Let employees become employers

AS I sat thinking about the significance of Workers’ Day and the many triumphs that have been won by workers in the past, I could not help but ask this question; what is the next step?

That is not to say workers no longer have a cause to fight for, but it does suggest that when you are about to finish one part of a journey, you should be planning for the next part.

Workers’ Day is celebrated all over the world; however, the shape of the world economy is changing. Those who were workers before are now business owners, particularly in South Africa and other developing countries. This necessitates a new understanding of worker-employer dynamics suitable for people changing from being workers to being owners.

This change is a desirable change. We want more people to stop being workers and to become owners. We want people who were employees to be employers themselves as part of an economy which promotes ownership more than being a worker.

Most of us are aware of the high levels of unemployment in South Africa and elsewhere, and that this problem is a result of the old economic system which is quickly getting outdated.

We have such a high unemployment rate because the older model of big employers employing many workers is not working any more. What we need are more entrepreneurs, business owners and small business employers. This will change the whole system to become one which moves away from large numbers of workers, to larger numbers of employers in comparison.

While it may take a very long time for the worker-employer ratio to change significantly, it is still possible. Ours is a situation where we have millions of small businesses each with lower numbers of workers.

One advantage here is this; owners are forced by circumstance to be knowledgeable about the economy, the market and the labour environment in which they operate, so where there are more owners, there is more knowledge, more skill, more responsibility and more vision.

When there are fewer employees to each employer, the interests of the workers are also taken care of more effectively. The employer has a smaller workforce to deal with and as such is able to impart skills effectively, and better manage the workforce.

In this set-up, it is also in the interests of the employer to train employees so that they become employers too after a time. The businesses created by these workers-turned-owners become potential profitable partners. This is good for big business too.

The explosion of small businesses, which is necessary for our economy, will provide a fertile ground for big business to invest. This way big business will expand, but do so while investing and growing viable and competitive small businesses.

My suggestion, therefore, is that we should start changing Workers’ Day to Entrepreneurship Day. This way we will not only honour past workers by pushing for better salaries and rights, but by pushing for ownership itself, which carries the greatest attribute of freedom, self-determination.

This push for ownership does not mean taking over existing businesses either. That is not self-determination. It means establishing a culture of starting and owning new businesses to serve and provide for the very many needs of this country.

Bantu Mniki is from Dutywa