Entrepreneurs: A new mind-set needed
While there are fears that employment equity provisions may be stifling the emergence of black entrepreneurs, schools are also battling to teach business-startup skills
Amiena Hartley (31) runs two hair salons. But eight years ago, after completing a six-month entrepreneurship programme, she wasn’t sure what she wanted to do. "I had no experience in hair. I wasn’t even sure I wanted to be a hairdresser," she says. Instead of starting a business right after graduating from the Raymond Ackerman Academy of Entrepreneurial Development in Cape Town, she opted to first gain experience in the sector while doing a three-year hair-care course. In 2015, after undergoing a year-long incubation programme run by the academy, she used her own funds to buy a salon where she had been working and formed her Hair Corp brand. Last year she tapped a R50,000 grant from the National Youth Development Agency to buy a second salon. Hartley is one of relatively few young people who have ventured into business in SA. The 2015/2016 Global Entrepreneurship Monitor report for SA shows 10.9% of adults aged 25-34 (and 6.3% of those aged 18-24) were involved in starting a busines...
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