ENTREPRENEUR Feature
How to get
YOUR BUSINESS D N U O R G E H T F OF
growth in BEE has seen a huge of n tio uc od tr in e Th s. In fact, in the past 10 year a ric Af h ut So in s SME’ nies are 70% of SME compa research shows that untry’s co e However, due to th now black-owned. skills and y and a vast lack of or st hi e at un rt fo un taged, previously disadvan e th g on am s ce ur reso und l businesses have fo many of these smal uding cl many challenges in themselves facing apela, cial strain. Bafana M an fin d an y lit bi si vi in business k Entrepreneurs, a ocess co-founder of Blac ip epreneursh is a pr tr en ys sa , m fir g consultin ed and gies to be formulat that requires strate Here he ented for it to work. em pl im ly ul sf es cc su done to t what needs to be ou ab g on ot Sp to speaks urship. promote entreprene
What advice could you give to an aspiring entrepreneur? My advice to aspiring entrepreneurs is to focus on “that” business idea. Passion and drive will definitely bear results. Hard work and dedication are definite ingredients for success. Additionally, entrepreneurs must fully make use of the government initiatives and programmes available to them, such as the National Youth Development Agency (NYDA), the Small Enterprise Development Agency (SEDA), and the Independent Development Trust (IDT). These programmes are designed to assist them. Entrepreneurs should believe in their ideas; no one will buy into an idea if they don’t sell it to the market. Entrepreneurs should do proper market research, business planning, benchmark and do a personal SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats) analysis before going into business. If you can dream it, you can achieve it – 16
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Bafana Mopela is co-founder of Black Enterpreneurs
Walt Disney. Many of life’s failures are people who did not realise how close they were to success when they gave up.
develop strategies and mechanisms, which will monitor the repayment of funds lent to entrepreneurs.
In your opinion, what is a major challenge to entrepreneurs getting assistance from financial institutions?
It seems these businesses are doomed to fail before they have even started operating, how can it be rectified?
I think the main problem is the funding model and the qualification criteria used. Many viable and feasible projects get declined on the basis of failing ITC checks from the credit bureaus, minor issues around the format of a business plan, and in most cases funding institutions require startup entrepreneurs to already be in possession of preliminary contracts or have access to the market. As much as I believe there are risks that financial institutions are trying to manage with regard to the loan repayment, I believe funding institutions, in particular, government institutions should rather
The success of any business starts with the drive and passion of the owner. I believe proper planning, resources, access to market, vision and drive are the key success factors of any business. I think our country is still at a stage where the idea of entrepreneurship is still run on a trial and error basis and this on its own has an impact on the failures of many small businesses/entrepreneurs. I also think that entrepreneurs should also take personal development seriously; most entrepreneurs don’t understand the important basics of compiling a business plan. A business plan should not only be compiled to source funding,
