SAPCC Newsletter Feb 2023

NEWS LETTER

ENCONTROS

PNAID 2022

Ultrapassou todas as expectativas

See page 2

“Corporate

a new reality that should interest us

By Vasco Rosa da Silva

See page 4

PRR é oportunidade para a indústria portuguesa se afirmar na Europa

See page 9

Space capabilities boosted in Azores archipelago

See page 11

Cartão de Cidadão será gratuito para recém-nascidos

See page 13

Are entrepreneurs born or made?

By Allon Raiz

See page 16

By Tony de Gouveia

See page 6

nomads”:

“Thriving in chaos”the road to Selfleadership and Resilience

ENCONTROS PNAID 2022

Ultrapassou todas as expectativas

Fátima acolheu a edição 2022 dos Encontros do Programa Nacional de Apoio ao Investimento da Diáspora (PNAID), sob o lema “Investimento da Diáspora, um investimento com marca”, de 15 a 17 de dezembro.

Ao longo dos quase três dias do evento, para além das sessões plenárias, de sessões de apresentação de ideias, projetos e soluções de investimento, foram ainda promovidas sessões temáticas paralelas com enfoque nos temas Agricultura e Agroalimentar; Indústria 4.0 e Produção Avançada; Turismo e Sustentabilidade; Mar e Economia Azul; Digital e Saúde; Ideias e Negócios nos Territórios do Interior. As

mesas redondas, sessões dinâmicas de networking e visitas a empresas do Médio Tejo foram ainda outros dos tópicos do programa.

Estiveram reunidos mais de 750 participantes entre os quais representantes do empreendedorismo e empresas da diáspora e local, do associativismo, designadamente do associativismo jovem, dos municípios, e do governo, num reconhecimento de políticas públicas, oportunidades e projetos exemplificativos das diferentes áreas do investimento e do empreendedorismo.

Durante a realização dos ENCONTROS PNAID decorreu uma Mostra de Produtos Endógenos Inovadores com potencial de exportação através da diáspora. Esta Mostra foi organizada pela Minha TerraFederação de Associações de Desenvolvimento Local em Portugal.

o modo de funcionamento do PRR e a sua estruturação, pensada para para ajudar a tornar a economia robusta e, por consequência, melhorar a vida de quem está em Portugal. A Sessão contou com Elisa Ferreira, Comissária Europeia para a Coesão e Reformas; Cláudia Joaquim, Presidente do Conselho Diretivo da AD&C, e Bernardo Ivo Cruz, Secretário de Estado da Internacionalização

O encontro teve início com o plenário de abertura na Sexta-feira, 16 de dezembro, com a presença de João Gomes Cravinho, Ministro dos Negócios Estrangeiros; Ana Abrunhosa, Ministra da Coesão Territorial; Luís Miguel Albuquerque, Presidente Câmara Municipal de Ourém, e Anabela Freitas, Presidente da Comunidade Intermunicipal do Médio Tejo.

Segiu-se o plenário subordinado à temática “Estratégias de política da economia e agricultura no quadro 2030”, no qual participou Maria do Céu Antunes, Ministra da Agricultura e Alimentação, e António Costa Silva, Ministro da Economia e Mar.

Foi apresentado o Programa Nacional de Apoio ao Investimento da Diáspora (PNAID), com a presença de Paulo Cafôfo, Secretário de Estado das Comunidades Portuguesas; Isabel Ferreira, Secretária de Estado do Desenvolvimento Regional; Francisco André, Secretário de Estado dos Negócios Estrangeiros e da Cooperação e Pedro Tavares, Secretário de Estado da Justiça.

de Comércio e Indústria Franco-Portuguesa; Paulo Gomes, da Rede das Associações de Pós-Graduados; Lurdes Abreu, da Associação Cap Magellan; Hermano Sanches, da Associação ACTIVA; Luís Rebelo de Sousa, da AICEP Portugal Global; Luís Miguel Ribeiro Minha Terra, da Fundação AEP, e Domingos Silva Chambel, da NERSANT.

Participar nos Encontros PNAID constitui uma excelente oportunidade para estabelecer uma rede entre investidores da Diáspora e para conhecer as políticas públicas de incentivo ao investimento em Portugal.

Fonte: https://pnaid.mne.gov.pt/ pt/noticias-e-comunicados/ encontros-pnaid-2022ultrapassou-todasas-expectativas

“Corporate nomads”: a new reality that should interest us

By Vasco Rosa da Silva*

realities

a viable and balanced solution for companies, all over the world, relocating the work that a professional can do, and contributing to a more impactful work-life balance.

