Business is sick and tired of BBBEE
11 February 2016
Several commentators, namely Anne Bernstein and Sara Gon, have recently harshly accused business leaders of temerity in facing up to government.
Whilst South Africa has a proud history of producing world class business leaders, innovators and entrepreneurs such as Elon Musk, Anton Rupert Roelolf Botha and many more, there is a need to explain the sudden dearth of entrepreneurs in South Africa today.
To me, as a businessman and entrepreneur, there are several obvious explanations;
First and foremost is that the state has interfered with the most sacrosanct of institutions, the family business. Everywhere in the world, from Taiwan to Italy, family businesses have been the most basic cog in the provision of job creation, innovation and competition. Almost all of the large enterprises in South Africa, other the the State owned enterprises, were started by families, like the Ackerman’s, the Presses, the Searll’s, the Frame’s and the Rupert’s and once these enterprises flourished, they morphed into corporations.