40th birthday speech by Arthur Mashiatshidi (Former CEO of Wesizwe Platinum)
- 17 November 2011

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Three years in office - A perspective, journey and a case study of a South African University Business School Graduate
By Sphetho Siyengo

Traditional executive jobs are not that difficult to find. I am one of those MBA graduates who started his own business in the middle of his studies. I just didn´t expect it to happen so quickly. I enrolled for an MBA degree on a part-time basis in one of the top Business School in Cape Town. The duration of my studies was three years. In the middle of my studies I decided to jump ship and left my average paying job to run my own business. At the time I already had a "Toolkit" to help me to start my own business. Attending the Business School was the cherry on top to give me useful and relevant attributes that I needed to fulfill my dreams of running my own business. The School assisted me to understand myself better, what my weaknesses and strengths are and how to open up possibilities and networks. During the MBA Programme I also learned a lot about business-planning and management. This, together with the experience I acquired from working in various organisations, complemented each other. This also made it easier for me to make a decision regarding the kind of business I wanted to pursue. At the Business School I gained technical and financial skills so that I am now able to have a professional conversation with any person interested in my services. The combination of both attending a Business School and doing consulting jobs has furthermore equipped me with presentation and writing skills, which are crucial for my current business. On the other hand things that a person cannot learn from the business school are courage and conviction to be an entrepreneur. Leaving corporate life gave me an opportunity to reflect and clearly map out what I wanted to pursue. The reason why very few MBA graduates decide to pursue the entrepreneurship route is the uncertainty involved in starting up a business - thus, most of them end up taking corporate jobs. There is also pressure among MBA graduates to go back to their high-paying jobs, driven by the quest for material and elevated positions they hold in the corporate sector. On the other hand one hears little about young entrepreneurs who are doing well and who can act as role models. To me one of the things that I battled with in the corporate environment was when people were fighting for positions. In some cases they wanted power in order to suppress others, which was not the environment I wanted to work in for the rest of my life. Also, I was always a hard worker and worked long hours without any extra remuneration. I told myself that if I could channel these long hours into my own business, I might get rewarded. I realised that running my own business was a big step, since I would be exposed to many risks. Before starting my own business I had assets that I had worked for and collected over a period of years, starting this venture exposed them to a tremendous risk. When running your own business, loosing focus and listening to "negative" people can be destructive. I told myself that I will not allow people to decide my limitations and abilities. Up to this day I work hard to accomplish things within my area of strength and I enjoy what I do. Running my own business gives me an opportunity to choose who I want to work with and the kind of projects I want to work on. Any difficulty I come across I view as a challenge; overcoming it gives me a sense of fulfillment. I generally have a positive attitude about the services I render. I set myself targets and try to make sure that people I work with in various projects are happy and that I satisfy my customers by making a difference to their lives. I also try to be honest, loyal and professional at all times.

In my first 3 years in office, as Managing Director of Buyolo Business Advisory Services (Pty) Ltd, I had to do everything possible to maximise income and minimise costs. For any start-up business this can make a huge difference. Cutting cost is not easy for many people who run their own businesses since they have to make sacrifices and may have to downgrade some of the luxuries that they were used to. To attract more work I make sure that I develop a good working relationship with my clients and ensure that they are happy with the service I provide, being aware that they make referrals and tell potential clients about the work we do.

In general a lack of credit affects both new and existing businesses. Starting a service business is risky, because in most cases the entrepreneur does not have the assets needed when applying for a bank loan. This puts him at a disadvantage when it comes to obtaining debt. It also exposes the entrepreneur to diluted ownership if he tries to attract equity. In fact, equity can be more expensive than debt.

