Good neighbourliness makes good business

© Sergey Nivens - Fotolia.com

Braamfontein is made up of a variety of diverse role-players, each with their own agenda. There is an array of small business, big business, the big banks, and the buzz of university life present. Established names are settled in the area with Liberty Life and SAB Miller's prominence greeting you on arrival from the northern entrance, Southpoint takes care of the needs of students, and Wits is the largest property owner.

When immersed in the neighbourhood, you will know that Prof. Barry Dwolatzky from the Johannesburg Centre for Software Engineering is the go-to person on technology innovation, the owner of Postnet may drop by with your post and an exchange of how business is going. This is a place where you know your neighbour's name, referrals are rife and uncontracted favours are exchanged. This is a place where you want to play and go to work. It is also a place that creates the conditions for social innovation, and the advancement of society.

Unintended reciprocity

When our neighbours (also business owners) give, there often has been no structured thought of philanthropy or a form of charity. These are a grouping of individuals who have a shared interest or understanding of elements required to develop the nation. They offer their skills, time and resources regardless of their stage of business, but there is more often than not unintended reciprocity that occurs. This is not clever advertising, this is a human-centred way of doing business in a community that you're part of. It is also proof that for business to thrive, society needs to prosper.

This is not a closed circle of exchanges, this is the level of connection and collaboration that corporate South Africa is invited to interact with in broader society and particularly with entrepreneurs. It is a shift from achieving compliance of enterprise development and corporate social investment codes. When participating as equal partners in addressing problems in society that really matter, not only do we advance society, but discover opportunities for innovation that strengthen business and lead to pioneering new ventures.

This is an invitation for big business to engage at all levels of the organisation. Innovation and social engagement cannot rest in silos of the CSI department, but should be embraced across the organisation; from research and development, leadership and procurement departments. Having foresight of the opportunity of social innovation requires a mindset to go beyond compliance, but also to use the instruments of compliance intentionally to create broader social impact that is also mutually beneficial. It is also an opportunity for business to increase participation and a sense of responsible ownership through the stimulation of intrapreneurship.

Designing the ecosystem

While entrepreneurship is hailed to be a key stimulant in job creation, there is a collective need to design the ecosystem to allow it to thrive. Some of these elements include:

• Investment: South Africa is a resource-rich country and leading economy in Africa. We do however need to create contextually appropriate financing instruments to support ideas that have the potential to succeed. While start-up investment is high risk, it has the potential for high rewards, and enterprise development could bridge this gap.
  
• Mentorship: As a nation we do not have a lack of success stories of maverick entrepreneurs and family-run businesses that have set up institutions and scaled internationally. We do however require stronger links between successful entrepreneurs and start-up communities. This further extends to infrastructural mentorship and supplier opportunities that all large business can provide.
  
• Experimentation: An acknowledgement that failure is part of success, and while we need to take precaution to reduce the failure rate of small business, we need to increase the confidence of entrepreneurs and develop a risk-taking culture affiliated with celebrated entrepreneurial nations.
  
• Audacity: The audacity to dream beyond our current circumstance. Entrepreneurs are dreamers and require the same vision and tenacity that moved our nation beyond apartheid. This will shift the nation to its next level of progress.
  
• Cross-sector collaboration: This is where the magic happens. It's the possibilities that can occur when an industrial engineer gets together with an artist, actuary, accountant, school principal and a pianist. It is the space where competition is set aside and we all bring our resources and talents to innovate and build around focused topics that matter around the development of our society.

If entrepreneurial advancement is set to be the backbone of society, it cannot be separated from social cohesion. All sectors are invited - and required - to get hands on deck and be part of something exciting. It is good neighbourliness after all!