The New Entrepreneur: A New Generation Entrepreneur, Out-Of-The-Box Thinker, Future Leader in the Socio-Economic Space, Who Acts on the Dream to Mould and Shape Global Economies and Transform Social Landscapes.

By Angus Peterson

The New Entrepreneur brings an interesting and different perspective on entrepreneurship. Its approach to educate, inspire, motivate, and challenge is quite thought-provoking simplified.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Partridge Publishing Africa
• Release date: Jan 30, 2016
• ISBN: 9781482826302

Angus Peterson

If anybody should ask who the author of The New Entrepreneur is, this is how I would respond: Angus Peterson is a business-minded professional with an undying entrepreneurial spirit. In my lifetime, my path has crossed with numerous positive and optimistic people but also with prophets of doom, naysayers, and nonbelievers without a fraction of belief in achieving the impossible. It is the positive I associated with that made a lasting impression and left an indelible mark on my life. I was born into a musical family in Bloemfontein, South Africa. Being the youngest in the family I was bound to be the spoiled, and perhaps naughtiest in the family. All my schooling I’ve done within Bloemfontein, where I was groomed for a career in both government and private sector. My interest in business and my desire to become an entrepreneur could be detected at a very early stage of my primary school life, when I started to sell sweets and cigarettes. I was always into selling something and pushing to win competitions. Having spent three years in the private sector and a whopping twenty years in the public sector, I have seen and dealt with a lot of issues, programmes, projects, and people, in the line of duty. I found myself in retail, wholesale, logistics / supply chain, human resources management & development, as well as tourism. Over the years, I found myself developing an interest in the online business and marketing, an interest that opened my mind and eyes to global operations, especially online sales. These are actually important trade platforms and channels that entrepreneurs need to familiarize themselves with, as these are brilliant training platforms. If you are not careful, you could also learn things the hard way like I did – hoping from product to product spending money on some useless products that don’t work. I can attest to the fact that it is not always the person who achieved the first grades in school, or the one who passed with cum laude at university that is your finest candidate in the real business world. Can I share an irony with you? I certainly will! At the end of our last school year, when we picked up the newspaper with the final exam results, we were greeted by shock. Names who one expected to see did not appear on the paper. Some went to study further while others like me didn’t. I make these points for readers of this book to understand that it’s not only those high IQ candidates who are destined for success in careers and business, but those with a strong will, courage and believe that they can. Throughout my schooling and part-time tertiary life, I have been among the median performers. My medial performance was certainly not applying to my best subjects like Business Economics in school and Business Management at tertiary. These were the subjects where I aimed for distinctions and could compete with the A-candidates. The challenge is like one of the renowned Business Educators says our traditional schooling systems do not prepare the subconscious brain of learners and that of the next-generation entrepreneurs at school’s level. Fears of punishment and failure are instilled in the subconscious brain of learners, and these imprints are becoming barriers that stand in the way of success in their careers and in business. Many a time when I reflect on my life from school to be tertiary, I always think that if I focused more and applied my mind, shown commitment, I could have done better. The fact of the matter is that my aim was just to pass my final year secondary schooling and enter the labour market to earn a living because things at home were pretty tough. When I left school, I at least had the mind-set to apply the knowledge I have acquired during my school education, and was always open to learning. On the other hand, my mom insisted that I go to Teacher’s College to study and become an Educator. I thought at the time I could go to acquire a Teacher’s qualification and teach for a living, but the college closed down during my final year of school. Being a musician, I enjoyed teaching guitar and coaching people who knew less than I, but also provided solutions in music, even to those in the know.

Book preview

Copyright © 2016 by Angus Peterson.

ISBN:      Softcover      978-1-4828-2629-6

                eBook          978-1-4828-2630-2

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

www.partridgepublishing.com/africa

Contents

Special Dedication

About the Author

The Little Entrepreneur

Chapter 1 Genesis of Entrepreneurship

Chapter 2 Big Dreams, Small Steps, Significant Achievements

Chapter 3 Money Realities

Chapter 4 Marketing & Branding

Chapter 5 Missing Link – Education, Entrepreneurship & Labour

Chapter 6 Solutions in a Problem-infested World

Chapter 7 Entrepreneurial Ventures – New Start-Ups

Chapter 8 Entrepreneurship, The Global Drive

Chapter 9 Entrepreneurs And Information

Chapter 10 Business Stories - The Good, Bad And The Ugly

Chapter 11 Compliance, Understanding The Rule Book

Chapter 12 Entrepreneurship In The Informal Sector

Chapter 13 Small Towns – The New Economic Growth Pockets

Bonus Chapter

Business Ideas / Concepts

A List of Acts and Regulations (not conclusive)

Resource Centre

Reference Centre

I wish to acknowledge the invaluable contributions entrepreneurs made by sharing experiences from their respective business journeys. Your openness and willingness to participate is valued.

