Nedbank Small Businesss Friday a worthwhile initiative

I support the spirit and intentions behind Small Business Friday, which was yesterday. Initiated by Nedbank in association with the National Small Business Chamber, Small Business Friday encourages people to buy from local small businesses every day but especially on Fridays. 

The initiative is welcome for a number of reasons: 

• It brings the issue of small business development to the fore, an issue which is crucial to the need to create millions of new jobs in South Africa
• It emphasises the point that small businesses need our support, as consumers and buyers of their products and services, every day for them to thrive
• It shows that a major financial institution, Nedbank, is putting its name behind small business development
• Through the use of social media, competitions, small business support tools and services offered by the Chamber, it encourages existing small businesses and emerging entrepreneurs to keep going in these very difficult economic circumstances

The more of this type of initiative the better. They contribute towards the development of what is becoming known as the “entrepreneurial ecosystem”.  

The entrepreneurial ecosystem is the totality of activities, enablers, conditions, stakeholders and incentives that make up the environment in which entrepreneurialism can exist and thrive. At present the ecosystem in South Africa is fragmented, under-developed and lacking direction. 

As the party of enterprise, the DA believes more needs to be done to stimulate small businesses to become medium sized and large businesses. For this to happen they need access to markets, access to finance, less red tape, incentives to employ people, incentives to invest in new technology, safe and secure workplaces and stable and reliable sources of basic services and infrastructure including electricity, transport and bandwidth. 

They also need better skilled entrants to the jobs market, educated to the level where they can make an immediate impact on companies’ competitiveness and profitability.  

Regrettably these conditions do not exist at present, which is why our economy is limping along with economic growth virtually stagnant. The Business Confidence Index is on a downward slide, sitting at 41 in the last quarter and heading towards its lowest point reached in late 2009. At its height of 90 in 2006, economic growth was approaching the 5% mark which is where it needs to be for our unemployment rate to come down to acceptable levels.  

The ANC government should begin listening to the creators of wealth – businesses, large and small – instead of pandering to its own interests and ideologies which destroy jobs.  

I would like Small Business Friday to be a rallying cry to all entrepreneurs and business owners to demand a more enterprise-friendly environment in which to do business, so they can grow, employ more people and contribute to the betterment of society as a whole. 

Much of our current anxiety and tension in South Africa is due to high unemployment. Having no job destroys a person’s dignity, makes them resentful and angry and can lead to anti-social behaviour and violence.  

Lowering unemployment and so increasing social harmony can only come through steady economic growth, which depends on the spirit of enterprise spreading into our factories, offices and boardrooms.  

Small Business Friday is an important contribution to this effort.