I´ve heard comments from my fellow MBA Alumni that it´s not easy to start a business and only the brave ones pursue this route. Listening to them, I do not get a sense that there is a growing and energetic community of entrepreneurs in South Africa. This makes me worried, since there is a real need to advance this cause. One of the most important achievements that every business school in South Africa wants next to its name is the national and international rating as well as international accreditation. This focus should shift towards greater emphasis on how many entrepreneurs they create. In my own ways I have forced the business school where I graduated to recognise and support my work. Corporates should, through apprenticeship and other in-house programmes, help to prepare people so that they are able to stand on their own should they wish to run their own businesses. Government and banks should also give more attention to entrepreneurship. In fact, there is a need to de-stigmatise entrepreneurs who start a business and fail. Failure should be taken positively as people who fail become better in what they do and in most cases learn from their mistakes. At the age of 6 when I was doing Sub B (grade 2 in current terms) I used to sell sweets to fellow learners. In the village where I grew up my mother was among the first people to own a refrigerator and I took advantage of that, selling flavored ice cubes made from cool drinks. My mother supported me with my business venture and I learned a lot from this. I would sometimes borrow capital from her and also seek advice in areas like debt collection, stock theft, losses and profit. This is the kind of support that entrepreneurs need from mentors, coaches and business advisors. One of the sacrifices that one has to make when running a business is not having money to spend for personal needs, as the company is absorbing all spare cash. As an entrepreneur you have to tell yourself that things will be fine and always have hope that in a couple of years to come you will be in a better position. One of the benchmarks that tell you that you are on the right track in terms of future targets is the sales and profit generated by the business. Even if you are still making a loss and there is little disposable income generated by the business the growth in revenues is an indication of better things to come. You need to have faith that things will work out. If we look at practical challenges facing one as an emerging entrepreneur. I can refer to three areas. The first is finding employees who share your particular vision. It is difficult to find dedicated, hardworking and trustworthy employees. Business owners or entrepreneurs work long hours while employees are often not prepared to make this sacrifice. Employees who will give more than 100% to the job are hard to find. Since employees are the face of your business, you cannot afford to hire people that do not share the values of the business or the business owner. Making a mistake in day-to-day activities can be costly. For example there are labour laws that protect the rights of employees from being fired should such a need arise. Thus, while the company is still small, short- term contracts with employees seem appropriate, or the formation of a consortium or joint venture on a project by project basis. Secondly, an entrepreneur should expect all sorts of other challenges to be faced. For example people may steal your "intellectual properly", infringe on your business trademark, unduly influence in the awarding of tenders on the other hand you may have difficulties in paying staff salaries or other operational demands (like taxes or telephone bills). These problems can easily have a negative impact on the company´s cash flow. In the third place, it is important that entrepreneurs are flexible and are willing to follow market trends. In my business I look at change as an opportunity rather than a threat. Thus, some people are not willing to adjust their businesses to the current "green goal" initiatives of companies caused by climate change. Here, as in many other challenging, new situations, entrepreneurs should accept realities and view these changes as an opportunity to be explored and taken up. Thus, against that background I can say to entrepreneurs who have an opportunity of running their own business, hang in there, challenges that you encounter are normal and therefore part of the cycle which everyone goes through during the start-up phase of a business. Just don´t give up!



SUPPORTING EACH OTHER AND BEING EFFICIENT IS KEY TO THE RECESSION CHALLENGES
By Sphetho Siyengo of Durbanville

Choosing the right BEE partner by companies is critical. Infact it should not in anyway make empowerment itself an additional risk. During the last few years we have seen changes in political leadership affecting not only BEE partner but also companies´ empowerment credentials. However, changes in leadership promise opportunities for broad based beneficiaries. Companies that will become stable are those that have chosen the right partners. It is not a good feeling when companies loose their BEE partners for whatever reason, especially during these trying times. They prefer to focus on fighting recession challenges rather than sorting out their empowerment status.

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Action needed as slow or no payers put black economic empowerment firms in a pickle - This article was published on page 15 of the Cape Argus newspaper · on 5 October 2009


Choosing the right BEE partner by companies is critical. Infact it should not in anyway make empowerment itself an additional risk. During the last few years we have seen changes in political leadership affecting not only BEE partner but also companies´ empowerment credentials. However, changes in leadership promise opportunities for broad based beneficiaries. Companies that will become stable are those that have chosen the right partners. It is not a good feeling when companies loose their BEE partners for whatever reason, especially during these trying times. They prefer to focus on fighting recession challenges rather than sorting out their empowerment status.

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Better skills will protect SA against globalisation - This article was published on page 10 of the Cape Argus Newspaper · on 8 June 2009


Whether we want to admit it or not globalisation has caught up with South Africans. Globalisation resulted in massive movement of people across national boundaries. In countries like the US, Europe and others skills are imported to support the growth of those economies. Skilled people from the developing countries have targeted the developed world for better work opportunities. They have been readily absorbed into the job market of these countries because they are able to contribute positively at a lower cost than people from the developed countries.

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Selective Bail-outs Bad Move for BEE · This article was published on page 22 of the Cape Argus Newspaper · on 12 December 2008

The Economic downturn affecting the US, the UK and other parts of the world will ultimately also affect South Africa. No wonder we are hearing buzzwords like "bail-outs" also surfacing in South Africa. With our banks relatively "safe", we find reference to other business development areas · like BEE · and the call for the financial rescue of share deals.

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BEE widens its horizons · This article was published on page 20 of the Cape Argus Newspaper · on 29 August 2008

The introduction of the new Codes of Good Practice (gazetted in February 2007) for Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment (B-BBEE) was a move in the right direction; it encourages transformation to reach the wider black population.

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City BEE workshop empowers · This article was originally published on page 12 of the Bignews newspaper · Issue 133 on May 2008

A free workshop aimed at assisting small tourism business owners in understanding issues around Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment (BBBEE) proved very useful for business owners who attended.

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