Small businesses could be solution

Debo Adekunle writes:

I was fortunate to be part of the three-day national small-business summit that started on October 8. One of the key themes was how small businesses could create jobs and reduce unemployment. One of the significant messages that cut across all the presentations is the worrying statistics of unemployment, especially among young people in Mpumalanga.

The truth is that the unemployment crisis is having a profoundly damaging impact on the lives of those bearing the brunt of it.

Unemployment is a tragedy. It takes sheer determination to remain sane in such a situation. A person who needs a job and can't get one, after searching for a long time, loses his self-confidence and respect. Elisabeth Kubler-Ross rightly noted that, “People are like stained-glass windows. They sparkle and shine when the sun is out, but when the darkness sets in, their true beauty is revealed only if there is a light from within”.

As much as the Department of Trade and Industry, the Small Enterprise Development Agency, the Industrial Development Corporation and other government agencies are motivating people to consider starting their own businesses as a ticket out of poverty and unemployment, they also need to double their efforts in the same breath to aid struggling local businesses so that they can thrive and expand, thereby retaining jobs. They need to give grants and tax breaks to some of the struggling or ailing businesses to make it possible for them to stay in business. Those in the Lowveld are closing shops daily and as a result people are losing their jobs Starting new businesses that can weather the storm requires innovative ideas. Guy Kawasaki wrote, “It's easy to say that entrepreneurs will create jobs… but this is simplistic. The real question is who will innovate.”