ACT LIKE THE BOSS

ACT LIKE THE BOSS

ENTREPRENEURIAL THINKING IN A NUTSHELL

 WHY ENTREPRENEURSHIP CANNOT BE TAUGHT BY FRANCES CARRERA.

Entrepreneurship, while it can be enhanced and encouraged through education, cannot be taught

completely. The basic framework and strategies can be presented in a classroom setting, but it is up to the individual to effectively implement these strategies. Entrepreneurship, in the end, is about three key virtues that are almost impossible to teach: passion, courage, and work ethic.

Passion is something that people develop, not something that can be instilled through a series of lectures. It is possible to inspire through lecturing, but if someone isn’t passionate about a topic or issue, no amount of convincing or hard facts is going to change that. Passion is what drives an entrepreneur it’s what makes someone work 20 hour days to ensure a community in Africa gets clean water, it’s what inspires an innovator to spend countless of hours developing a new invention, and it’s what drives scientist to find a cure for cancer. Without passion, there is only ‘work’ to be done. Without passion, no one asks themselves, “How can I make this better or make a difference”, which is a key question most entrepreneurs start out with.

If passion is what drives an entrepreneur, courage keeps them going. Having the courage to

risk everything- whether it be time, money, or precious resources, is key to entrepreneurship.

Entrepreneurship is about having guts, and no matter how hard they try, professors cannot teach that.

You also can’t teach someone how to know which risks to take, how to take them, or what will work and what won’t- if you could, everyone would be rich! Of course, entrepreneurship is not always about risking it all- in fact, being an entrepreneur is very different from gambling. Business gamblers take risks in search of big payouts, while entrepreneurs take risks to do new things, solve problems, and are motivated by much more than the reward of quick, easy money. Professors can teach the skills necessary to make large scale decisions- especially financial ones- but passion, courage, and work ethic are what separate the gamblers from true entrepreneurs.

Entrepreneurial success depends as much on temperament as on teaching. Entrepreneurship education can help guide those with the right spirit, those with passion and courage, but it also takes a strong work ethic and commitment to succeed. You can’t teach someone to work hard unless they want to.

It takes a distinct combination of ambition and drive to be an entrepreneur, and without the proper work ethic, even the most passionate of entrepreneurs can fail. Most entrepreneurs fail anyway! However, they gather the courage to rebuild and move on- and that type of commitment can’t be taught. This, however, is not to say entrepreneurship should not be part of a school’s curriculum. In fact, it’s imperative that entrepreneurial thought be encouraged and students be inspired. Passion, courage, and strong work ethic can take someone only so far if they don’t have the right tools, knowledge, and connections to push ahead, especially in the business world. Yet, a person is far more handicapped if they have the knowledge without passion or courage- virtues that cannot be developed by force.

While there are several elements that can be taught to enhance the knowledge and success of entrepreneurs, in the end, entrepreneurship is something one can learn only by doing. Students need to be armed with inspiration and can be taught how to take an idea in the right direction, but ultimately, it’s up to them to decide how far they want to take it. True entrepreneurs are defined by their passion and their experiences, not the degrees they hold, and that is why entrepreneurship, while it can be developed and inspired, can’t truly be taught.

ACCELERATE CAPE TOWN CEO SHARES VISION FOR CAPE TOWN

"For Cape Town to realise its vision of become Africa’s global city, the role of business needs to extend beyond the boardroom by ensuring a sustainable business environment that is resilient to the challenges of the day," says Chris Whelan, the new CEO of Accelerate Cape Town, the business think-tank and catalyst that brings together key stakeholders in the Cape Town city region to develop and implement a long-term vision for sustainable, inclusive economic growth.

Whelan was speaking at the organisation's annual general meeting yesterday where Accelerate Cape Town's 49 members, consisting of the largest corporates headquartered in the Western Province, gathered to hear about the successes of the past year and what is planned for the organisation for the next 12 months.

