Welcome Thamsanqa Mlungisi Dlalisa
Youth unemployment is high in South Africa. Many companies are not hiring like they used to.
The impact of this phenomenon is bad and can be felt even in Tembisa.
When you drive around, you can see several young people sitting and doing nothing. Unfortunately, entrepreneurship is not taught or encouraged in our black schools. Young people can no longer wait for someone to employ them but they should rather create work themselves and exploit opportunities available in our township economy. These weekly articles will help young people to identify opportunities, design solutions, compete and meet the needs of clients in their immediate communities. Tembisa has over three million inhabitants, according to Census 2011. This figure has most likely gone up since then. Tembisa offers vast opportunities.
The first question has always been, “Where do I start?” Well, the answer is simple. We must start where all our successful entrepreneurs have started. We can most likely agree that in all our black townships in South Africa, there are really successful small businesses (new ventures) that are owned and managed by youth. These enterprises range from tuck shops, hair salons, car washes, shisa nyama joints, mortuaries, restaurants, taverns, kota shops and many other forms of business opportunities. Are these other successful SMMEs using charm or do they know something that some of our young people have not mastered correctly?
Well, this article will address that question to some extent. All subsequent articles will try to open up our minds to these basic principles of new venture creation (NVC) and entrepreneurial skills.
Where did our successful black entrepreneurs start? They actually looked at the needs of local residents. They analysed which products or services were in demand.
We need to look at the things that our neighbors travel to town for. In fact, there is very strong buying power in Tembisa. Black people are in the majority. If you go to Johannesburg, Kempton Park or even Pretoria, it is full of people from our black townships. Fortunately, Tembisa is also relatively big in terms of population size alongside Soweto, Umlazi and Khayelitsha. These high population numbers in Tembisa translate into buying power and, actually, potential clients. Instead of fighting among each other as entrepreneurs, we must learn from each other.
My company will also set up business chambers that will create opportunities for young entrepreneurs to learn from each other.
As entrepreneurs we need to look at clients’ buying patterns and tastes, which are relatively price sensitive. Brand consciousness is uppermost in our minds as young black buyers. Therefore, when it comes to clothing, we must supply branded products at affordable prices. We must accept that our township customers are very sensitive to price. That is why most of the shops that offer cheaper products are more successful than others. The question is, how can they afford this?
Well, instead of paying expensive rent in buildings they rent normal garage buildings in the township. They also do bulk purchasing, which helps them to negotiate bulk purchase discounts from their suppliers.
They also use or share transport costs by using one truck which delivers goods to two or more shops which are owned by brothers or friends. The solution is to work together as South Africans to be able to compete on price.
What are we saying here? The key is to identify a need that is already prevalent in your own township or locality and develop a relevant product or service that meets that need such that you build your own market niche. When you develop a product, the starting point must always be to meet the needs of the people. If it is a shop, it must be fully stocked at all times. This will encourage customers to come to your shop as they will find what they want there. Don’t try to create a need. Just meet an existing need.
Most young people will ask, “What business should I start?” Well, as indicated briefly above, some of the examples of local-economy businesses range from spaza shops and general dealers to hair and beauty salons, bakeries and confectioneries, as well as shebeens and bottle stores, restaurants and shisa nyamas. Services could include brick-building, bricklaying, and light manufacturing. Other areas might include welding, shoemaking/cobbling, auto-body repairs and mechanics, mortuaries, dressmaking and tailoring and recycling. Opportunities also exist in subsistence farming, hospitality (running a guesthouse or being a tour guide), as well as being a safety monitor.
Tembisa is buzzing with such businesses. The need for these products or services is already prevalent in all our communities all across Tembisa. The question is, which one are you passionate about or love to do? In addition to passion, which one are you skilled at or have capacity to do? Then you have your answer.
However, very few of our local young entrepreneurs are already exploiting these vast entrepreneurship opportunities despite the high unemployment rate among the youth. The question is why. I believe the answer lies in us disseminating knowledge, skills and awareness about these opportunities. In addition, it depends largely on size of demand/opportunity, capital requirements, personal interests/passions and skills. These articles will gradually empower the young people of Tembisa to identify and exploit these opportunities.
In closing, I recommend new venture creation for the following reasons:
– Young people will not wait for someone to employ them.
– Unemployment will drop.
– Crime will drop.
– There is satisfaction in meeting the needs of your own community members.
– Transport required to go to work costs nothing or very little.
– Not much time is wasted in travelling long hours to get to work.
– Stress is reduced stress because there is no exposure to high traffic volumes.
– There is the potential for client loyalty from your own local community members.
– Less is spent on rentals and high operating costs.
While some young people are more entrepreneurial than others, I believe more needs to be done to help young people in our communities. In as far as identifying a need, I want to close with a practical case study which will kick-start many into action.
I have a friend who has a matric certificate but no formal university training. We worked together about 17 years ago. He was a fairly junior member of staff due to his education level. He was badly treated by his employer. He left and started his business with only R400. He started in the cleaning business, then opened a security company. Now 17 years later, he owns various townhouse complexes, flats, houses, and a shopping mall which he built without any loan from the bank. The key was he used the little capital that he had (R400) to buy a broom, bucket, mob and one uniform to start his cleaning business. It started with one client and now he is among the top five cleaning companies in South Africa. He employs almost 2 000 employees nationwide in addition to his real estate business that he is now running. What can we learn from this? We learn that identifying a need and meeting the need is key to entrepreneurship and new venture creation. Capital is important but the lack of it cannot stop you from growing when you are meeting a need in your locality.
Entrepreneurs who need advice or have questions on starting a small business can call Pastor Welcome Thamsanqa Mlungisi Dlalisa on 083 395 1165.
