SOCIOECONOMIC MALAISE
TRUDI MAKHAYA: Entrepreneurs: essential, but no panacea
‘Transformation without innovation is easily hijacked by corrupt elements, as we have learned over the past two decades’
There is no single solution that will, like magic, resolve all of SA’s complex and numerous socioeconomic challenges. A problem statement for SA’s malaise might begin by pointing to a vicious cycle of low investment in people’s capabilities and wellbeing, against the backdrop of one of the most unequal societies on earth, reproducing economic and social exclusion in each successive generation. Breaking out of this trap will require multiple strategies. Entrepreneurship, in all its many manifestations, is not a silver bullet. Some institutions and people advocate entrepreneurship as a cure-all. They are wrong. But entrepreneurship is an important piece of the puzzle. SA desperately needs new ideas and new sources of economic activity. Where will the next million jobs come from? They will come from a combination of new significant companies, each employing 10,000 people or more, and the majority from small and medium-sized enterprises that each employ one to 50 people.Recent research ...
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