Whilst BEE is a good and worthy cause and one that has introduced the previously disadvantaged and economically sidelined majority to business, we have let BEE kill our innovative and entrepreneurial spirit. And I think it is time we rekindled that. If you think about it, we have created few, if at all, new industries since 1994 – Yes there are a lot more people that can boast ownership of shares in one business or another and some who may claim to have started their own business but if you take a closer look you will see only three categories created:
1. Those who are buying shares in already existing businesses – scorecard entrepreneurs [window dressing, etc]
2. Those who have started business through government tenders – tenderpreneurs
3. Passive shareholders – Corporate empowerment schemes e.g. Nozala. BEEhive etc.
Where there is nothing wrong with any of this, it is not innovative or entrepreneurial. Where are the new businesses and what happened to the thought of creating our companies even if they were in already existing industries. Why do I not see black owned banks, insurance companies etc.
The unintended consequences of BEE, to me are a risk averse yet debt ridden society of black people. This needs to change!
We need more:
· Pioneering business interventions
· As it is right now we have not grown our economic cake, it has in fact remained stagnant for the past 16 years so we need to grow the economic cake a bit more by exploring new spaces.
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