SMEs - survivalist start ups in South Africa present a unique problem
SMEs - survivalist start ups in South Africa present a unique problem
The problem is that many of these people have absolutely no previous experience or knowledge of the business in which they intend to invest the money loaned to them, nor do they often have any work experience, or any form of exposure to the intended business.
This is often reflected in their HR plans / org charts, which often indicate themselves as CEO, a manager or two and a host of employees. They all see themselves heading up a "small empire" of at least 4 or 5 people. The problem is that they want to manage what they do not understand, and often a business that could hardly sustain much more than 1 or 2 people. Sales are simply edited to ensure a profitable business.
The truth is that many of these people are survivalist entrepreneurs. They cannot get jobs, and this is their last option for survival. The situation is confused by the fact that they are literate and educated, often have management diplomas, or have attended one or other business course, so they talk as though they are experienced. They also have expectations of owning a big business. Often they want a business that will make them millionaires overnight.
These people present a different problem to that of the survivalist who is older, a family breadwinner, yet uneducated and often illiterate.
While the government sees entrepreneurship as a solution to this problem, the solution is better suited to the survivalist who is older and illiterate than to the younger educated survivalist. Simply because the older illiterate person has lower expectations, and therefore they are more likely to succeed.
These young people need to learn to lower their expectations and start at the bottom. Most of the entrepreneurs I know , including myself, started as one man operations doing everything. It was only once we became more experienced and had built up our capital, that our new ventures started with staff.
South Africa faces a tough problem resolving this problem!
Rob Smorfitt
SMEs survivalist start ups in South Africa present a unique problem - To learn more about this author, visit Dr. Rob Smorfitt's Website.
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Government efforts to stimulate entrepreneurship would appear to have made some impact, as the number of people seeking finance for their ventures has most definitely increased.
The problem is that many of these people have absolutely no previous experience or knowledge of the business in which they intend to invest the money loaned to them, nor do they often have any work experience, or any form of exposure to the intended business.
This is often reflected in their HR plans / org charts, which often indicate themselves as CEO, a manager or two and a host of employees. They all see themselves heading up a "small empire" of at least 4 or 5 people. The problem is that they want to manage what they do not understand, and often a business that could hardly sustain much more than 1 or 2 people. Sales are simply edited to ensure a profitable business.
The truth is that many of these people are survivalist entrepreneurs. They cannot get jobs, and this is their last option for survival. The situation is confused by the fact that they are literate and educated, often have management diplomas, or have attended one or other business course, so they talk as though they are experienced. They also have expectations of owning a big business. Often they want a business that will make them millionaires overnight.
These people present a different problem to that of the survivalist who is older, a family breadwinner, yet uneducated and often illiterate.
While the government sees entrepreneurship as a solution to this problem, the solution is better suited to the survivalist who is older and illiterate than to the younger educated survivalist. Simply because the older illiterate person has lower expectations, and therefore they are more likely to succeed.
These young people need to learn to lower their expectations and start at the bottom. Most of the entrepreneurs I know , including myself, started as one man operations doing everything. It was only once we became more experienced and had built up our capital, that our new ventures started with staff.
South Africa faces a tough problem resolving this problem!
Rob Smorfitt
SMEs survivalist start ups in South Africa present a unique problem - To learn more about this author, visit Dr. Rob Smorfitt's Website.
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Staging DivaDebra Gould, aka The Staging Diva®, is President of Six Elements Inc., an internationally recognized home staging company. Inspired by many requests from aspiring home stagers wanting to start similar businesses, Gould created the Staging Diva Home Staging Business Training Program. Gould has trained over 1000 Staging Diva Graduates worldwide to start staging businesses. Buying decorating and selling six of her own homes in four years lead to an interest in real estate staging which she turned into a career with the launch of sixelements.com in 2002. Since then she has staged hundreds of homes in addition to teaching home staging training. Gould is the author of several home staging resources including a series of popular ebooks made up of a Design Guide, Color Guide and Portfolio Guide. For more information about Debra Gould visit stagingdiva.com. - Visit Staging Diva's Website |
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Joe DagerJoe Dager is President of Business901, a progressive coaching company providing no-nonsense direction in areas such as Lean Six Sigma Marketing and organized referral marketing. What others say: In the past 20 years, Joe and I have collaborated on many difficult issues. Joe’s ability to combine his expertise with “out of the box” thinking is unsurpassed. He has always delivered quickly, cost effectively and with ingenuity. A brilliant mind that is always a pleasure to work with.” - James R. If you want to learn more about Business901, start a conversation with us. We can be found @ Web/Blog: Business901.com Web/Blog: FundingYourNonprofit.com LinkedIn Profile Follow me on Twitter - Visit Joe Dager's Website |
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Linda RichardsonLinda Richardson is the Founder and Executive Chairwoman of Richardson, a global sales training and performance improvement company. As a recognized leader in the industry, she has won the coveted Stevie Award for Lifetime Achievement in Sales Excellence and she was identified by Training Industry, Inc. as one of the “Top 20 Most Influential Training Professionals.” Ms. Richardson is credited with the movement to Consultative Selling and is the author of ten books on selling and sales management, including Sales Coaching — Making the Great Leap from Sales Manager to Sales Coach, and Stop Telling, Start Selling. She teaches sales and management at the Wharton Graduate School of the University of Pennsylvania and the Wharton Executive Development Center. Linda is a frequent speaker at industry and client conferences, has been published extensively in industry and training journals, and has been featured in numerous publications, including The Wall Street Journal, Forbes, Nation’s Business, Selling Power, Success, and The Conference Board Magazine. Learn more about Richardson's sales training and performance improvement solutions at http://www.richardson.com web - Visit Linda Richardson's Website |
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Stephanie RobeyStephanie Robey is President and CoFounder of Pivot Positive, LLC - an Internet marketing business focused on helping people start work at home ventures. Previously, she was employed at The Search Agency with over 20 years experience in graphic design and 10 years experience in online marketing. She was responsible for launching the Conversion Path Optimization (CPO) unit where she and her team have conducted hundreds of optimization tests for online companies across multiple verticals. She is a successful entrepreneur having started and sold 2 companies and remains on the board of directors of the third, PhotoSpin.com Stephanie began her career in the direct marketing realm creating and producing direct mail for many of the major cable television companies and directly attributes her understanding of Internet marketing to those early offline experiences. Stephanie is a graduate of San Diego State University with a BFA in Graphic Arts and also holds an Executive MBA from the Graziadio School of Business and Management at Pepperdine University. Read Steph's Blog Meet Steph and Dave Sign up for our Free 7-Day BootCamp: Self Employed & Rich - Visit Stephanie Robey's Website |
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