CHRISTMAS CRY FOR HELP

INGENUITY should be the spirit of all businesspeople.

To advocate that you must be given the tender or equity merely because you are a “previous disadvantaged” is laziness. “Previous disadvantaged” is a cliché we the so-called BEE entrepreneurs love.But it is so vaguely de- ?ned that in most cases I ?nd it insulting to all Namibians, especially black Namibians.It appears my fellow emerging businesspeople want to be given tenders or equity because they “previously disadvantaged” – meaning they were not well off during apartheid.And that is where I ?nd the concept insulting.Who was well off? That is making a mockery of our elders who are still eking out a living through ingenuity, selling whatever they can, to send their children to universities.They were never well off during apartheid and neither are they well off now.So what does that make them, “presently disadvantaged”? Do not get me wrong here.I am in no way against the concepts of black economic empowerment or that of previously advantaged people.I agree and support those concepts, but only in principle.What puzzles me is how lazily we, the emerging black businesspeople, show our BEE and previous disadvantaged cards because of incompetence.We lack innovation so much that the only innovation we know is to use our skin colour and the past.Oh, and when we are in trouble having The Spirit Of Ingenuity used our colour and the past to siphon taxpayer’s money in the name of business.We then blame the media and the public for being jealous.It is their money, hallo? No, I am not saying that we are all corrupt.The point is why should I, as a genuine black businessperson, trade on the basis of my colour and my background? To me that is an insult to my fellow black people.I do not want handouts.I want to get into business because I am a clever and shrewd businessman or woman.I want to triumph above others.Because, by the virtue of my intelligence, I can legally bulldoze my business throughout capturing all the market shares despite the ?erce competition.But to say you were oppressed…? Not most of us emerging black businesspeople, especially if you are 40 years old, have experienced any hardship because of apartheid, anyway.Unless you lived deep in the villages where the daily clashes between PLAN and Koevoet occurred.Or unless you are in your late 40’s then you must have really seen the action.Yes, we were taught in Afrikaans but that is the reason we are now able to conduct business with Afrikaans-speaking Namibians or close deals with Afrikaansspeaking whites.That will not count as a disadvantage.OK, maybe the disadvantage can be that we, especially if you were taught in the northern side of the country, were not given the privilege to study certain subjects such as mathematics and accounting.That could be a disadvantage if you wanted to enter a profession requiring such.But in business you cannot really use that as the basis of being disadvantaged.Even Donald Trump is no Albert Einstein.And no, being from exile does not give you the right to insult us by telling us horrendous stories of what happened to the people of our skin colour.We witnessed, heard, and watched our families and neighbours enduring those atrocities every day.For more than 20 years mind you, so that makes us equal.Let’s be competitive, not lazy.DNH Via e-mail”Previous disadvantaged” is a cliché we the so-called BEE entrepreneurs love.But it is so vaguely de- ?ned that in most cases I ?nd it insulting to all Namibians, especially black Namibians.It appears my fellow emerging businesspeople want to be given tenders or equity because they “previously disadvantaged” – meaning they were not well off during apartheid.And that is where I ?nd the concept insulting.Who was well off? That is making a mockery of our elders who are still eking out a living through ingenuity, selling whatever they can, to send their children to universities.They were never well off during apartheid and neither are they well off now.So what does that make them, “presently disadvantaged”? Do not get me wrong here.I am in no way against the concepts of black economic empowerment or that of previously advantaged people.I agree and support those concepts, but only in principle.What puzzles me is how lazily we, the emerging black businesspeople, show our BEE and previous disadvantaged cards because of incompetence.We lack innovation so much that the only innovation we know is to use our skin colour and the past.Oh, and when we are in trouble having The Spirit Of Ingenuity used our colour and the past to siphon taxpayer’s money in the name of business.We then blame the media and the public for being jealous.It is their money, hallo? No, I am not saying that we are all corrupt.The point is why should I, as a genuine black businessperson, trade on the basis of my colour and my background? To me that is an insult to my fellow black people.I do not want handouts.I want to get into business because I am a clever and shrewd businessman or woman.I want to triumph above others.Because, by the virtue of my intelligence, I can legally bulldoze my business throughout capturing all the market shares despite the ?erce competition.But to say you were oppressed…? Not most of us emerging black businesspeople, especially if you are 40 years old, have experienced any hardship because of apartheid, anyway.Unless you lived deep in the villages where the daily clashes between PLAN and Koevoet occurred.Or unless you are in your late 40’s then you must have really seen the action.Yes, we were taught in Afrikaans but that is the reason we are now able to conduct business with Afrikaans-speaking Namibians or close deals with Afrikaansspeaking whites.That will not count as a disadvantage.OK, maybe the disadvantage can be that we, especially if you were taught in the northern side of the country, were not given the privilege to study certain subjects such as mathematics and accounting.That could be a disadvantage if you wanted to enter a profession requiring such.But in business you cannot really use that as the basis of being disadvantaged.Even Donald Trump is no Albert Einstein.And no, being from exile does not give you the right to insult us by telling us horrendous stories of what happened to the people of our skin colour.We witnessed, heard, and watched our families and neighbours enduring those atrocities every day.For more than 20 years mind you, so that makes us equal.Let’s be competitive, not lazy.DNH Via e-mail