The SME mindset - whites

The first is a series of 4 blogs on the mindset of the four main race groups as I have observed them in South Africa. The intention is not to upset anyone but to try give each an insight into the other, in an attempt to get us moving forward. I have obviously generalised, and therefore ask that all readers not judge me until they have read all 4 of the blog articles. Then your comments are welcome.

However, back to business! Soon after 1994, things started to change – very subtly. It took me a number of years to notice that it was not business as usual. Whites started to battle financially in their businesses. These were SMEs who had previously been great lifestyle businesses. Profit margins kept shrinking and turnover was not growing in a controlled fashion.

Whereas in the 70’s and 80’s you could fairly accurately predict your growth, now you could not! Then the anger began to set in. It was all the fault of the new government. They did not know how or why it was their fault, but it was.

The first event was a new democracy. The joining of the WTO by South Africa was the second event that started the change. The third event was not so much an event as a management approach. Labour was cheap and plentiful, so it was used accordingly. It was easy to hire and fire, and unless you were a habitual offender the Department of Labour was, if anything biased towards the employer. This was highlighted for me when I visited Australia in 2000. I was simply visiting family, but I paid close attention to the SME environment.

What I noticed in Australia was that most of the SMEs I saw were literally one-man businesses. The best example to compare is the garden service. A man with a truck arrives. He has a cherry picker and a bobcat on the back. He offloads, gets the instruction from the client, does the job, and is done in an hour maximum. Then he is off to the next job. He is literally a one-man business - a highly mechanised and efficient SME. 

Compare that to the South African model for garden services. White guy with 10 labourers taking 3 or 4 hours to do the job. White guy shouts instructions, and labour do the minimum work for minimum wage. I can provide a host of examples, from professional to artisan. Or white guy sits in truck and waits until they are done. This is termed management.

The nett result is that the white business owners began to resent the new democratic government. However, they were in error. The real enemy was not our government, but rather our new exposure to the real world of open markets, globalisation and serious competition. Then there was the added factor of the Internet. How many book shops went out of business because of Amazon? I know a few myself!

White SME owners were just overwhelmed with change. No Apartheid, black equality, new government, joined WTO, new competitors, the Internet, globalisation and more. Engaging with white-owned SME owners has made it quite clear that many have not realised the world in which they have to compete is now a new world in many ways, and that they have to change – which they cannot or have not done.

I am afraid chaps, the easy days are now a part of history, and it is a true “only the fittest survive” scenario in play. Low margins are a reality for many businesses. Ever-growing sales revenues are needed to stay afloat. The Internet and its siblings such as social media, are all forcing their ways into our lives. Is it yellow pages or Google words? I thought it was Pieter Dirk Uys who said ”Adapt or die”, but the irony is that it was PW Botha when he was Minister of Labour. It has never been more applicable to white-owned SMEs than now. We must change to survive.

I have seen some of our better and best SME owners operate and I know we are more than capable. The problem is we need more converts.

SMEs - lack of growth part of a bigger problem?

I recently viewed a video that was being circulated on email. It showed Gareth Cliff asking questions of a music talent show hopeful. He asked the fellow what he did, and the hopeful essentially described himself as running a small spaza store. Gareth then said "Oh, so you are a vendor" to which the hopeful replied "No, I am a Zulu". While the video was being circulated as a source of amusement, I believe it underlines the serious divisions within our country.

How often do you hear people say I am a South African. Almost never. We are black, white, coloured Indian, Jew, Greek, English, Afrikaans, Zulu, Xhosa, Muslim, Hindu, whatever, but never South African.

In the USA they are Americans even when it is clear from their accents that they have only been there a short while. In Australia the same, In fact almost everywhere it is the same. But not here in South Africa.  When last did you hear a Zimbabwean say they are Shona. 

A Zimbabwean student once said to me, "Before I came to South Africa I was just a human being. Now I am a black person who is subjected to the worst racial treatment possible, from South African black people. You South Africans are not nice people." What an indictment of our society from a 21 year girl .

Until we see ourselves as a single nation we will continue to expend  energy on stupid and unnecessary divisions which add no value to our country whatsoever. Instead of learning and working together, and building strong country bonds between countrymen, we instead focus on dividing and ruling, encouraged by a government that claims to be a non-racial government.

It is time we put paid to this political manipulation, as it only benefits a small minority, and not our country. Then maybe we would have greater efficiency in businesses, less worker hostility to capitalism, and great growth in our country, which means our SMEs would be able to grow too.