Two Bits – October 11, 2013

There can’t be a soul who would disagree that job creation is a good thing.
The world is on a hiding to nothing, crime is on the rise and unemployment is huge. The schools keep churning out matrics, especially at a 30% pass rate, but there are few jobs out there when they walk out of the school gates.
That’s what makes the Chamber’s Entrepreneur competition so exciting. It’s taken a few years to find its feet, but now it’s taking on life of its own.
What I find so interesting is how the contestants are put through “business boot camp” to get to the finals, and it’s for free. Thirty contestants are assigned a mentor, a (usually retired) person who has a  strong business background, and they are drilled in the ABC’s of how to prepare a business plan.
They’re given assignments and homework and if they don’t shape up, even if they pitch late for appointments, they’re out on their backsides.
What’s left are 10 finalists who are tasked with preparing a written business plan, backed up by strong financial plans. They have to be in business already, albeit in a small way, but they have to explain step-by-step how they will grow their businesses.
My wife and I started the Courier with very little money and financial plans scrawled on the back of a cigarette box, but a healthy sense of the fear of failure. I can only wonder how much better we would have done in those early years if we had had the luxury of free advice from experienced businessmen.
How many of you remember those very early days of being in business, when you were making plenty of mistakes and learning day by day, hour by hour, how to keep your heads above water? I spent most of those first few years being terrified!
Looking back, it’s funny how naive we were. After three months we looked at the bank balance with horror. Very few people had paid us! We paid our bills, so we expected others to pay us.
I never forget walking into a restaurant only to spy a local estate agent spending lavishly when he owed us a couple of months bills. We learned there and then that you have to be firm about getting your money.
How wonderful it would have been to be able to get advice from someone you trusted to give an honest opinion.
In every contest there have to be winners and losers. Here are some comments from losers:
“It was an opportunity that I can proudly say I took full advantage of. The training by the mentors and others has influenced for the better not only our business but our personal lives as well.”
And another: “I am truly humbled by the pure goodness that people showed in this competition towards growing others.”
And one more: “The knowledge imparted by the mentors was invaluable and was imparted in such a free and honest way.”
I believe there is a strong possibility the KZN chamber of commerce, representing the whole province, might adopt the Entrepreneur model. That’s a big feather in the cap of the Ballito chamber, so well done to chamber boss Trenley Tillbrook and his team of mentors for a great contest.
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A Mauritian staying in a hotel in Ballito phoned room service for some pepper.
“Black pepper, or white pepper?” asked the concierge.
“Toilette pepper!” yelled the Mauritian.