EARLIER this week, I had the opportunity to sit down and have a long chat with Pavlo Phitidis of business accelerator Aurik on the subject of entrepreneurship in South Africa.
He raised what I thought was a really good point, which is that South Africa as a country idolises its sports stars and their achievements, but hardly goes out of its way to celebrate entrepreneurial achievement.
As a country we will throw a ticker-tape parade and sponsor or offer houses to people who can jump 12 metres or cover a 400 metre-sprint under a certain time. We rightly see these as achievements which bring us national prestige.
But internationally renowned strategist Clem Sunter last year touched on the fact that nobody is aware that South Africa produced a young scientist who is now working on rocket fuel for Nasa.
In this country very few people know the name of Siyabulela Xuza, despite the fact that he is one of our most promising exports and has even had a planet named after him.
One of our best-read stories recently was about international payment gateway PayPal. Until this week I wasn't aware that it was an ex-South African, Elon Musk, who developed this technology. Nor did I know that he is CEO of a multi-billion dollar business supplying technology to Nasa.
I kicked these facts around the newsroom and apart from tech writer Simon Dingle, nobody else knew what Musk had achieved. It's mind-boggling.
Nicolaas Vlok from Idion Technologies is another South African who is quietly cleaning up on the international scene - and you don't have to look very far to find other examples.
Even on a smaller scale, are we aware that a delegation from the University of KwaZulu-Natal finished fifth in a global entrepreneurship competition last year? I can't recall seeing a single press release promoting this achievement.
Why it matters
Entrepreneurship or small business ownership in South Africa is sold as a survival or back-up option for those who can't find a job in the formal sector, or employment to suit a particular lifestyle.
It's a pretty general comment, but people are not establishing businesses to innovate or create new products, or to do things in a smarter way. Rather, at the end of the day they are creating firms to put food on the table, which in itself is not wrong.
However, when people bring you a grandiose business plan and you ask them why they want to establish a business, they will say one of the three things:
- I want to be rich
- I can't work for a boss
- I want to be the master of my own time.
There exactly lies the problem. It's all about enriching yourself, and this is the perception of entrepreneurship sold at all levels including schools, business media.
That's where the above entrepreneurs differ. Of course they wanted to be rich and successful, but they also wanted to change things.
They didn't just want to survive.
I disagree with the argument that we export skills or chase them away. Rather, I feel we don't make the holders of skills feel welcome back into South Africa.
Skills and money can move at the click of a mouse button - that's one of the pluses of being part of the global economy.
Every week we see high-profile ministers reassuring international soccer stars that they will be safe in South Africa, yet we don't give the same reassurances week after week to the Siyabulelas or Elons of this world to come and share what they have learnt.
As I see it, it's simple: Michael Ballack and his team mates might give you a couple of hours of entertainment, but he is certainly not going to employ you or your kids in years to come.
- Fin24.com