A novel opportunity to use drone technology for port surveillance as a means of identifying under-utilised capacity went a-begging because the entrepreneur in question lacked the necessary wherewithal to successfully sell the idea.
It was but one example, explained Industrial Development Corporation (IDC) chair Busi Mabuza, of how clever young business people often lacked the necessary street smarts to connect with financiers, clients, and other prospective parties willing to buy into clever concepts.
Mabuza told FTW they had encountered countless instances of fresh-faced business starters who were full of great ideas that lacked attention to detail, such as verifying demand.
“It’s a truism that many great ideas often fall short of market expectations. It doesn’t matter how beautiful a concept or creation is, if it doesn’t have a market and it’s not backed up by sound investment knowledge, it may be dead in the water.”
Referring to the port drone developer, she said his idea could easily have worked if he had had better plans to market the idea, including at least one fall-back strategy should port authorities reject it – which they did. In the end, preparation and finishing weren’t worked into the mix. “He was totally frustrated because after the pilot nothing happened, his phone wasn’t ringing.
Making matters worse, “he failed to identify other applications for his innovation and, apart from lacking the kind of information that would have come through thorough research and identifying possible problems, also lacked the language necessary to successfully talk to the people he had in mind.”
According to Mabuza it highlights the need for a kind of finishing school for entrepreneurs.
“Experience has taught us that the most successful entrepreneurs are usually people who have first-hand knowledge of the sectors they are targeting. They know the specifics of language down to the terminology that goes with certain industries and corporate cultures.
“We have worked with too many young entrepreneurs disillusioned by high and mighty financiers who simply didn’t grasp their concepts because they weren’t properly articulated.”
Mabuza herself has put in the hard yards to get to where she is, and without her keen vision to spot talent where it may be hidden, the IDC may have faced a tougher track in helping young industrialists to find traction for their ideas. Her first attempt at obtaining a tertiary qualification, an engineering degree at the University of KwaZulu Natal, didn’t work out because she “simply didn’t get the hang of it”.
A second stab at studying mathematics and computer science at Turfloop University in Polokwane also went belly up because of the political turmoil of the 1980s.
“But it opened my eyes to other opportunities, such as the bursaries America was handing out to assist young black women.” Through Spellman College in Atlanta, Hunter College in New York, and NYU she finally completed degrees in mathematics, computer science, and information systems before making her way home after the ’94 elections.
“I always wanted to be in finance. Instead I found myself in an IT department working for Investec in Cape Town. But I kept my mind open and used the opportunity to learn as much about investment as possible.”
When she finally ended up in finance, climbing the ladder to one of the most sought-after financier positions in the country, she came to value the worth of her own trials and tribulations.
“It’s through our exposure to experience, good as well as bad, that we prepare ourselves for progress.
Without failing you can never know the value of standing up stronger than before. – Busi Mabuza
