START A SUCCESSFUL PASSION DRIVEN FOOD RELATED ENTERPRISE

INTRODUCTION
A passion often is described as a strong desire of wanting to do something. It can be a strong and unyielding desire to always spending most of your spare time to grow a variety flowers in your garden or maybe to tend your multi variety vegetable or mini fruit backyard orchard. Perhaps your passion is cooking African cuisine and always inviting friends and extended family members to taste your latest food and cocktails recipes, and then you should consider a cuisine outlet. The list is in-exhaustive with regard to passion driven desires we are all involved in. But the most important fact is that all of the above-mentioned and more could be individually turn into a money-making venture on part time or full time basis. If your passion is coupled to the desire to research and know more about your indulgent subject, then you have all the reason to want to consider starting a successful venture.

PASSION IN GARDENING
a. A passion in gardening of any kind could be turn into a venture specialising in commercial production of organic fruits and vegetables to supply supermarkets or start a large scale venture that could export to a number of countries which are yearning for chemical free and carcinogenic free fresh produce. On the other hand, flowers could be produced and marketed all over South Africa and exported all over the world year in and year out. If you have already started tending an acre flower garden, look no further. The 2010 world cup extravaganza coming to South Africa (SA) could be your ideal stepping stone to launch your flower selling venture.

PASSION IN COOKING AFRICAN CUISINE
b. A passion in cooking economical, quality and tasty African cuisine is a sure ticket to a profitable venture. You could start a local outlet in a good location in your local town or city. If you couple your passion to a good production process, accounting and marketing skills, you could duplicate your business in major cities throughout SA through franchising. There are a number of listed companies and professional bodies that could help you with franchising at a nominal fee. Your unyielding desire to improve your production process, could even duplicate your venture to the rest of the world because we know about the Chinese food and the Italian pizza duplication in SA and nothing or very little about any African cuisine outlets in Shanghai, China, or Sicily, Italy. Remember. People have to eat at least three (3) meals a day. And on weekends, young and old couples and families not only prefer to eat out, but they prefer to sometimes explore and experiment with different dishes. African cuisine outlet could be one of the choices.

CONCLUSION
The market for your flower garden could be realized sooner by exploiting the demand that will be represented by the 2010 soccer extravaganza in SA. There is also a market in South Africa and the world for chemical and carcinogenic free fresh produce. And there is even a bigger potential market for African cuisine outlets in small to big metropolitan areas of South Africa. Basically, the potential for marketing African cuisine is limitless and grossly under-traded from Cape to Cairo. Your passion for cooking African cuisine could, therefore, be turn into a venture the world has been waiting for the past centuries.

START A VENTURE: REAP HUGE PROFITS ON YOUR IDEA(s)

The following article is aimed at encouraging individuals to act on their idea(s) by turning them into a business venture. It is coupled to future articles that will discuss how to turn one’s *passion, *dreams and one’s *talent by starting a profitable venture to help solve the lack of entrepreneurship and employment in our communities. And perhaps to offer solutions to the myriads of problems we are currently facing.

START A VENTURE: REAP HUGE PROFITS ON YOUR IDEA(S)

Do you know that your idea(s), *passion, *dream(s) and *talent can be turned into a business venture that can make you thousands of rands, or even millions of dollars? As a matter of fact, everything that is man-made and you today depend on started as someone’s idea, or passion, dream or talent. The idea originator did one thing: (s) he took his/her idea to the next level by acting on it. Thereafter, the idea became tangible and usable. By acting on the idea/passion/dream or talent, their names have been etched in the annals of history into perpetuity.


The good thing about man-made-things is that individuals that acted on their ideas, passion, and never deferred their dreams or buried their talents are no better than you and me. In addition, you do not need to be an A-student or a genius in a particular field or to know about rocket science in order to start a sustainable business venture.

As an example, the following items that have become essential tools and gadgets in our lives all started as an idea: cellular or mobile phone started as idea not so long ago. But today we cannot leave home without it. The mobile or cellular phone in today’s lifestyle is regrettably an indispensable communication tool the world over. The software (MS Office) we are so dependent on as individuals, business, government and schools started as an idea.

