As we are approaching the first anniversary of the November 2014 launch of Startup Nations South Africa, the country has much to celebrate.
The Minister of Small Business Development, Lindiwe Zulu, was part of the South African delegation at the GEC in Milan where she participated in the SME Ministerial meeting on entrepreneurship policy. The announcement that GEC2017 will be in Johannesburg gave special significance to her presence in Milan and was further evidence of a serious commitment to building a much stronger entrepreneurship ecosystem in South Africa.
Prior to the launch of Startup Nations South Africa, the Minister launched a National SMME Policy Colloquium where there was an explicit focus to interrogate policies that hamper the growth and sustainability of entrepreneurial enterprises. The five strategic priorities for the newly formed ministry capture a holistic approach for the development of a healthy entrepreneurship ecosystem. State procurement, capacity and skills development, incentives and policy interventions are the guiding priorities for the next five years.
Current work in progress is aiming to stimulate growth opportunities for SMME’s through the initiation of transversal agreements with all government departments to procure more goods and services from small and growing enterprises. In addition to this the department is pursuing the National Treasury to issue general Practice Notes that will give guidance to set aside the government procurement of certain products and services dedicated to SMME’s. From a policy perspective this is not only bold, but also shows decisive action from government to address areas where they can make an immediate impact. This is a classic case then of leading by example and presents a very innovative approach to create market traction that will challenge private sector players to do the same.
The momentum in the policy arena created contagion within the ecosystem to reach out to the youth in disadvantage communities. Startup South Africa partners hosted five Startup Weekend events reaching more than 150 young entrepreneurs offering access to business mentors and coaches. The winners of these Startup Weekends were all offered incubation and capacity development support and we are following their progress closely. The visit by the President of the Global Entrepreneurship Network (GEN), Jonathan Ortmans, for the official country announcement about GEC2017 once again saw all key stakeholders pulling together to ensure collective support for the host city. Minister Zulu was in attendance to deliver the keynote address and so was the Premier of Gauteng, the hosting province, David Makhura who committed his support to ensure we can welcome the rest of the world with great entrepreneurial flair, sunshine and embracing African hospitality. The local visit also afforded the opportunity to appoint and meet the local GEN Board members who are all committed stakeholders with the most diverse background and experience in entrepreneurship capacity development.
Evidence from the ground as seen at the South African Innovation Summit in Cape Town at the end of August suggests that the general excitement about entrepreneurship was not a fad. PWC hosted their exciting Vision to Reality Awards which saw 10 start-ups competing for the grand prize while many others had their innovative products and services on display. Silicon Cape hosted the Female Founders event as part of Women’s Month’s celebrations. The event also welcomed some males to learn the art of building sustainable growth companies with heart and meaning, while still solving problems.
This melting pot of policy initiatives and ecosystem activities that draw all stakeholders closer towards making a contribution in support of entrepreneurship capacity development is a sign of great progress. It motivates us to be closer to the global Startup Nations community, to connect and build stronger relationships with the global network and to keep building on the momentum inspired by the GEC2017 announcement that the world of entrepreneurship will be coming to Africa.