​Entrepreneurship

What
do entrepreneurs do?

·     
Own and run their own
businesses

·     
Own and run a franchise

·     
Skilled freelance/consulting
work

·     
Develop innovations and take
them to market

What
skills do I need?

·     
Motivation

·     
Confidence

·     
Persistence

·     
Innovative thinking

·     
Energy

·     
Interest in business

·     
Organisational skills

·     
Sales and marketing skills

·     
Computer skills

·     
Understanding of bookkeeping

·     
Understanding of company law

What subjects can help?

·     
Maths or maths literacy

·     
Accounting

·     
Business studies

·     
Languages

What qualifications are
there?

·     
Diploma in business management
and entrepreneurship

·     
National diploma in
entrepreneurship

·     
National certificate in
financial management

·     
BCom entrepreneurship and
business management

·     
Master’s degree in
entrepreneurship

·     
OR use what you know (some of
the biggest names in business had little in the way of qualifications)

What
makes a business succeed?

·     
A great idea nobody else has

·     
The skills to take your idea to
market

·     
Lots of guaranteed customers

·     
A careful business plan

·     
Start-up funding that will
carry you for at least 6 months

·     
Advice, mentors and a network
that can help you

What can make a business
fail?

·     
Launching a business without
doing proper research

·     
Starting a business without
proper registration and planning

·     
Making partnerships with people
you can’t depend on

·     
Spending too much money too
soon

·     
Thinking you can do it all
alone

·     
Expecting success overnight. It
can take years.

·     
Starting a business with no
business skills and no business advice

What are the legal
requirements?

Depending on the type of business you are starting, you may have to
register with:

·     
The Companies and Intellectual Property Commission

·      Sars — as a taxpayer and to pay VAT and
unemployment insurance

·     
The department of labour —
if you have employees

Professional bodies

– Small Enterprise Development
Agency (Seda)

Tel: 012 441 1000

www.seda.org.za

Useful
contacts

– Companies and Intellectual Property
Commission (CIPC)

Tel: 086 100 2472

www.cipc.co.za

– South African Revenue Service (Sars)

Tel: 0800 00 7277

www.sars.gov.za

– Small Enterprise Finance
Agency (Sefa)


Tel: 012 748 9600

Email: [email protected]

www.sefa.org.za

– SME Toolkit

www.southafrica.smetoolkit.org/sa/en

DID YOU KNOW?

Many successful entrepreneurs failed in their first business endeavours.
The trick to succeeding, they say, is learning from their mistakes and trying
again.