FOUR KEY FOCUS AREAS

Whelan, who took over from former CEO Guy Lundy at the beginning of July this year, has hinged the organisation's vision for Cape Town on four key focus areas: connectedness, both physical and virtual; enterprise development, aimed at growing the number of economically active South Africans; talent, particularly attracting and retaining black talent in the city; and telling the African story, especially as it relates to attracting business to the continent.

‘The four key focus areas for Accelerate Cape Town are not a deviation from what the organisation has been doing to date, but are rather aimed at building on the success achieved under the stewardship of my predecessor, Guy Lundy. We are confident that we will continue to play a key role as facilitator between big business and government in the city, and make a vital contribution to establishing Cape Town as Africa's global city, a city of inspiration and innovation,’ explains Whelan.

THE NDP AND WHAT IT MEANS TO CAPE TOWN AND SOUTH AFRICA

Joining Whelan at the AGM was guest speaker Bobby Godsell, former CEO of Anglogold Ashanti and current member of the National Planning Commission, who shared some insights into the National Development Plan that was recently presented to members of Parliament. Godsell says that one of the most important aspects to the future success of South Africa is to have an active and engaged citizenry. “While the NDP highlights nine key areas that need to be addressed to ensure our success as a country, it is critical that South Africans from all walks of life become actively engaged in our democracy and so help build a country that provides opportunities for inclusive growth to all. People should not wait for government to implement this plan – instead, every South African citizen should get involved and work together with business and government to create the country we all want to live in.”

Whelan adds that the nine key challenges set out by the NDP are not news to the business sector. 'However, the success of the NDP hinges on its execution. It is here that I believe business has the capability to assist, and I see Accelerate Cape Town playing a key role as a facilitator between business and government in the Cape Town city region.'

YOUNG ROCKING MONEY MAKERS IN SOUTH AFRICA

LUDWICK MARISHANE AGED 22 - @theheadboy

According to the Entrepreneurs’ Organization, Ludwick Marishane is the best student entrepreneur in the world. Ludwick started businesses as a teenager in Limpopo. Many failed, like his own brand of biodiesel, healthy cigarettes and a security magazine. He then started HeadBoy Industries, a business that designs and commercializes new products and services in South Africa. One of its products, DryBath, is the world’s first bath-substituting solution. It is easy to use and needs minimal water. It moisturises the skin, kills germs, and leaves the user smelling fresh. If that is not enough, Ludwick was also named by Google among the 12 most intelligent young brains in the universe.

BRENT KAIRUZ AGED 33

This man just does business without all the fuss going around and a living example that there are still massive opportunities outside of cyberspace. Today, Brent is the Managing Executive of Creative Coffee Franchising. Brent started his career by founding a company called Kairuz Corporation in 1998 (later became known as Kairuz Holdings). In 2011, Famous Brands and Kairuz Holdings formed a new joint venture partnership under a new company, Creative Coffee Franchising, which controls all the Kairuz Cafés, Coffee Couture, Juicy Lucy and House of Coffees franchised brands. Don’t know how to keep an eye on this guy, but if you can, you’ll be amazed.

ASHLEY UYS AGED 29 -@ashleytuys

Ashley is the founder of Medical Diagnostech, a company that develops and markets affordable and reliable medical test kits for malaria, pregnancy, syphilis, malaria and HIV/Aids for Africa’s rural poor. The company’s Malaria test kit can reportedly detect all strains of malaria and indicate within 30 minutes whether the malaria treatment provided is effective. Far more significant is that each test kit costs R4, effectively bringing reliable malaria diagnosis into the hands of millions of people for whom living with the threat of the illness is an everyday reality. There is no doubt that this company is set for huge success.

JONATHAN LIEBMANN AGED 28 -@propertuity

His name might not ring a bell, but if you are from Johannesburg, then you will definitely know of the Maboneng Precinct, a thriving cultural district in the east side of Johannesburg’s CBD. Jonathan is the man behind this project. He is a South African real estate developer and CEO of Propertuity. Propertuity is a South African Real Estate development company and the brains behind the construction of the Maboneng Precinct. Once a neglected and deteriorating neighborhood housing abandoned industrial complexes, Jonathan transformed Maboneng into a vibrant urban mixed-use community complete with art galleries, retail spaces, offices and artist studios. An entrepreneur who has changed the biggest city in Africa, forever!

