Nurturing the Entrepreneurial Spirit

As the discussion on how Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) can help global economies rebound, following the ongoing pandemic, continues to gather momentum, many of the world’s governments, private businesses and investors likewise continue to invest (wisely!) a great deal of resources into the sector’s empowerment and sustainability.

Taking a step back to a time before COVID, MSMEs were long known to be critical factors in any country’s health, forming the economic backbone, and were lauded as pivotal sources for growth and development, job creation, and innovation.

On an aside, the World Bank currently estimates that MSMEs represent about 90% of businesses and 50% of employment worldwide. What’s more, these business are well poised to the principal employers by the year 2030, providing more than 600 million jobs to absorb a growing global workforce. In developing nations and regions, such as ours, formal MSMEs can contribute up to 40% of the GDP in emerging economies.

The heart of any MSME is the entrepreneur; that leader who through sacrifice, commitment, sheer dint of effort, and even some good fortune was able to transform their dream into a reality. Then along came the pandemic and the nightmare for many.

The COVID Factor

While I don’t want us to dwell too much on the ongoing pandemic, however, I think it is critical that we contextualise just what kind of an impact it has had (and continues to have) on the world’s MSMEs and entrepreneurs.

Because of their size, MSME’s are more vulnerable to socio-economic shocks than their larger cousins. While the sector managed to rebound with some progress following the dot.com failure of the early 2000s and the financial systems collapse of 2008, COVID-19 has presented a new crisis.

A crisis that seemed particularly geared against small businesses and entrepreneurs. The lockdowns and reduced economic activity across the board caused demand and supply shocks that rocked global economies. They also presented a clear and present danger to MSMEs who quickly began to feel the impact as now 1) many small businesses were now deemed nonessential and had to close temporarily and 2) employees had to stay home, resulting in a loss of their incomes and reduced spending on their parts.

Governments and financial institutions quickly grasped the severity of the situation and sprang into action. Stimulus packages, financial assistance programmes, relief grants and the like were offered as a way to keep the MSME sector alive and economies thriving. They were offered as a way of keeping the entrepreneurial dream alive.

My Republic team, for example, in addition to engaging our commercial customers directly through unique products and services, also tried to ascertain their needs, talking with many of them, and creating new ways of making their lives a little bit easier. For example, we offered moratoria on loans as a way of freeing up more of their income to help their business survive. And many of our clients were grateful for the assistance.

But, with a sector as important and as fragile as the MSME, there is always more that can be done. There is always more that MUST be done. Simply put, more can be done to encourage entrepreneurs to not go gentle into that good night. To remind them that while the storms rage, there is a better day ahead. To remind them that they do not face the challenges alone. And that we are all in this together.

However, rhetoric alone will not get the job done nor should it ever be expected to. As leaders in our own right, we need to do more to shore up both emergent and incipient entrepreneurial spirt.

Leaders Helping Leaders

To me, one of the most endearing aspects of leadership is its ability to seek out its own and encourage it to thrive. Leadership is not, nor must it ever be, a competition. But if ever it is to be, then it has to be one where we all compete together for the common good. One where we compete against challenge and adversity, empowering each other through word and example; desire and deed. Recently, in partnership with the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) Commission, the Republic Group launched the Sustainable Development Movement Business Model Competition (BMC).

This programme will take in 30 budding entrepreneurs from around the Caribbean region, give them a chance to submit their ideas before a “pitch room” and eventually stake their claims to earn up to US $20,000 in start-up money and prizes. Essentially, the 8-week capacity-building programme is our open invitation to some of the brightest emergent business minds to dare to transform their ideas of today into the sustainable businesses of tomorrow.

If this sounds familiar, that is because the programme shares its concept with the well-known television programme, “Shark Tank”. As a testament to this, one of the show’s main celebrities and founders, Daymond John, CEO of the Shark Group, leads the Pitch Room panel to which the participants will present in September.

While there are obvious synergies between the two programmes, ultimately, one of the main drivers behind the BMC is coaching the entrepreneurs-in-training on what it takes to start a successful business; spanning everything from access to education and resources to building a robust and viable networking system. Our greatest hope for this project is to move beyond simply doing our part to help start the “next successful business” but to engender the next and newest class of entrepreneur (and MSME) as even more resilient since they, like all of us, live in this present COVID-19 reality.

We have a golden entrepreneurial coachable moment (during a time when they seem to be so few and far between) wherein, working together across a diversity of sectors, we could help shoulder the burden of future enterprise and sow the seeds of sustainable development – one entrepreneur, one idea, and one small business at a time.

Changing the Narrative on Change

The narrative of empowering MSMEs and entrepreneurs may appear shrouded in uncertainty but I believe it is one that presents a unique opportunity to evolve. We have all heard the story of the lobster who, as it continued to grow, found its shell increasingly uncomfortable. In that tale, the lobster chooses to grow a new shell to fit its changing size. The moral being that the initial discomfort that it undergoes turns out to be the catalyst for long-term and sustainable change; change that ultimately saved its life.

Like that lobster, our entrepreneurs are in a time of uncertainty and discomfort but it is also a time of great change and for opportunities to evolve. But unlike the lobster, they cannot do it alone. The entrepreneurs of today are in need of education and skills development. They need improved access to non-traditional and innovative financing options. They need access to information, mentorship, and networking.

They also need encouragement, inspiration, and example. And these are things that no one group can provide because we are all in this together.

Go Bravely and Dare to Succeed

Safeguarding a brighter future for entrepreneurs and MSMEs boils down to producing the kinds of leaders who are uniquely prepared to face challenges like the pandemic and more. Because they must understand that they are more than just entrepreneurs. They are the ones whose dreams of a better tomorrow are our dreams as well. There may be no quick solutions to achieving this. Truth be told, we should not be looking for any.

But with the call for programmes like the Business Model Competition (and others) as a way of creating precisely the kinds of impetus, opportunities, and lessons that will enable entrepreneurs to dream and achieve, to ideate and initiate, must always come the response from those who can make it happen. I believe the numbers will soon bear themselves out in the years to come when COVID is all but in our collective rear views.

Looking ahead, within their stories of challenge and success, lie the seeds that will grow in the minds of others looking on, encouraging them to be brave enough to dare to succeed in even the most uncertain of times. The candle of leadership burns brightest during the darkest times. Sometimes, the candle just needs to know that it can.