Real Entrepreneurs Shun Entitlement

Due to budgetary constraints, the government a few years ago suspended an equipment grant scheme administered by the Ministry of Industrialisation and Trade.

The good news is that the business start-up and growth support programme was reinstated this year.

At the time of the scheme’s suspension, there was a great deal of disappointment all round, and rightly so, as over the years it has helped many Namibian entrepreneurs already in business to scale or grow their enterprises.

The equipment grant scheme helped emerging and fledgling entrepreneurs, especially those who, through no fault of their own, just cannot access funding in Namibia’s rigidly regulated collateral or security-based banking and lending environment.

With tools and equipment grants early-stage entrepreneurs were helped and thereby well positioned to grow their businesses beyond the start-up phase.

Numerous newcomers to the business arena too were assisted by the government’s equipment grant scheme.

The scheme also provided the wherewithal for wannabe entrepreneurs to embark on their entrepreneurial journey.

For them it helped to turn a business start-up dream into a business reality after they received the much-needed support.

When it comes to grants there is always the chance of misuse and abuse. So, it is no secret that the government’s scheme had its shortcomings.

This included equipment breakdowns due to the absence of user training and the lack of guidance by suppliers on proper care and maintenance.

Due to the lack of controls, allegedly some beneficiaries even sold allocated equipment to more established enterprises, usually for a pittance.

Reportedly this time around there won’t be a recurrence of this, as a grantee selection criterion is now in place which would thoroughly scrutinise applications and verify the status of applicants.

Apparently an agreement will be put in place to delay equipment ownership transfer until certain conditions are met.
In the event of default and lapses, equipment will be confiscated and reallocated to others.

Additionally, a monitoring and evaluation mechanism will be applied to ensure the correct use of tools and equipment, and for measuring business start-up and growth impact.

Such controls should ensure that equipment is only allocated to worthy entrepreneurs and wannabe entrepreneurs, thereby negating the previously identified deficiencies and shortcomings.

Not unexpected, some are already rubbishing the reinstated equipment grant scheme.

In all probability they are among those who are merely opportunists or grabbers.

A recent posting on social media irritated and annoyed me no end.

A misguided individual was fast to denigrate the relaunched equipment grant scheme and to rubbish the grant’s monetary value parameter.

To put it bluntly, the posting and subsequent comments reeked of entitlement.

In routine interaction with entrepreneurs, one soon discovers that, although wanting to make it on their own, they do value and appreciate any help they get along the way.

This spurs them on to remain focused and serves as a reality check that success in the business arena means being clever, smart, strategic, frugal, and working diligently and hard all the time.

To end this week’s column on being clever and being smart: Being clever is knowing that a tomato is a fruit and not a vegetable, and being smart is to know that one should never add a tomato to a fruit salad.

• Danny Meyer is reachable at danny@smecompete.com