Clueless about business? No doubt…
Business License Bill shows dti’s lack of understanding of entrepreneurship.
“CLUELESS ABOUT REALITY“ Author: Ryk van Niekerk (Moneyweb’s managing editor)
30 April 2013
Yes, this man decides on SA’s entrepreneurial future
“Trade and Industry Minister Rob Davies is out of touch with the reality of entrepreneurship. The proof: the newly proposed Business Licensing Bill. The Bill underlines the lack of understanding of the challenges small and medium sized businesses (SMEs) face and how destructive bureaucracy is. I really do not see the sense in the new Bill, except to show how clueless the department and its minister are. I hope Davies read the latest edition of the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) report, which analysed the health of entrepreneurship in various countries. The South African chapter makes for dreadful reading and shows that fewer and fewer South Africans are interested in starting and/or running a business”. Click HERE to read Ryk’s full article on MONEYWEB.
My comment to Ryk van Niekerk:
Ryk, this is one the best articles I have read regarding entrepreneurship in South Africa. Your grasp of the realities of starting a business should be put to better use. You have my vote for the position as minister of job creation and small business. If you are not interested, I will strongly consider applying.
Your comments reminded me of a quote, attributed to Thoreau, “Anyone in a free society where the laws are unjust has an obligation to break the law.” Now I am not suggesting that one breaks the law, but when I coach individuals to start their own business, the frustration with all the red tape is quite
evident. To be blunt – it is NOT easy to start a small business in SA.
You have nailed it – SA needs ENTREPRENEURS to develop an environment that is conducive for doing business. In my PhD studies it was referred to as an “enabling environment”. With all dti’s so called business incentive programs, they have yet to come up with something that is truly “enabling”, instead they do their best (and succeed) in making it more restrictive.
Our first world Labour Act is an ill fit for our country with its high unemployment rate. The easier it is to hire and fire, the more people will be employed (evidently something no politician will comprehend). Entrepreneurs are not going into business to create jobs, especially with our legislation. But entrepreneurs are creative people, finding ways of how NOT to employ people. Outsourcing, crowd sourcing and making use of freelancers (also referred to as e-lancers) have become a real threat to creating full time jobs for our people. Legislation is forcing entrepreneurs to find resources at a lower cost, and they are abundantly available in the rest of the world. Even with our high broadband rates, it is still much cheaper to utilise skills in other countries (think China, India and even the UK and USA).
Ryk van Niekerk’s reply:
“Thanks for the kind words, but I am not not a politician… and I really don’t want to be one!”
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Sorry to hear that Ryk. Not many people have your insight and the talent for saying it in a very understandable way. Bottom line is, SA has to get a wake up call and ensure an environment that will make entrepreneurship prosper. But as long as politicians are in charge of business, this will happen as soon as hell freezes over.