If you have been exposed to electricity and the many things that cannot work without it, life becomes unmanageable; you do not only feel inconvenienced, but you’ll feel that your life is topsy-turvy and completely disrupted. Now think. If Messrs Faraday,Volta, Telsa and Thomas Edison separately and individually never acted on their life changing idea, would you even worry about power outages? On the other hand, would you have been afforded the opportunity to use your laptop or Personal Computer, if Bill Gates did not act on his life altering idea which was based on Intel 8008 processor which was invented by- then a not so famous- California based company, Intel?

Join the millionaires club right now. It is absolutely free. The only requirement is a resolution to act on your idea- today and not tomorrow- to turn it into a profitable venture, and reap huge profits. Failure to act will certainly condemn your name in the rooster of the nonentities of this world. The saddest fact is that your indecision to act could possibly rob humankind of the best solution to some of the problems we are currently facing. Remember, by acting on your idea/passion/dream or talent, it is very possible that your name could be etched in the annals of history into perpetuity.

ENTREPRENEURSHIP AND THE AFRICAN EXPERIENCE PART 3

Entrepreneurship in South Africa is tinged with the ideology of classifying the ability of individuals with the pigmentation of one's skin color. Blacks have for centuries been regarded as drawers of water and hewer of wood and only to occupy designated occupations. And, white supremacist propaganda stated that blacks were not attuned to understanding the complexities of business. The spread of the apartheid gospel in 1948 to discourage entrepreneurship in the black community was further aggravated by the introduction of a myriad of legal barriers, which confined blacks in designated areas which were lacking basic social amenities like shopping centers and skills training facilities (Smollen, et al, 1986).



The consequent of the previous policies encouraged and promoted a culture of dependency in the black community throughout South Africa. By implication job creation was viewed as a government's (read white man) burden. As the political views of the previous government spread its tentacles to every fibre of the society of South Africa, they then manifested themselves as impediments that were to prevent blacks from starting businesses, or even thinking of starting employment and wealth creating ventures for themselves. On one hand, the financial institutions and white businesses went along with the policies of the government and failed to assist blacks that demonstrated talent of entrepreneurship.

On the other hand, the white academicians reinforced the notion that blacks are cultural not inclined to business by advancing nefarious theories that ignored particularly the history of black people in South Africa, and Africa in general. This manifestation of the lack of strong business inclination and the culture of enterprise need and entrepreneurship cannot be addressed by the markets because they lack the capacity and the drive to foster such ideals to the black population, only the state can intervene directly.

The 1945 Bantu Urban Consolidation Act recommended that there was no need to encourage the emergence of a Black capitalist class in the urban areas. Black urban entrepreneurs were only restricted to supplying only the daily essential requirements of their community (Smuts, 1986: 25). In spite of that, there were exceptions. The Business Report (2000: 2) reporting on the success of a pioneering Black cane furniture manufacturer Mr. Shikwane, who triumphed against adversity and apartheid humiliation states that: ''During the heights of apartheid blacks were not allowed to own manufacturing businesses in Soweto and other ''White areas''. But Shikwane defied the authorities and started a manufacturing concern in Orlando. However, during the forceful removals and relocation of blacks in early 1970's Mr Shikwane and Mr Kgabo, leather product manufacturers, were forced out of the urban areas. They became the only two successful black pioneer manufacturers operating in the homelands of Bophuthatswana and Venda respectively (Potgieter 1979: 13).

However, the plight of black entrepreneurs has not changed for the better since 1976, when the then Nationalist Party government lifted the ban on the type and the number of businesses that may be operated by blacks. The SA Development Monitor (1998: 9) is of the opinion that the current policies have not yet adequately addressed the demise of the true black entrepreneurs in the township because most township entrepreneurs are long on energy and enthusiasm but short on credentials. They also lack the universal perspective of exploiting the niche markets and the comprehension of markets beyond their neighbourhood. Therefore, the starting point for any policy would be to address the fundamental problems of entrepreneur education before offering added solutions.

