Unleashing the entrepreneurial spirit in Africa.
The third Allan Gray Orbis Foundation Ignite Africa event took place during Global Entrepreneurship Week this year, under the theme, #TheSumOfUs.
The third Allan Gray Orbis Foundation Ignite Africa event took place during Global Entrepreneurship Week this year. Spanning over two days, 16 and 17 November 2023, the occasion focused on social inclusion in entrepreneurship education to ensure inclusivity, regardless of the socio-economic status of entrepreneurs and building resilient ecosystems.
Under the theme, #TheSumOfUs, stakeholders engaged in conversations around the topic of social inclusion in South Africa and the role of inclusive entrepreneurship education to realise a multiplier effect across the entrepreneurial ecosystem. Dr Nontobeko Mabizela, CEO of the Allan Gray Orbis Foundation, opened the event by stating that Ignite Africa is not just another conference.
“It’s a Pan-African initiative, intricately aligned with Global Entrepreneurship Week as a platform dedicated to advocacy, thought leadership, and cross-sector collaboration. Ignite Africa is aimed at advancing entrepreneurship education and development across the African continent,” said Dr Mabizela. Ignite Africa is a platform for collaboration to empower entrepreneurship because “we are not a defeated nation”, affirmed Dr Mabizela. Keynote speaker on Day 1 at this year’s Ignite Africa conference in Sandton was Andile Khumalo, CEO of KhumaloCo. Khumalo identified six actions to Ignite true entrepreneurial action across the continent:
Create a culture of entrepreneurship
“This is important due to the places and spaces we find ourselves in,” said Khumalo. Unconscious biases and the narratives ingrained by parents influence an entrepreneur’s willingness to pursue entrepreneurship. We need to channel a culture of entrepreneurship into our core beliefs and destigmatize the fear of failure that is often associated with entrepreneurship. Khumalo encouraged entrepreneurs to fail forward. Through failure, entrepreneurs learn their biggest lessons and it is the responsibility of the community they are surrounded with to encourage failure and accept that entrepreneurs will fail. By accepting failure, the entrepreneur finds themselves in a safe space where innovation can grow.
Train and equip Africans with the right skills: Understand the role of education and training in Africa
Formal training is needed to succeed as an entrepreneur. “An entrepreneur’s chances to succeed improves when an entrepreneur is educated,” said Khumalo, also emphasising the need for inclusive education to advance entrepreneurship on the continent. Education helps prove credibility and as a nation, we can do a lot better to incorporate practical learning into entrepreneurship education. Entrepreneurial education and training must go beyond the classroom to include practical experiences. Technology is another aspect that cannot be ignored when integrating entrepreneurship into schools. Youth cannot be left behind when it comes to technological advancements and innovation and the entrepreneurial ecosystem must collaborate to implement these inclusive education practices.
Access finance with a better understanding of the funders
The biggest problem is not the lack of funding. The problem often lies in the entrepreneurs’ ability to build fundable businesses. The projects that most entrepreneurs take to investors are often not funding-ready. There are many organisations set up to assist entrepreneurs with funding and preparing for funding opportunities. Nevertheless, corporates should not blindly disregard businesses based on their funding readiness but look for those diamonds in the rough and help them to realise their potential through the right types of investments.
Develop an understanding of the need for policy and government support when it comes to entrepreneurship
There’s no way entrepreneurs can actually run their businesses without the support of the government. Government support is needed particularly around formulating policy that makes it easier for entrepreneurs to run their businesses.
To access markets you need to understand the markets you want to access
Khumalo stated that “if you don’t have a paying customer, you don’t have a business”. Corporates around the continent should look for ways to collaborate to create hubs where more entrepreneurs can integrate into the ecosystem. It is not the corporate’s job to look for paying customers for entrepreneurs, but they can certainly assist with creating an environment for entrepreneurs to thrive.
Leveraging technology to advance entrepreneurship and generate value
It is imperative that as an ecosystem, we leverage technology as much as possible so that we can advance entrepreneurship and in turn generate real value. For example, the E-Commerce sector has not only solved many problems but has simultaneously created accessibility, innovation, opportunities, and jobs. Similarly with Artificial Intelligence. AI is the way of the future, and by leveraging it as much as possible entrepreneurs will be able to simplify operations.
A key takeaway from Day 1 was that a cultural shift is occurring within South Africa and Africa around realising the importance of entrepreneurship, but that no one player in the ecosystem can make meaningful strides on their own.
Entrepreneurs need an operating environment wherein they have the freedom to fail forward and build bankable businesses in the process. By collaboratively taking these six actions and leveraging #TheSumOfUs an entrepreneurship ecosystem can be built that ignites true entrepreneurial potential.
The Allan Gray Orbis Foundation
