Archive by Author
Are Banks Missing An Opportunity?
I was fed, clothed and educated by and on small business. My parents were consummate entrepreneurs – always innovating in their own business and exploring new business opportunities. However, the one consistency was always whom they banked with – come rain come shine, my parents banked with ‘beep’ bank. I queried why they had chosen [...]
Deconstructing Construction Finance To Build Stronger Contractors
For South Africa is readying itself for an infrastructure development boom. On 24 October 2012 the Business Day newspaper reported that at an infrastructure investment conference in Johannesburg, President Zuma had announced that the government was drafting legislation to enable infrastructure development, as well as trying to find funding methods for 18 strategic infrastructure projects. [...]
Too Scared To Fail: Barriers To Small Business Growth
We know that more than half of all new businesses in South Africa fail within the first 12 months and that, by the end of 10 years, 96% of them will have closed their doors – but how many of these re-enter the market? And how many more don’t even try to start up because [...]
Serendipity In Unlikely Places
The marriage of Enterprise Development and BBBEE compliance promises to be fruitful – as long as we can get them to the altar, the right way. Sometimes we do encounter a union where the two partners are truly meant for each other. The Department of Trade Industry got its matchmaking right when it introduced Enterprise [...]
Focus On Growth To Survive The Recession
The US debt ceiling crisis and the European sovereign debt crisis both have ramifications for small businesses globally and we are being warned to brace ourselves for another downturn in the economy. Indeed, on 23 August 2011, Gill Markus, Governor of the South African Reserve Bank, in a speech to the American Chamber of Commerce, [...]
Ten Reasons Why Small Businesses Fail
For most entrepreneurs the best part of starting a business is the initial planning, when it all seems possible and the endorphins are running high. During this honeymoon phase it’s hard to imagine that there is a 50% chance that you won’t make it through the first year; on the contrary, you are probably confident [...]
Five Tips For Entrepreneurs To Survive The Holidays
The holidays should be a time to sit back, relax, and enjoy life… But for many small business owners, holidays seem to represent nothing more than lost sales and extra stress. It is true that public and religious holidays can have a serious impact on small businesses. Low productivity and difficult staffing issues are just [...]
Ten Great Entrepreneurial Lessons From Steve Jobs
Apple was born in a garage in 1976 as a modest entrepreneurial venture started by Steve Jobs. The road that Steve travelled from those humble beginnings to creating the wealthiest company in the world can teach entrepreneurs a great deal about what it takes to succeed. I’d like to share the top ten lessons I [...]
One Size Strategy For SMMEs Does Not Fit All
As in the rest of the world, South Africa is pinning its hopes on small, medium and micro-enterprises (SMMEs) to create jobs and drive economic growth. Indeed, government has spent billions on this sector. Yet some 17 years of state support for SMMEs has produced disappointing results. Much of this poor outcome is due to [...]
Africa Open For Business – A View From Davos
With Africa being proclaimed as the future for business investment, the 42nd World Economic Forum (WEF) held in Davos in January presented a great opportunity for me to verify this view. There were any number of issues clamouring for attention at Davos this year – the Arab Spring, the Eurozone crisis, burgeoning youth unemployment, the [...]
