The Sasfin SME Scene features Greg Durst from Endeavor - an international organisation that teaches entrepreneurs how to break down barriers and plan for success on a bigger scale to create wealth and jobs
LINDSAY WILLIAMS: Greg, what is Endeavor?
GREG DURST: Endeavor is an entrepreneurship accelerator that looks for high impact entrepreneurs - those are people that are truly innovative in their space through new technology, business niche identification, and those that are significant new job creators - if we get those together that’s a big home run for us.
LINDSAY WILLIAMS: After hearing that I would say if they are innovators creating lots of jobs then they are already successful - why do they need this accelerator program, and what is it?
GREG DURST: Typically what we do is we look for companies that are at an inflection point - they are probably pretty successful in their local or regional markets, but we’re looking for people that can grow into national success stories, and be role models for other entrepreneurs and potentially even become global success stories.
LINDSAY WILLIAMS: So it’s taking the next step up - they’re at the level they’ve achieved on their own, but you raise the bar a bit?
GREG DURST: That’s right. We take those companies that we think are more than just a lifestyle play and are creating more than just a good income for the entrepreneur - the ones that want to create a significant number of jobs, and help create a middle class in South Africa and other emerging markets.
LINDSAY WILLIAMS: In seven countries on three continents Endeavor provides access to mentors and coaches, strategy assistants from global consulting firms - and you’ve also got a network of MBAs from Harvard, Stanford and other institutions. How long have you been going, and how have you managed to establish relationships with places like Harvard?
GREG DURST: We’ve been going for almost 10 years starting originally in Latin America - so we have exposure in Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Brazil, Uruguay and Mexico - and two years ago we opened in South Africa. This year we opened in Turkey. The principle thing that we have been able to do is introduce our senior business leaders to help people think big - at the end of the day that’s really the breakthrough, helping people understand the potential of their businesses. Then help them grow - whether that’s strategy assistance, funding, management access and those kinds of things.
LINDSAY WILLIAMS: Why did you identify South Africa as a target area for your business?
GREG DURST: South Africa is literally at half the level of entrepreneurship activity when compared to peers like Thailand or Poland - for every 100 business people only about 10 people are actually entrepreneurs in South Africa as compared to 20 in Thailand for example. The reality is that private sector job creation comes from the SMME sector - according to the Financial Mail 80% of private sector job creation has come from SMMEs over the last five years.
LINDSAY WILLIAMS: I sense that you see huge potential in South Africa?
GREG DURST: A tremendous amount of potential - what we really need to do is create success stories, so people can see that entrepreneurship really is an opportunity. I think unfortunately we have got a culture that looks to big business and government to provide jobs - rather than to create real wealth. So we want to have real success stories - people that create a lot of jobs, and create a lot of money for themselves.
LINDSAY WILLIAMS: You started off in South America by the sounds of it - Uruguay, Argentina and Chile - what sort of stage are we at in the entrepreneurship cycle compared to those countries when you first went there?
GREG DURST: Unfortunately we are at a very early stage here in South Africa - we’ve got a lot of ground to cover - but we believe increasingly there’s a culture that’s nurturing entrepreneurs, and making it okay for people to be entrepreneurs.
LINDSAY WILLIAMS: What’s the background to Endeavor’s link-up with Sasfin?
GREG DURST: We’ve had some dealings with Malcolm Segal - he is one of the directors of Sasfin - and Sasfin is really focused on small and medium-sized businesses. We really like to have partners that share a belief in creating companies that can grow and create jobs.
LINDSAY WILLIAMS: Is there a shortage of high impact entrepreneurs - have you had to go out to look for them, or are they there?
GREG DURST: We’ve scoured South Africa for the last two years - this year we scoured the country for 250 different companies, and we narrowed that down to 12 that we took through to our section panel…
LINDSAY WILLIAMS: Can you tell us who they are?
GREG DURST: I’d be glad to. This year’s big winners are companies like Lapdesk, which is an educational aid, the Spartan technology rental company, and the Injula empowered coal mining company…
LINDSAY WILLIAMS: So they are from different sectors…
GREG DURST: Absolutely. Some are social entrepreneurs, some are IT, there’s mining - they are all truly innovative with significant job creation potential.
http://www.endeavor.co.za
http://www.lapdesk.co.za