[Question] Entrepreneurship and Unemployment why is it on a downward slope?

[Chatmaster]

This is probably a topic that has been discussed at several occasions but I would like to have a fresh new discussion on it.

IMO there are two key role players that are seriously over complicating new business in South Africa. They are Government and Financial Institutions (Banks)

Are government introducing new systems and laws that are counter productive for a the growth of new business and reduction of unemployment in South Africa?

Now I do understand the responsibility and benefits that the new companies act brings to owning a business, but I would like to focus on the complicated effect it has on new business startups.

Any thoughts?

[BusFact]

I am not the biggest fan of banks, but I think its unfair to blame them for this. They are in business to lend to reliable borrowers. Small time start ups and dreamers (most entrepreneurs) don't fall into this category. They have no obligation to help others. They run a business. The biggest issue I have with banks is there FICA requirements, although I suspect they hate it as much as we do, but have to follow Government legislation.

I for one am petrified to employ anyone and so only do so when really necessary. The admin involved, the "nanny" factor (you have to be a parent to the employee when they experience any difficulties), and the difficulty of getting rid of sub standard performers all concern me. That said, I realise they have a place in the non equitable country we live in.

I haven't yet gone through the process of registering a company under the new act or converting a cc, so will have to save comments on those until a later date. I do like the way they seem to have created a reasonably inexpensive way of setting up a private company which splits the roles of directors and shareholders, unlike the previous cc.

[roryf]

I must admit that it is getting harder and harder to do business in SA. I almost feel that someone has got it in for me. I have had visits from the Dept of Labour, Dept of Environmental Health, Dept of Health and a random SARS audit and all this in 2011. I have had to make a few, very minor changes after some of the visits,which is fine but it is really getting more and more difficult. I would think with all the unemployment that the Government would try and help existing business to create jobs.

I will not even start of some aspects of the BCEA.I certainly would not like to try open a new business from scratch!

[tec0]

We need a training program that will bypass the need for N3 qualifications and the like. The truth is everybody is paper happy at the moment and the people that can do the job are not rewarded because of their lack of higher learning.

A good example of this is VW, to do any heavy installations like gearbox rebuild or clutch repairs cost so much that people will not have it done, yet people like myself get it done “properly” because we don’t have the money to replace if we make a mistake. Everything is doing or die, for the unqualified person but the qualified person can’t even do half of the work. This is seen all over the mining industry.

Eskom has a bunch of N6 qualified people and yet very few of them proof to be useful. I say on job certification must come back like they used to do it back in the 1950’s. But they will rather leave us to rot.

[Dave A]

There is definitely a massive increase in bureaucracy. For example, a Transnet tender that would typically be 3-5 pages 20 years ago is now typically 150 pages +. About the only red tape that seems to have made any real attempt at becoming less bureaucratic is taxation - with mixed results I might add.

And when it comes to the blame game, I'm starting to blame technology. All this modern technology, particularly in the communication and documentation related fields, is supposed to improve our quality of life. The harsh reality is all it has done is speed it up and made everything more complex and competitive (a word substituted by "efficient" in some circles).

I suggest we wouldn't have all this complexity without the technology to support it.

And when it comes to jobs, here's a great example.

I got chatting to an architect a while ago who does really major projects. He was saying that in days gone by he was employing floors of draftsmen (or in modern language draftspeople I guess). 200 - 300 people excluding the admin staff that goes with an operation of that scale. Now it's him collaborating with an engineer, a computer and a really smart CAD program. He doesn't even have a secretary anymore!

[tec0]

I am just so very tired of trying my ass off to get qualified, the truth is the NQF system is BS, Damelin courses is BS our N3 is a JOKE! 7 chapters in one night! I $h!* you not 7 chapters, I am sorry but I cannot do that. The speed is just impossible! And in the end I cannot, CANNOT move forward because of this.

I am literally being murdered by these systems and everybody seems to think if you can’t swim then sink. OK I say this, the dude servicing your car can have all the paperwork in the world but he will never change a gearbox, rebuild a motor, and redo wiring because it is too damn expensive!

But we have to do it because we cannot afford above mentioned dude to do it! Thus who is the better mechanic? I am not saying all backyard mechanics are good but some of them are a lot better than those overpaid over-ego ******* you get.

In end we do not have the right to life anymore that is what this system is saying.

[Chatmaster]

And when it comes to the blame game, I'm starting to blame technology.

Now just imagine SA starts to update all its old technology with the latest (It has to at some stage), what effect would be on jobs then?