THE AFRICAN ENTREPRENEURSHIP EXPERIENCE PART1

According to Smuts (1986: 10) the concept of entrepreneurship is alien in the traditional Bantu society and to the African culture in general. The introduction of business activities in Black society came about as a result of contact with Western culture. McMarthy (1998: 429) opines that because indigenous entrepreneurial classes and a dynamic private sector did not exist, and also since dependence (in the case of African states) on foreign investors was to be avoided, the state assumed the role of entrepreneur. However, there is no evidence to suggest that, once contact had been made, there has never been a shortage of Black South Africans who were not prepared to take business risks (Smuts, 1986: 12).

Smuts and McMarthy's assumptions are however refuted by Caputo (2001: 106 - 118) who states that “for more than 2000 years Africans traded with the Arabs, Indians and Chinese along the Indian Ocean, from Mogadishu to Mozambique. By 1000 AD Africans from the interior settled on the eastern coast to farm and fish; they later adopting Islam from Arab traders. The African converts to Islam became known as the Swahilis. These Swahilis later became leading traders, and consummate middlemen, who sold gold, ivory and slaves to Asian merchants whose ships arrived on monsoon winds.''

According to the World Bank (1989: 136) two important items of intra-African trade was salt and iron, which were not only relatively scarce but were also restricted in limited locations. Iron and iron working skills also formed the basis for intra-trade because they were in demand and rather scarce. Furthermore, the World Bank states that entrepreneurship has a long history in the Sub-Saharan Africa. In the tenth century, before the continent of Africa was discovered there were free markets at Timbuktu, Salaga, Kano and other routes of Trans-Saharan trade up to the present day Zimbabwe, where archeological evidence indicates that mining activities were linked to Arab export market on Africa's Southeastern coast.

In the latter years, slavery and colonization impeded the rate of growth of entrepreneurship amongst Blacks in South Africa and in the rest of the African Continent because of the usurpation of fertile agricultural land by the colonial masters (Moll, 1991: 152). Agriculture was the main engine of economic growth in the developed world during the last fifty-three years (Drucker 1978: 5). Peter Drucker's statement simply means that the coterie of black entrepreneurship and the basis of wealth were wiped out during the process of colonization. Therefore, it cannot be denied that the decline of African entrepreneurs was also impeded during the balkanization of Africa, and was further aggravated by African bureaucrats during post-independence by introducing and implementing ill-conceived development policies, which favored large-scale enterprises over indigenously owned and operated businesses (Vosloo, 1994a: 120).

According to the World Bank (1989: 136) two important items of intra-African trade was salt and iron, which were not only relatively scarce but were also restricted in limited locations. Iron and iron working skills also formed the basis for intra-trade because they were in demand and rather scarce. Furthermore, the World Bank states that entrepreneurship has a long history in the Sub-Saharan Africa. In the tenth century, before the continent of Africa was discovered there were free markets at Timbuktu, Salaga, Kano and other routes of Trans-Saharan trade up to the present day Zimbabwe, where archeological evidence indicates that mining activities were linked to Arab export market on Africa's Southeastern coast.

In the latter years, slavery and colonization impeded the rate of growth of entrepreneurship amongst Blacks in South Africa and in the rest of the African Continent because of the usurpation of fertile agricultural land by the colonial masters (Moll, 1991: 152). Agriculture was the main engine of economic growth in the developed world during the last fifty-three years (Drucker 1978: 5). Peter Drucker's statement simply means that the coterie of black entrepreneurship and the basis of wealth were wiped out during the process of colonization. Therefore, it cannot be denied that the decline of African entrepreneurs was also impeded during the balkanization of Africa, and was further aggravated by African bureaucrats during post-independence by introducing and implementing ill-conceived development policies, which favored large-scale enterprises over indigenously owned and operated businesses (Vosloo, 1994a: 120).

THE AFRICAN ENTERPRENEURSHIP EXPERIENCE PART 2

The above discussion established that South Africa has a very low enterprise density. Only 2 per cent of the South African population are entrepreneurs as compared to an average of 10 per cent elsewhere in the world (Ntsika, 1997). In comparison with a selected sample of the developing economies particularly that of three neighbouring states of Southern Africa, namely Lesotho, Swaziland and Zimbabwe have on average a higher enterprise density than South Africa.