Special Dedication

I dedicate this book to my mom, Winifred, wife, Portia, my children and family. Your love, care, adoration and support are invaluable. You all inspired the writing of this book in your own small, yet significant ways.

I am also reminded of my late dad, Abraham, and two brothers, Patrick and Eddie (Phillip). I will forever be indebted to you family, friends, colleagues and acquaintances, your words of encouragement and firm believe in my ability to write this book.

This book is for those entrepreneurs and aspirant who explore beyond boundaries, break conventional rules, create and invent for change, and dare to venture into the unknown without fear of failure. We also recognize and appreciate the efforts of professionals in government and private sector that are committing their skills, knowledge and extra time to improve the lives of people and their economies.

Love - Angus

About the Author

If anybody should ask who the Author of The New Entrepreneur is, this is how I would respond: Angus Peterson is a business-minded professional with an undying entrepreneurial spirit. In my lifetime, my path has crossed with numerous positive and optimistic people, but also with prophets of doom, ‘nay-Sayers’’ and non-believers without a fraction of believe in achieving the impossible. It is the positive I associated with that made a lasting impression and left an indelible mark on my life.

I was born into a musical family in Bloemfontein, South Africa. Being the youngest in the family I was bound to be the spoiled, and perhaps naughtiest in the family. All my schooling I’ve done within Bloemfontein, where I was groomed for a career in both government and private sector.

My interest in business and my desire to become an entrepreneur could be detected at a very early stage of my primary school life, when I started to sell sweets and cigarettes. I was always into selling something and pushing to win competitions. Having spent three years in the private sector and a whopping 20 years in the public sector, I have seen and dealt with a lot of issues, programmes, projects and people, in the line of duty. I found myself in retail, wholesale, logistics / supply chain, human resources management & development, as well as tourism.

Over the years, I found myself developing an interest in the online business and marketing, an interest that opened my mind and eyes to global operations, especially online sales. These are actually important trade platforms and channels that entrepreneurs need to familiarize themselves with, as these are brilliant training platforms. If you are not careful, you could also learn things the hard way like I did – hoping from product to product spending money on some useless products that don’t work.

I can attest to the fact that it is not always the person who achieved the first grades in school, or the one who passed with cum laude at university that is your finest candidate in the real business world. Can I share an irony with you? I certainly will! At the end of our last school year, when we picked up the newspaper with the final exam results, we were greeted by shock. Names who one expected to see did not appear on the paper. Some went to study further while others like me didn’t. I make these points for readers of this book to understand that it’s not only those high IQ candidates who are destined for success in careers and business, but those with a strong will, courage and believe that they can.

Throughout my schooling and part-time tertiary life, I have been among the median performers. My medial performance was certainly not applying to my best subjects like Business Economics in school and Business Management at tertiary. These were the subjects where I aimed for distinctions and could compete with the A-candidates. The challenge is like one of the renowned Business Educators says our traditional schooling systems do not prepare the subconscious brain of learners and that of the next-generation entrepreneurs at school’s level. Fears of punishment and failure are instilled in the subconscious brain of learners, and these imprints are becoming barriers that stand in the way of success in their careers and in business.

Many a time when I reflect on my life from school to be tertiary, I always think that if I focused more and applied my mind, shown commitment, I could have done better. The fact of the matter is that my aim was just to pass my final year secondary schooling and enter the labour market to earn a living because things at home were pretty tough. When I left school, I at least had the mind-set to apply the knowledge I have acquired during my school education, and was always open to learning. On the other hand, my mom insisted that I go to Teacher’s College to study and become an Educator. I thought at the time I could go to acquire a Teacher’s qualification and teach for a living, but the college closed down during my final year of school. Being a musician, I enjoyed teaching guitar and coaching people who knew less than I, but also provided solutions in music, even to those in the know.

The Little Entrepreneur

We are all born with that little entrepreneur inside of us.

I have regularly been haunted by the tiny entrepreneur inside of me – it unfailingly pushed me to take action in various ways. Let me give you an excerpt of my childhood and my connection with that entrepreneur.

When I was at primary school, I used to help my mom with the selling of sweets, and assisted after school at a general trading store for pocket money. I can still recall the old man I was assisting after school and over weekends to sell fire wood in local area. Oh, I was also frequenting the green grocer vendors that drove around our locality to sell fruits and vegetables, and at times I helped at the convenient store. At this tender age, I was streetwise and exposed to street vending.

Well, let’s get back to the senile man’s business – I accompanied him to the hoods to chop off trees for firewood, bind it in small stacks and set-off to sell. He ran profitable business, and did business with a self-made six-wheel trolley that we pushed around and sell the wood. He operated with non-motorised transport, with low-maintenance (if any), and no depreciation in value. All we used was our natural energy and time to make a profit, because we didn’t buy or manufacture any product we were selling. I was selling cigarettes at a few cents profit per unit (maybe illegal for my age at the time). I bought a pack or two from the retail store and resell singles. I observed and identified a need and decided to exploit the opportunity to make a few rand pocket monies for myself. Come to think of it,