[adrianh]

tec0 - I did matric N4, N5, N6 and some courses, my brother did a BCOMM,LLB, CA & MBA and my sister is an Actuary. My brother and sister studied their asses off and they are able to earn lots of money because of their education. If you want to get ahead you need the education - full stop. I disagree about the thing with VW as well, one needs an education to be able to deal with the complexities of modern cars. Cars have many interacting microprocessors, CAN-BUS, LIN-BUS etc and without a decent education you are stuffed. Given the complexities of cars you not only need the education but you also need specialised tools - You can't even set a cars timing these days without a scan tool. You won't know if the cars mass air flow sensor is defective without a scan tool. Generic scan tools don't cut it. VW, BMW, Merc and most other manufacturers have manufacturer / model specific tools. You need the education AND you need on the job training. It doesn't come easy and it shouldn't - I wouldn't like an uneducated person to work on my R 800,000 car just as much as I wouldn't like a unqualified doctor to operate on my back.

I would say that one of the biggest problem with entreprenuership is a lack of education rather than a lack of money. Not education in the sense of a N3 but in the sense of basic business acumen. The fact that one can't get a job because one is uneducated does not mean that you have any idea of running a business. Yes, of course there are the people that have the know-how and great business plans who can't get the finance, but I do think that there are fewer of them than the ones who simply have no idea, and yes, I was one of those who just had no idea.

[tec0]

I understand the need for an education but is it not also fact that the best “THE BEST” workers Eskom ever had was those that walked in with a st4 and nothing more than the willingness to learn? So much so that Eskom takes them out of retirement to come and help? There certification was done slowly steadily and with great detail and today they are unequalled that is fact.

Was the same not true with the military, and that military education was second to none? I believe it was and again you didn’t need much to get started. All I am saying is there is no way for someone like myself to study at these speeds. Call me stupid but my mind is not as clear to understand everything in a blink of an eye.

The specialist tools and car diagnostic systems is actually the worst thing one can have in a car because when the depression hits your car will be useless to you before the next service because the electronics will not allow the car to move at all. Is that the kind of car you would trust your life too, trust your lively hood too? I wouldn’t…

Truth is a paper education is not an education it is a formality, once you got your N3 and N4 then are you only allowed to learn because jobs are really a speciality and you need to understand the physical function of each device and its meaning.

But in the end it doesn’t really matter because out of the estimated 20000 new special students only a hand full will get lucky, the rest will become criminals, drug-dealers, bar men and women, strippers, prostitutes and work dismal jobs with no possible sustainability. That is the future they must face.

So, why is internship mismanaged? Well the simple truth is and you can have a look for yourself, half of the students that got the internship had to call a drunk god because that drunk had connections “to get you in” fact with connections I know of people that only has st8 that is now able to do their trade because they knew the right people also fact.

So life is about who you know, it is about calling a deadbeat drunk boss! In the end every company has one, a person that is intelligent but will not do the right thing because it benefits him/her not too…

But a second truth is also emerging; those who cannot get past these “paper systems” start looking at their options… if you have nothing to gain you will have nothing to lose. And as long as that is true you will be faced with extremist and then this rule; “it is only yours if you can hang on to it”

Scary thoughts…

Fact is we need proper education via workshop, to help with skill development, to hit somebody with books and books of mind numbing math screaming you must know this or die in poverty! That is not a solution it is a drum of anarchy. You can hear it in prisons, you can hear it in townships you can hear it all over this country.

Change normally comes at a great cost, sometimes it is not about logic or the money… It is about helping and do what needs to be done to prevent this already massif rift between rich and poor.

But in the end nothing will matter…

[adrianh]

My wife is a qualified heavy current technician - She studied through ESKOM and qualified by studying at technicon and working in the field. I am yet to see an engineer who doesn't need math. You are kidding yourself if you think the best people in ESKOM started with a STD 4 - we dealt with too many qualified technicians & engineers to take such a statement seriously.

Cars - they are what they are whether you like it or not - they will become even more sophisticated with the passage of time.

Unfortunately some people are simply incapable of coping with the academic side - (I am one of those) - doesn't matter what I did I could never learn from a textbook as fast as I needed to. A basic education is merely a formality to show that you have a tiny bit of dicipline but further education is needed to be able to perform certain tasks: doctors, lawyers, accountants, engineers etc.

Stop whining and hit the books. You might be surprised at what you can do with algebra, geometry and trigenometry, let alone electronics and all other studies contained in books - you may even enjoy it.

