By: Ntombi Mandla
Despite the rough economic climate and rising youth unemployment, small businesses could be the silver bullet to drive the impetus towards entrepreneurship and reduce the high jobless rate. These are some of the sentiments echoed by Dr Thami Mazwai, who is a special advisor to the Minister of Small Business Development. In a new book titled ‘The Journey of the Soweto Entrepreneur since 1905′ he explores the struggles of early black pioneer entrepreneurs against the harsh laws of apartheid, which prohibited them from pursuing entrepreneurship.
Entrepreneurship plays a vital role, particularly as South Africa’s economic activity has plunged below pre-pandemic levels. Mazwai partnered with Unisa to produce the book to excite young people and encourage them to conquer the misery associated with poverty and unemployment in black communities. “Entrepreneurship in black communities has been emasculated, bringing misery and marginalisation of a lot of black people in general. Because of this, it was critical that a book of this nature be published to show how different business sectors breathed life into communities,” Mazwai writes in his introduction.
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Through the book, Mazwai aims to galvanize black people into traditional entrepreneurship action to emulate what their pioneers did to conquer the misery in black communities. With different stories of self-started small enterprises that boomed into large established businesses, Mazwai describes the successes of various retail pioneers such as the elite Thomas Ntlebi, who opened many retail stores in Vrededorp in 1903 and was successful. Rev Henry Ngcayiya on the other hand, owned shares in a retail holding company, the African Indian Trading Association, that exported and imported wholesale and retail products.
Mazwai also highlights the stories of trailblazers such as Richard Maponya who emerged in the 1950’s and 60’s. While he was employed by a clothing manufacturing firm, he sold on a part-time basis to hostels around Soweto. “It must be noted that Maponya had tried to venture into opening a clothing store in Soweto, but his initiative was disallowed by the administration board. Maponya had been told to stay away from clothing and only focus on bread and butter items,” Mazwai writes.
Fast-forward to today, over 40 million South Africans live on less than R1200 per month.“Each day two million South Africans go to bed hungry, Hayi Khona, this is not the democracy that Oliver Tambo, Nelson Mandela, Robert Sobukwe, and Steve Biko preached, to mention a few of our luminaries, not forgetting the Lillian Ngoyis and Sophie de Bruyn.” Mazwai points out that even though companies are stressing the attainment of B-BEEE levels in their implementation targets, a lot is wrong if unemployment poverty, unemployment, and inequality are still at such astronomical levels.
Citing Sanlam’s Gauge – a publication produced by the Sunday Times, it argues that the implementation of B-BEEE has been more of a ticking box, more so for the most critical element, enterprise and supplier development. In the first few chapters, Mazwai maps out the entrepreneurship efforts in the wider Soweto during the apartheid era when the government was restrictive on industrial and developmental in black townships, with small industries being forced to move to their homelands.
Mazwai asserts that the tenacity and resilience of the black population is evident in the establishment of four signature institutions which include, the Blackchain Supermarket, African Bank, Lesedi Private Hospital, and Sizwe Medical Aid. A high failure rate became a feature of black businesses featured in the rise of these institutions alongside other small businesses that exploited the narrow opportunities that existed at that time, as more black businesses came into existence.
Mazwai recounts the brave steps taken by women brewers in selling alcohol in small quantities and increasing the produce when sales climbed. Others also took a great risk because they would give credit to their customers who would take time to pay. He also acknowledges trader organisations that made an impact on the business movement of Soweto such as the National African Federated Chamber of Commerce.
