Whatshot
Claim your share of the R20 billion in fuel savings
Claim your share of the R20 billion in fuel savings
The one distinguishing attribute about entrepreneurs is that they are opportunity driven, says Sipho Zikode, acting Chief Executive of the Small Business Development Agency (Seda).
Zikode says the type of business you conduct does not determine whether you qualify as an entrepreneur or not. "Entrepreneurs identify opportunities and turn them into profitable business ventures," says Zikode.
The current turn of events in the global demand and supply of crude oil has brought a lot of relief for consumers at the petrol pump. "Yet I wonder how many "opportunity driven" people are positioning themselves to cash in on the R20 billion or so in annual savings that consumers will now have in their pockets as a result of lower fuel prices," asks Zikode.
"If we are going to build an entrepreneurial economy, it will require people to be constantly 'switched-on' in order to identify opportunities early and turn them into sustainable business operations," says Zikode.
"The government or indeed Seda will not hand out ideas to entrepreneurs, we expect entrepreneurs to identify these opportunities, show us how they are going to turn them into bankable business ventures, and we will get behind them," says Zikode.
In the South African economy of today, according to studies from the University of Pretoria, small and medium sized enterprises account for about 30 percent of total employment, nearly half of the global standard, says Zikode.
Seda is committed to the development of the small and medium size business sector as we believe it has the potential to make a significant contribution towards job creation in South Africa, concludes Zikode.