I received a strange call the other day from a man who said he could not tell me what he wanted to say over the phone, and that I should do everything to meet him, soon, as he has ‘a big one’ for me. This was after he read about Tau’s braaivleis lanes.
Big one – in journalism – means a big, fat, juicy story. However, I was taken aback a little, as the caller sounded very strange and quite creepy. I thought maybe I had stepped on someone’s toes and this man could well be one of those wanting to get back at me in a dark dungeon.
But, being the supposedly brave scribe I think I am, I accepted his invitation to meet him at his house and he gladly issued directions. This fuelled my suspicions even further. Should I take someone with me? Should I ask to meet this guy in a public place? My inner debate was in turmoil.
Nonetheless, for the sake of wanting to be a martyr for the cause, I shot straight there, alone. Upon arrival, I was led to a back room of the house and ushered onto a comfortable lounge chair. As the stranger began speaking, after introducing himself, I became more comfortable.
This guy runs a training business for aspiring entrepreneurs and teaches them how to start and run their own businesses. He has designed, developed and produced numerous training manuals and modules and videos where he literally teaches and demonstrates a rundown of the nitty-gritty stuff one should have full knowledge of before even attempting to set up shop.
These include taking care of the books, cash flow, ledger, cash book, balance sheet, calculating profit and loss and everything else that goes with opening a new business.
After carefully listening to his story, it dawned on me that the efforts of government in promoting youth entrepreneurship as currently being undertaken, were tantamount to putting the cart before the horse, so to speak.
Shouldn’t the government begin by educating the youth, first, before even talking about or attempting to inculcate an entrepreneurial spirit in our young people? I even went further and suggested that if the government is serious about this entrepreneurial story, its starting point should be introducing these business skills as part of the school curriculum. In other words, these youngsters must begin this entrepreneurship process at an early age, as opposed to trying to teach an old dog new tricks.
If our children learn these vital business skills in the classroom, as early as primary school, and grow up with them, all the way through to high school, I’m telling you, this country will sooner, rather than later, begin exporting entrepreneurs.
I think what we need is to get away from the habit of throwing people into the deep-end and leaving them to either sink or swim. Let’s make these business skills part of our school curriculum and in that way, we can mould strong, foundational entrepreneurs who will only fail because that is a normal thing that happens … sometimes.
If we want to encourage entrepreneurship, then our children should eat, sleep, play, research and study entrepreneurship all their school lives in order for them to understand the entire business world, life and language, along with its shenanigans, at a tender age and grow up in that spirit.
At the moment, the government is engaged in a strategy that is similar to the mystery caller – big promises with very little results.
The aspirants are given tenders to grow their businesses or loans today to start one, and the next thing they do is buy flashy 4×4 cars, imbibe expensive whisky, buy flashy jewellery and designer clothes and upmarket houses in leafy suburbs – but not a cent is invested to grow the business, and everything collapses before their very eyes.
