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GLOBALLY, the economy is faced with stagflation, regardless of the aggressive moves from central banks across the globe to curb the problem. We expected supply chains to be restored by now, post-COVID-19, and we anticipated a short-lived confrontation between Russia and Ukraine, something similar to the annexation of Crimea in 2014.

We did not anticipate a prolonged war and the level of sanctions was not anticipated. We did not expect the global north to inflict pain on itself just so to stand up to Russia. At the height of the global recovery, with fuel prices already high, we did not expect that the world would cut out Russian oil from the global market. We are already seeing yet another record fuel hike in SA and we expect the same to follow in the country. I fear we do not have the social cohesion to weather the storm of what is to come economically. I fear that the current economic events are adding fuel to the fire and these are the channels through which they may transmit from the economic to the social.

The prevailing global economic conditions that we are importing into the domestic economy as a net importer; we are importing high inflation and

TWage negotiations

HERE is something admirable about people who give in social spaces. More that it is the capacity to pour into the cup of those who are yet to experience the fulfilment of making it and making their dreams come true. One might stand in front of the mirror and have a perception that the point from which they stand is not sufficient enough to pour into another.

For example, that guy who has only just registered their business could feel that they are not good enough to educate or teach anyone something about business, and the reality is different because the best teacher is not merely one who has experience, it is also one who has the empathy of experience as quoted in an upcoming book by Bandiswa Vilane. An empathy of experience is the ability to learn from other people’s mistakes and their experience, and this entails being at the governance to hold yourself in the position of the experience in order to understand the dynamics and the lessons of those mistakes and the good that may come out of it. In so doing, one does not need to mess up or make a loss in order to learn, the experiences and mistakes of others should be sufficient enough to be a reflective measure and a guide of not making the same mistakes.

This means that even the guy who has just registered his business has the capacity to bring something to the table and to give advice to someone, more so because there is always someone who looks at where you are, as far ahead from where they are, and that gives you the space to share with those who are yet to reach where you are. This means that every person you are further from has something to benefit from you, they have something that they can get from your cup. Even if your cup is not overflowing, it flows enough to fill another cup and remains open for others to fill yours, and this is the currency of exchange.

Grow

It is the necessary chain for young people to grow and to help others grow, especially in a scope where there is a lack of information and resources of many things. This means that we must and should be able to grow ourselves in a chain of development; the guy who has registered can teach and advice the guy who has a great idea and wants to register their business. Or the guy who has 10 years’ experience running their farm can advise the lady who only has a huge plot of land that is good for farming

and has no idea where to start; the guy who only has a logo and branding done can help the guy who has only thought of a name and is not sure where to go from there. It is a chain of development and helping each other grow.

Value

As young people we need to be able to understand the value of the work we have put in, no matter how small it is, to understand the value of what we do know and the value of the experience we gained in the little we have done. This means understanding the significance of what you know and what you have learnt and how it can be useful to someone else, even after it is no longer useful to you. Networking is and should go beyond the parameters of what you stand to gain and rather what you stand to exude towards the rest of the market itself in order to create a platform for those who come after you as a means to grow the market in the same way that you grow in your personal business endeavours.

This means sculpting the environment in which your business will grow in because those behind you will eventually grow and once in they are in the growing process, they become pillars that will aid in times of need. As a growing business owner, you cannot rely on rubbing shoulders with big people as the only means of surviving or making it, you need a stokvel of like people and one that consists of people who will, in their development, be your wings and umbrellas of support in your business. A community of business development is a necessity because it discards the notion of affiliation with only big businesses as a one size fits all method to grow and to make it.