Proudly South African Entrepreneurs Chatting to business owners exhibiting at the Buy Local Summit was inspiring. So inspiring that I almost entirely missed the official programme. Dragging myself away from the businesses exhibiting I attended the sessions after lunch. Over three sessions I was left with a distinct sense that the Proudly South Africa...
Continue readingAuthor: Ebrahim
Budget 2016: Encouraging for SMMEs, but more detail needed
The South African government is well aware that the small, medium and micro enterprise (SMME) sector is the key to unlocking job creation and economic growth over the next decade and a half. The National Development Plan envisions 90% of new employment by 2030 will be generated by SMMEs. Yet SMMEs often seem to...
Continue readingDo startups make inequality inevitable?
SAY “PG” in South Africa, and everyone knows you are talking about Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan. In the tech start-up world the initials belong to Paul Graham, a venture capitalist and influential essayist. Recently, he controversially argued that economic inequality is a necessary consequence of start-up success. “You can’t prevent great variations in wealth...
Continue readingWhat does set asides for South African small businesses tells us about economic policy making?
The Minister of Small Business, Lindiwe Zulu is championing the introduction of set-asides for small business in government procurement by September this year.The proposal is to set aside 30% of all government procurement for small enterprises. However, it is worth remembering that Cabinet on the 7 November 2007 announced a decision to do exactly...
Continue readingAutomattic Buys WooThemes: Can you replicate the success?
Automattic, an American company that runs WordPress.com bought South African company called WooThemes for a reported $30 million. Some statistics speak about the scale of business that WooThemes have built in eight years. Its ecommerce solution, called WooCommerce is estimated to power 24% of all ecommerce websites. This free plugin has been downloaded...
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Can you start a business for R1000-00?
The $100 Startup: Reinvent the Way You Make a Living, Do What You Love, and Create a New Future by Chris Guillebeau simplifies the process of starting a business, cost effectively, and is helpful for entrepreneurs wanting to take practical steps . For me, it has also served as a disciplinary device. $100 Startup as a...
Continue readingMaking pizzas isn't chemical engineering
What do a pizza maker and a chemical engineer starting businesses have in common? They both recognise an opportunity, and they will both assemble the resources they need to run their businesses. They are entrepreneurs, but they have major differences. The chemical engineer who is commercialising a new process to create solar panels is...
Continue readingPayments Dragon Den
Are you working on the next big thing set to change the payments’ industry? Is your product or programme going to be a game changer for how people move, manage and spend their money? This is the opportunity to showcase your work to a qualified audience of senior buyers. Join us to launch your...
Continue readingLocal success need not be an alien concept
ENTREPRENEURS can learn a lot just from visiting and trading with other businesses and so can those making public policy. But this critical street-level perspective is missing with government officials in the wake of recent attacks on foreign-owned spaza shops, seemingly unable to explain whether foreign-owned shops are super profitable, if they pay taxes...
Continue readingSA’s phantom ‘efficient laager’ skews thinking
THE “efficient laager” is my description of big business’s role in South Africa’s discussions on economic policy. The central feature of this hypothesis is that it defines business — particular big business — as a bastion of efficiency, neglecting to tackle the core questions of economic concentration. The stance is insulated and defensive. You...
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