[Martinco]

Cars - they are what they are whether you like it or not - they will become even more sophisticated with the passage of time.

Well........just on the same subject. I was asked by my son-in-law to look at his electric golf cart.

Man ! will you be surprised how sophisticated the electrical circuitry is on these things.

Far too many inputs just to make the motor run, and the number of parameter adjustments can make you dizzy.

[HR-Student]

right on!! education is the only known way to getting what you want, unless you go into politics of course. but otherwise it seems to me that you really do not know what you truly want and giving yourself and others so many excuses about why you just cant move forward in life, and taking this might seem like the easy way out. get your values straight and know what it is that you want and then you will see that it might not even be the course you are taking right now. and btw, do not let school get in the way of your education....

[tec0]

My wife is a qualified heavy current technician - She studied through ESKOM and qualified by studying at technicon and working in the field. I am yet to see an engineer who doesn't need math. You are kidding yourself if you think the best people in ESKOM started with a STD 4 - we dealt with too many qualified technicians & engineers to take such a statement seriously.

Actually this happened a bit before our time. Most of these old greys are between age 70 and age 80 now. Some worked at Duvha till 2004 others only retired after 2006 “as semi contractors” doing critical work. Eskom used to have onsite training back then because there was no N qualifications or anything like that.

My grandfather is one of those lucky few that did have that type of training. So I know it is fact.

As for the academic side, I am useless at it, the numbers just “swim” But in any event some are made more equal than others.

As for cars getting more complicated, it is not a good thing… for two reasons the more speciality items you need the more expensive the product and the more difficult it will be to maintain.

[Justloadit]

As for cars getting more complicated, it is not a good thing… for two reasons the more speciality items you need the more expensive the product and the more difficult it will be to maintain.

I have to disagree with you on this one. To get efficiency, you have to have real time control, and this can only be achieved by using electronics. So the sophistication is required.

I think that electronics is pretty reliable, considering that almost every conceivable item we use today has electronics in it. Take the numbers, they tell you the reliability. How many cars on the road today using sophisticated electronics. With these numbers, there is bound to be a failure here and there. What happens is that we become so reliant on technology, that when there is a failure, we think it is a catastrophe because of the inconvenience it has caused.

If you consider the amount of electronics that are involved in in aircraft, with the number of daily flights there are, how many failures are there.

So yes, whilst you have to have more qualifications to do any servicing of this equipment, it also means that you have to continue learning regularly to maintain the evolution path. If we do not continuously evolve we will become extinct.

[adrianh]

tec0 - I know what you mean about numbers swimming - I could never understand chemistry, it was just too abstract (maybe it would have helped if I actually bothered to learn the rules). Some people are academics and some are not. I don't think that one is better than the other, people are just different. There will always be work for people who are practical and who know how to use their hands. My brother knows everything there is to know about banking but he doesn't know nothing about plumbing (does it make him better than the plumber - I don't think so and he also doesn't think so)

Justloadit - Technology as applied to cars and consumer goods is an issue on its own. I would say that most of the electronics applied to cars is a total overkill. It is done in such a way that the car is unservicable by a non-agent. There is a place for electronics but within reason.

With regards to aircraft - one has to be very careful to quote aviation statistics because the statistics are skewed to favour aviation. Aviation failure rate statistics in comparison to cars are calculated on no of km covered - ok, but if you change te parameter to number of trips unertaken then air travel stats are very very bad. You say that there are few avionics failures (based on what?) Another thing to remember about aircraft is that for every 1hr flown planes spend 5-10hrs undergoing maintenance - cars are quite the opposite - its more like for every 8,000km driven 1hr maintenance.

I think that one needs to be careful of putting too much emphasis on electronic development. The Mig-29 out-flies any aircraft in the same class, not because of electronics, but because of good engineering.

Another thought on electronics & technology - We have once again shown that South Africa will waste huge sums of money on developing products that will never be able to recoup their investment costs, namely the Joule battery car - now there is a waste of money and time. Don't get me wrong, its a great idea (for GM or Ford or Toyouta or or or...) but not for some dingbat and his cousin using taxpayers money!

What is the bottom line
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I think that we should strive to educate ourselves all the time - not only in the fields we like, but also in the fields we don't like. We should keep abreast of technological developments but we should be able to descern the fashionable developments from the really meaningful developments. Yes, its nice to know that my new car's satnav can connect to my ipod which connects to my bluetooth which connectes to my iphone which connects to my ipad via wifi - but will it make any real difference to my life...