YOSSI HASSON AGED 30 -@yossihasson

Yossi is the co-founder and Managing Director of SYNAQ, a company he started in 2004 with an old school friend. When I was doing research on Yossi for this article, I found many interviews and stories. All telling how successful he is at a young age, but when he told his own story, it wasn’t always an easy ride. They struggled as a service business, had to make difficult decisions and transformed the business into one selling products. Since then it has become a prominent company and attracted the attention of big players in the ISP market with Internet Solutions acquiring 50% of the business in 2011. SYNAQ was also ranked as the 6th fastest growing company in South Africa by AllWordNetwork in 2011.

VUSI THEBEKWAYO AGED 27 -@vusispeaker

Not only is he among the most outstanding keynote and motivational speakers in the world but he is also a formidable businessman. At the age of 17, Vusi was ranked 1st in Africa for public speaking. At 21 he ran his own successful consulting firm (then South Africa’s only black-owned Forensic Marketing agency). By 23, Vusi was an executive at one of the largest consumer goods businesses in Africa. At 25 years-old he was the youngest director of a multi-national turning over R17bn a year, where he served on the operations board. And today at 27, he is the Managing Director of MOTIV8 Advisory – a specialist consulting and services agency & serves on the board of international consulting firm Black Sheep Advisory as well as the founding Partner of Speakers BootCamp (S.A).

VINNY LINGHAM AGED 34 -@vinnylingham

Vinny Lingham is a South African Internet entrepreneur and the founder and CEO of Yola Inc., a San Francisco-based Web 2.0 start-up that provides free website building, publishing and hosting services to more than three million active consumers all over the world. The company has engrossed over $30 million in venture capital financing from institutional investors such as Columbus Venture Capital owned by SA’s Johann Rupert’s Richemont Group. He also developed CIick2Customers, a massively flourishing search engine marketing company housed in Cape Town, London and Los Angeles.

ADII PIENAAR AGED 28 -@adii

In my opinion, Adii is one of the most successful young tech entrepreneurs in South Africa. He is a co-founder of WooThemes, a business which has had great success – in an international sense – with millions of dollars in revenue annually. On his website, he describes himself as an entrepreneur, husband and very new father. Following him on Twitter, it is evident that this youngster is well respected in tech circles all over the world. Today, WooThemes is four years old, with 25 employees. The company had no funding and was 100% bootstrapped.

JUSTIN STANFORD AGED 28 -@justinstanford

This South African-born entrepreneur is a software industrialist and venture capitalist. It all started for Justin at the age of 13 when he bought raw apple juice and sold it to his classmates for a profit. A few years later he dropped out of school to pursue his entrepreneurial career. But success didn’t come easy and he had two failed businesses under his belt by the time he was 21. Justin fought on and his perseverance paid off when he came across Slovakian anti-virus software package called ESET; he negotiated with its manufacturers and begun its distribution in South Africa. Today, ESET in South Africa sells ESET’s assortment of internet protection products in about 20 sub-Saharan countries, making it an enormously flourishing internet business and Justin heads up the 4D Innovations Group, which includes the venture capital firm, 4Di Capital.

RUPERT BRYANT AGED 25 -@waroop

Rupert Bryant is the chief operating officer (COO) and a director at Web Africa, one of South Africa’s most successful Internet Service Providers (ISPs). His involvement in the company started at the age of 16 when Matthew Tagg needed a partner for his new venture, and Rupert was a perfect choice. Rupert was running his own web development company from the age of 14, and when Web Africa started as a hosting provider it was a logical choice for Matthew to join forces with Rupert to build his new web hosting company. They started Web Africa with virtually no capital, and over the last decade have grown it into a company which generates well in excess of R130 million annually and employs 130 people.