The low number of enterprises in South Africa can be attributed to the previous policies that were not in favour of individual initiatives in business, but were more inclined to favour large corporations and big businesses. This can also be attributed to the policies of apartheid, which restricted non-whites from owning and operating businesses in designated urban areas. The low number of enterprises does not augur well for solving the current nagging problem of unemployment, especially in the black communities, both in the urban and rural areas of South Africa.

However, culture is a missing concept in the theory of entrepreneurship and economic development. Moreover, it has led wittingly or unwittingly to a tendency that has come to be known as the ''Eurocentric or paternalistic approach to development''. This is true where there has been a historical incident of colonialism as is the case in South Africa, and Africa where the previous colonial governments created a black underclass, which was robbed of role models from which the young generation could be inheriting entrepreneurial skills.

It is therefore concluded that the SMMEs sector could play a vital role in the economy by creating the much-needed jobs, and thus help in the alleviation of poverty and in facilitating the distribution of income. As Smuts stated above: "There should be no restrictions relating to the provision of resources and know-how; in particular, there should be no distortions and imperfections in the market for capital, (skilled) labour, and essential facilities such as transport, utilities and business premises.''

IS ENTREPRENEURSHIP AND INNOVATION ALIEN TO THE AFRICAN INTELLGENTSIA

It is not uncommon to read from Eurocentric authors that the concept of entrepreneurship is alien in the traditional Bantu society and to the African culture in general. the above-mentioned assumption is based on the demonstrable lack of indigenous entrepreneurial classes and a dynamic private sector that is predominately African. This assumption is also coupled to the overwhelming dependence on foreign investors by Sub-Saharan Africa governments, who are advised by big Western University educated Africans to assume the role of entrepreneur through ill conceived state enterprises that are unproductive and poorly managed by political lackeys and ruling party loyalists.

There is also a perception, or an almost religious belief by Africans that entrepreneurship in general and big business in particular is a sole preserve of non-Africans. Modern Africans who are highly educated tend hero worship Western culture and consumption practices without attempting to emulate and adapt and implement Western ways of doing things in their respective countries. Most Africans, educated and also illiterate, tend to think that the introduction of business activities in Africa, and in the Black society in particular came about as a result of contact with Western culture. (See contrary views on 'The African Entrepreneurship Experience' Part 1-3 above).

The African intelligentsia in particular has a propensity to boast about their academic qualifications from big Western universities as opposed to boasting about tangible and epoch making achievements or innovation. It seems that theory and practice is divorced and unrelated as far as the African intelligentsia is concerned. Proof: since independence two generations ago, not a single Western educated and so-called African intellectual/ scientists have made attempts to find a solution to the biggest life threats in Africa, namely the mosquito and the tsetse fly. Or a better tool to replace the traditional hoe that been in use by african peasants to till the soil for centuries. How can Western African mechanical engineers and scientists be so hopeless in comparison?

By contrast, the Harvard or Oxford educated Western and Eastern peers of the African intelligentsia have made numerous significant achievements for the past decades both as innovators and entrepreneurs. Today we use the internet- which was conceived by predominately western based Harvard university students- almost exclusively for communication and business. Unfortunately, there is nothing of significance that has been conceived by Western big colleges or Harvard educated African brothers. There is a direct and visible lack of confident and independent thinking from Western educated (outside the African borders) African brothers.

As you finish reading this article, the Harvard educated Western peers of the Africans will have raked in a few millions into their bank accounts by using ideas they read from the same text books the African intelligentsia only boast about. How ironic.

Africa is beckoning with great opportunities waiting to be exploited.
Western educated brothers please stop boasting about your degrees. Put them to real use, and boast about life changing ideas you have put on the table. Be innovative. Become the next big thing. Better, become the next millionaires through practical ideas.

By P .Ngcamu

Entended Public Works Program and the Role of Small Business in a Mordern Economy

In the last six decades the world's economy has undergone a dramatic change; and in the process we have witnessed phenomenal economic changes. Consequently, massive government intervention through public works programs or extended public works to ubiquitous economic ills, as suggested by the erstwhile economic theorist of the time, John Maynard Keynes (1883-1946), is no longer the preferred prescription to modern economic challenges such as the incessant and nagging unemployment and joblessness which are coupled to fluctuating inflation and unsteady interest rates. Keynes will be remembered for his thesis that governments should borrow and spend money to augment economic activity during economic downturn or depression. And at some point in the economic boom, part of the surplus should then be used to repay the money owing.


