feb 19th, 2007
Hi,
Thank you for the positive mention in your post and on your site. I will be adding you to our supporters list if that’s cool with you!! if not let me know.
I hope you keep reading SA Rocks and I’ll keep reading ideate!
Fred
Feb 19th, 2007
No worries mate, you’re doing a good service.
We need more people to stick their necks out. Like with Ideate, it’s not so important if it works or not – it’s action that counts. We have a long way to go – but the important thing is to start. Whatever it is you’re thinking about, whatever weird crazy idea it is to uplift this country – just start.
Henre
Feb 20th, 2007
Hi, thanks for the article. It’s great to see that leaders from such a diverse area in life are standing up and spreading the word. We have a client specialising in payroll giving, invoice giving, and now even Internet giving. Check them out at http://www.zerohero.org
What’s the pay-off for me?? Well nothing, besides hopefully one or two visits to my blog.
Regards
Henre
Dave
Feb 20th, 2007
Fred, good post, I truly believe it is apathy within SA and by expats abroad that has lead to the increase in crime.
One thing I need to get off my chest – as my post over on Guy Lundy’s blog has still not been approved – is to rectify the misconception within South Africa about whinging expats. I strongly believe based on all my return visits to SA and the thousands of South Africans I have met all over the world the biggest negative attitude towards SA still exists within our own backyard.
A friend returned from a visit back to SA today and he was distraught by the general decline in standards but most of all by the negative attitudes of Saffas at home. I couldn’t agree more with him – you, the guys at SA Rocks and generally the rest of the SA blogosphere are proving to be the exception!
Jon
Feb 20th, 2007
it’s so difficult to argue with such subjective knowledge flying around!
Fred you post sounds a lot like a Mr JFK just before he was gunned down in teh street. “Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country”…BANG BANG..Jackie reaches into the back of the presidents car to pick up here husbands brain, as the whinning American public say take that! Sice we’re talking subjective knowledge I thought this was relevant!
Andrew
Feb 20th, 2007
Jon, you turn more cynical by the day.
Fred
Feb 21st, 2007
Jonno, thanks for the comment.
Just a question: Have you been sniffing oil fumes again?
Fred
Feb 21st, 2007
Dave: ‘A friend returned from a visit back to SA today and he was distraught by the general decline in standards but most of all by the negative attitudes of Saffas at home.’
Funny you should say this. My UK business partner, who is now in South Africa, has been moaning about the decline in standards.while he’s been here.
Please elaborate on what your friend was talking about… Can you give some examples of the standards he was talking about? Also, can you quote some of the negative attitudes? I want to dig a little deeper here.
Dave
Feb 22nd, 2007
Fred, my comment still hasn’t been approved and it was fairly elaborate, I won’t repeat it all ‘cos I don’t have the time right now.
The negative attitude in SA stems from a feeling of helplessness and the “grass is greener on the other side” principle. I had a lot of people telling me “you were wise to leave”, “get out now while you can”, “I would leave if I had the chance, this place is going downhill”, “Why on earth do you want to come back HERE?”. Most of my friends and family don’t subscribe to this view and neither do I but it is fairly common within SA.
The decline in standards, well, lets see, everything from power blackouts to Coca Cola running out of CO2!!! From a lack of effective telecommunications eg. Broadband to extremely poor public transport. I noticed a decline in the general level of service, in restaurants across the board the product is still the same, sometimes better, but the service now leaves a lot to be desired. In fact service was shocking everywhere I went (with one exception I can think of – Vida and 1Time), and thats saying a lot coming from England. I tried looking at my time in SA from a tourists POV and decided that I would be lost and extremely frustrated, lucky for me I knew certain things or understood certain concepts because of my SA background. Ever tried phoning 1023? I must have phoned 1023 over 30 times and never once did I receive good customer service, at least I can interpret the South Africa accent in what passes for English in SA these days.
You’re asking me to point out the bad points and these are some of the things that have come into my head in the last 5 minutes.
There are loads of things I like about SA, its uniqueness being one of them. I love the fact that SA has thousands of unique products, out of ingenuity or just the need to make our own stuff because of sanctions we seem to have a larger variety of products than most other countries I have visited. Food, sun, people, freedom, space, beautiful women, a culture of entrepreneurship etc etc are all reasons why I love SA.
This post is getting long, I have to run.
Andrew
Feb 22nd, 2007
Seeing as this is a blog about small business in South Africa, I’m allow to ignore all the other stuff, and just say that the “challenges” of doing business here – bad sevice, accents, telecomms – can all be turned to opportunities if you’ve got your rose-coloured glasses on. If you run a business in an industry that offers bad service, and you offer “UK-quality” service, you should clean up the market. If 1023 is unintelligble to tourists, how about starting an alternative targetted to that market? Generally the difficulties that we face as entrepreneurs raises the bar so that there is less competition, and more opportunities to lead.
Fred
Feb 23rd, 2007
It’s always great to hear all the various perspectives out there.
There are 2 angles here that I find interesting:
1.Those that live outside of SA and look in. When they come here, they have the benefit of being able to measure things by the yardstick of time. They have a clear snapshot from the previous time they were here, like someone who hasn’t seen his young nephew for a year and can now see how they’ve grown.
2.Those that live in SA and are in the midst of the action. These are the people stuck in the middle of the jungle; who ‘can’t see the wood for the trees’. Some are better at navigating their way through the thick underbrush, while others get lost and tangled in the jungle.
The problem with the first perspective is that it’s just a snapshot. Each time they visit, it’s not enough to live with the infant and help shape their future.
The problem with the second is that you can get very lost very easily.
It’s important that we realise that the perspectives don’t oppose each other. Rather, we must work together – if anything, for the sake of my three young kids, who I would love to bring up in this beautiful country of ours.
Pieter
Mar 16th, 2007
I also strongly believe in not just talking, but acting. I launched a website yesterday to promote networking among neighbours, family, and friends using an online alerting system, much like hellopeter.com does for consumerism.
Organisation among citizens is a key factor moving towards a solution.
Ideate - Small Business in South Africa » Small business heroes
Oct 17th, 2007
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