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South Africa desperately needs to encourage entrepreneurship as a means to addressing the country’s job creation targets. A report issued by FNB and the Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) states that “the most competitive nations are those that have the highest level of entrepreneurial activity.” The Total Entrepreneurial Activity (TEA) is a measurement of the percentage of the active population in a country (people aged between 25 and 64) who are entrepreneurs. According to International Entrepreneurship, South Africa’s TEA in 2010 is 8.9%. This is higher than in previous years and significantly higher than our average TEA over the past decade: 6.7%. If South Africa wants to be a meaningful player in the global economy, we have to shape education, society and legislation to encourage, rather than stifle, entrepreneurship.

Comment by Charles Pritchard, CEO of Entelect: We often hear horror stories about companies appointing a software partner and, many millions of rands later, deadlines are missed and excuses are made for non-delivery. I have personally seen it happen with companies that have invested in good business plans, only to be stumped by a software project gone wrong. With big blue-chip companies who have comprehensive support structures, the same can happen: project deadlines keep getting missed, often with unrecoverable costs to the business. So how does one go about choosing the right partner to ensure delivery in software projects?