Currently, South Africa has one of the highest small business failure rates in the world, with the majority of small businesses failing within their first year. Limited access to funding, ineffective cash flow management and the complexity of the country’s regulatory environment are among the leading reasons for this high rate of failure.
This is compounded by the fact that the entrepreneurship landscape in South Africa is extremely competitive.
However, for the bold entrepreneurs who understand that the odds are against them and choose to act anyway, the difficult small business environment offers an irresistible challenge.
Failure is an invaluable tool for growth
Many entrepreneurs attest to having an inherent fear of failure – a sense of angst that, if their business idea doesn’t succeed, failure will mean the end of the road. However, if there is any skill that will set an aspiring business owner up for success – it’s learning to ‘fail forward’ – which means to use setbacks as stepping stones and valuable learning curves.
Nelson Mandela said it best when he said that “Courage is not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it”.
Some inspiring entrepreneurs who have ‘failed forward’
Most of the South African businesspeople who have achieved excellence in their field have all experienced failure in one way or another. Business mogul, keynote speaker and best-selling author Vusi Thembekwayo was booed off stage as a young public speaker. Later in life, he invested his life’s savings in a company that closed due to non-compliance and over-indebtedness. Thembekwayo simply gathered his resources and started over. Today, he is one of the country’s most successful businessmen and a role model for countess young South Africans.
Sibusiso Leope, or ‘DJ Sbu’, as he is most commonly known, reportedly lost his gig at a local radio station after promoting his energy drink during a company event. He shared his difficulties publicly – posting on social media about his financial struggles and that he had received no income for over a year. This was a humbling time for DJ Sbu, but he went on to become a national household name in music production, as well as a successful business owner. In examples such as these, we find practical demonstrations of how ‘failing forward’ by learning from your mistakes can provide the momentum you need to keep going.
Change the way you think about failure
The first technique that all South African entrepreneurs can use to move forward despite their challenges is to understand that failure is an inevitability rather than a possibility. Every business owner fails in some way along their journey. An ill-timed social media post, inaccurate financial projections, neglecting your mental health, or the well-being of your family, are all key examples of this. But failure doesn’t need to be the end of your journey.
Rather, entrepreneurs need to shift their mindset from seeing failure as a loss, to seeing it as a gain. By succeeding, you’ll uncover what you should continue doing for your business. By failing, you’ll learn what not to do. Either path presents opportunities for business and personal growth, both of which will enable you to develop as an entrepreneur.
Let go of perfectionism
Facebook’s COO, Sheryl Sandberg, is quoted as saying: “Trying to do it all and expecting it can all be done exactly right is a recipe for disappointment. Perfection is the enemy.” These wise words reflect one of the most common reasons why people fail as entrepreneurs. Their need for perfection prevents them from starting out in the first place.
Many successful businesspeople have arrived at the same conclusion. There is never a perfect time or a perfect way to start a business. The most important step an entrepreneur can take is to make a move today. Entrepreneurs should strive to act with intention rather than perfection. When you do this, you will open up a window of possibility for failure to become one of your most valuable assets.
Ben Bierman is the managing director of Small Business Partners.
BUSINESS REPORT