Furthermore, big business and government expenditure through extended public works programs is no longer considered the only panacea to wealth creation and job creation around the world. Notwithstanding, extended public works programs and government intervention as suggested by Keynes fuelled economic growth in the great depression of the 30’s and 50’s but in today’s economy that intervention is not only temporary but it is grossly inadequate. Extended Public Works Programs have a limited time span and tend to create temporary jobs. Consequently, government intervention in the economy through extended public works expenditure should be seen as a short term measure and as a small part of the solution and should not be depended upon as an eternal economic solution.

This has led some politicians, some community activists and some economists of both developing and developed economies to focus more on SMALL BUSINESS sector or the small medium and micro enterprise (SMME) as a panacea to socio-economic development. More attention and interest is now paid to the development of the small business sector, but policies and programs and literature aimed at helping the emerging businesses are still to identity the unique problems associated with starting a small enterprise in South Africa (SA) in particular, Africa in general.


Notwithstanding, the small business sector is now regarded all over the world as a sector destined to persistently play an important, if not a critical, role in the creation of employment and wealth to a great majority of people. However, the relevance of large industrial corporations, mining conglomerate and the multi-national companies cannot be discounted in the creation of wealth and, subsequently in economic growth. The world is currently biased in favor of the small business sector because their labor absorptive capacity is high. The average capital cost per job created is usually lower than in big business. In addition, the role they play in technical and innovation is vital for many challenges facing both developed and developing economies like ours.


Before South Africa’s first democratic election of April 1994 a great deal of attention was given to the attainment of political democracy for the Africans and the crucial issues of economic democracy namely wealth creation for both urban and rural black communities were not spoken about. Consequently, the gap between the haves and the have-nots has now reached a critical proportion. More and more black communities are becoming poorer and poorer as more workers lose jobs as big business face economic downturn and; as black families lose breadwinners due to the AIDS epidemic.

It is argued that poverty and unemployment problems has motivated some people to turn to crime in an attempt to satisfy their personal and their dependents needs for basic items such as food, clothing and health. It is, therefore, grossly unfortunate that the ruling African National Congress (ANC) under the leadership of President Dr Nelson Mandela ignored the above realities in its first public works oriented development strategy, namely the Reconstruction and Development Program (RDP) (RSA, 1994). Instead of placing weight and priority on job-creation within urban and rural black communities and entrepreneurship training and SMME development in general, the RDP placed more emphasis on the delivery of houses for the unskilled and unemployable black urban homeless. Albeit the above-mentioned solution had noble ideals and was well intentioned, but noble ideals and good intentions of government often do not address the omnipresent economic ills of a young democracy. Therefore, the most recent pronouncements by the current President Mr JG Zuma (2009- ?), regarding the creation of five million jobs in the next five years through extended public works programs do not promise a ‘better life’ for the poor because this is merely a mirror reflection of the mistakes of fifteen years ago.

Finding tangible and permanent solutions to joblessness is more crucial than providing temporary jobs and temporary earnings that may disappear in next to no time without making a dent in alleviated poverty. A person with marketable expertise and a permanent income or entrepreneurial skills could easily afford food, clothing and basic health for a long time without resorting to hand outs. Let us imagine an RDP policy that advocated a million SMMEs in the first years of our democracy. And let us also imagine those million enterprises maturing and becoming competitive, I shudder to think about the wealth that could have been created, and jobs that could have been created. I believe the reader will do better in this exercise of imagining as to where SA would be today vis-à-vis the state of joblessness, poverty alleviation and a better life for all. Personally, I think we could have perhaps ‘realized our common vision of a better and more prosperous nation’ by now. However, SA is not alone in this regard, the rest of the continent has faired poorly with regards to promoting indigenous entrepreneurs and enterprise after independence.

Undoubtedly, there is an apparent need to encourage the participation of black South Africans in economic development. And this should definitely form a huge political concern and not just cheap talk. Black participation in the economy should also undoubtedly become one of the major hotly contested issues if our elected ruling and opposition politicians seek acceptable formulae that will enable blacks to participate in the formal economy without making others worse-off.