Two emerging trends we need to foster

I’ve done my fair share of predicting trends and telling people which trends to watch for their business and marketing goals. However, these trends are all for the benefit of certain individuals or companies. What about the average man? I feel we need to foster “trends” that are really important to the sustainability and growth of South Africa in general.

1. Young entrepreneurs
Whether they have a degree or not, I believe all youngsters who want to start a business should do so. The advantage of starting a business at a young age is that there is less risk involved in failing. With everything, there is always a downside and I think the biggest one in this case is a disadvantage of limited business knowledge, which I think can be easily be solved with the help of a mentor.

I am fortunate enough to have a business-oriented family, which has helped me make sound decisions. I also have had mentors in my industry and various others to which I owe a great deal. If anyone is involved with young entrepreneur programmes or events, I will gladly make time available to share what I have learnt with others.

2. Technology adoption
There is no doubt that South Africans are behind in adopting current and emerging technology. Roughly 10% of our population has internet access. I think South Africans are behind for two reasons: fear and cost. Computer peripherals and technology gadgets are not cheap by any means. There is also fear of not understanding the technology and fear of doing something wrong when using it.

The ICT sector is one of the most important sectors in our modern economy and we need to encourage as much of the population as possible to become more involved in it. I have seen the Education Department’s attempts at placing IT classrooms in schools. It put one in my high school, even though we had two already. It was hardly ever used, maybe a few times in the span of two to three years. Other than that it remained sealed — a waste, in my opinion.

I think leading up to 2010 these two “trends” are important, not excluding the many other important issues, for South Africa. I say 2010 because it is a year in which great things will happen for South Africa and its people, but also a year that holds uncertainty. Anyway, just some thoughts I had to share. I hope some people agree with me and that we do see some action.

Note: I say trends just to poke at everyone who has written about trends to watch or predicting trends. I guess I just poked myself. Haha.