ROLLER COASTER OF VOLATILITY
By Haroun Pochee. B.Com CA (SA) – Growing Hands Entrepreneur Development
Are we on a real life rollercoaster ride of fast paced change, unexpected twists, turns and breathless anxiety?
Whether it is in our business environment, political happenings, managing the myriad of power cuts, the extreme fluctuations in exchange rates and markets the ride is not an exhilarating one and our best laid plans can easily be derailed and crashed into an abyss beyond our control.
This can be gut wrenching and factors beyond yours and my control influence the way we react and plot the course of action. It is definitely not a theme park ride but a real life experience.
We are definitely living in volatile times!
Who would have thought that the oil price would crash in such a short period of time? Who would have thought that the European economy would be in such dire straits? Who would have thought that with such a small representation in the South African parliament, the Economic Freedom Front would make such an impact on the domestic political front?
The impact and consequences of such a drastic change on our business and financial affairs have yet to be assessed and digested by the experts. It leaves the business community with uncertainty in inconsistency.
David Morobe, a regional director of Business Partners emphasized one of the challenges in his keynote address at the 2015 Growing Hands Entrepreneur Start-Up program recently. He said;
“Unemployment is a global issue. Global youth unemployment is a crises and is predicted to keep rising. The South African situation is dire. Four million seven hundred thousand people out of an estimated eighteen million people are unemployed.”
He cited that in South Africa entrepreneurship offers the country a chance for growth, job creation and wealth creation. Yet entrepreneurship did not seem to be a desirable choice for young people. Morobe emphasised; “We must build a society that appreciates the role of entrepreneurs.” International there is a lot of support for entrepreneurs and entrepreneur development. Business Partners have started the “Square Peg Movement” which is intended to promote “entrepreneurship as a noble career.” The idea being that the movement could develop people who see the world for what it could be, who could go against the tide and find the best of themselves with joy and spirit and who care for the spirit and well being of our communities and their upliftment.
He inspired with his conclusion; “True success can be defined as – Not what we know but what we do with what we know. Everything starts with an idea and we are all creative in one way or another”
He gave aspirant entrepreneurs who find themselves challenged by the rollercoaster ride HOPE to see the world from their perspective, for what it could be and who are swimming against the odds of challenges in trying to create opportunities for themselves, their families or their loved ones.
There are lessons for all of us:
- We have to encourage entrepreneurial activity.
- Support, mentor and fund ventures even if they are small and self sustaining.
- Be prepared and accept that there could be failure.
- Our plans, like the times we live in, need to be flexible and should allow us to tailor or amend should any of the matrix change fundamentally.
- We have to be better prepared to adapt to trend changes and adopt principles of change management.
- Expand our business and personal networks seeking opportunities for improving and expanding business prospects.
- Invest in our personal development to up-skill ourselves and improve our preparedness for any threats that may arise.
- We cannot be paralysed by procrastination and indecision. Leaving a situation unaddressed for too long without decisiveness can be fatal.
- Understand our individual leadership personality and role.
Working on our challenges, sharing our concerns and making our action plans come to fruition will help us prepare ourselves to overcome the head winds of the rollercoaster of economic uncertainty.
Growing Hands is a NPO, providing Entrepreneur Development programs. Visit Growing Hands Facebook page for more information on our programs, our volunteers and our presenters.