If digital nomadism is a reality that has been much discussed and talked about in recent times, the truth is that a new profile is already beginning to be talked about within the reality of remote work: the so-called “corporate nomads”.

new

pandemic has brought, with the rise and confirmation that remote work can be

Vasco Rosa da Silva

This new worker profile stands out for generally belonging to a higher age group (between 30 and 50 years old), unlike digital nomads. They are executive professionals who travel frequently and work remotely, and may even be relocated to new countries by personal decision or by the strategy of your company, which intends to expand its operations to other countries.

Another of the main differences between digital nomads and "corporate nomads" is the fact that this new profile, as a result of their older age, has already taken the first steps to form a family, thus looking for a stable and safe place where they can live with their family, being less available for more frequent changes of country. In addition, the choice of a new destination is made in a much more thought out and structured way, because the relocation conditions are naturally different for those looking for a new place to settle.

within companies can make a difference in the development of a true policy of attracting and retaining talent. By contributing to an expansion to other countries, opening the doors to other cultures and new challenging projects, you will be contributing to the motivation and development of your own employees.

Taking into account all these aspects, it is possible to perceive that the destination of the potential relocation of an employee should be chosen based on principles of stability and security, not only for the employee to feel good in his new city, but also to ensure a comfortable environment so that your family can feel happy and with a future perspective.

As such, Lisbon assumes itself as a destination of choice to welcome this new typology of remote work professionals. The city's safety, low levels of air pollution, an excellent climate, an international airport very close to the city centre, a reliable Internet infrastructure and a favorable tax regime (high valueadded activities benefit from a fixed rate of 20% income tax) are some of the reasons that make the Portuguese capital one of the bastions of foreign interest as a place where they can have a better quality of life.

On the other hand, the development of a culture that promotes the existence of more "corporate nomads"

In this way, it is important to pay attention to a profile that, despite not being talked about as much, will have a say in the next 5 to 10 years and could be an important contribution to the development of our country's economy. It is, therefore, essential to create tools and regulations that increase the interest of "corporate nomads", seeking to develop a path to reduce bureaucracy in relocation processes and guaranteeing safe and reliable bases to provide the necessary conditions for the establishment of foreign investment in Portugal. It is only in this way that we can be known and recognized as a destination of choice, not only in theory, but especially in practice.

Vasco Rosa da Silva is the Founder & Chief Executive Officer of Kleya www.kleya.eu

“Thriving in chaos”- the road to Self-leadership and Resilience

By Tony de Gouveia*

Another word or term often associated with chaos is ‘crisis’. It is said that the Chinese word for crisis also means opportunity…

Tony de Gouveia

The title of my article this month is penned partly from a book published in the late 1980’s by well known management guru and author Tom Peters who is well known for his classic work “In search of Excellence”. The book referred to is entitled “Thriving in Chaos” was pioneering and prophetic and forecast the flux and fluidity caused by the restructuring of the huge behemoth Corporates- the IBMs, General Electric’s and motor manufacturers that was to follow in the 1990’s and 2000’s and how to deal with and profit from it.

Fast forward to SA currently and we see a chaos-flux and fluidity that has arisen particularly over the last few months- a VUCA (Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity and Ambiguity) situation. The start of this new year has been coloured intensely, much like the recent years were by the Covid virus, by the current Eskom induced energy crisis which has escalated to level 6 shut downs. The effect of these has cast a pall of despair and a lack of hope across the entire economy with devastating effects. Surveying its effect in the various media, it is almost palpable, limiting and paralysing, throttling many businesses and enterprises across the country. Surviving, particularly Psychologically, in such an environment seems to be becoming increasingly difficult if not impossible. It seems as if we are in a war, a Psychological war to keep ourselves moving forward despite the incredible odds stacked currently against us by the current situation. The FNB/BER Consumer Confidence Index has been in negative territory since mid 2019… Business Confidence likewise is low in the face of policy uncertainty.

“I alone cannot change the world, but I can cast a stone across the waters to create many ripples”

Mother Theresa

In fact one of the trends noted since the Covid era has been the “Quiet quitting” response where workers disengage and do the bare minimum to keep their jobs in an effort to cope with their present circumstances. As many media commentators in SA seem to have discovered, the average citizen, business person and worker are on our own. A recent editorial in the Mail and Guardian (22/12/2022) cried out “Hope for South Africa lies in us”. But as the same editorial asks where can we find hope where there seems to be so little left. We cannot look externally to the (quasi failed) state or any other institution or grouping to come and rescue us. There are no “messiahs” here. In particular the Leadership cadre at all levels has failed all of us.

Over the last decade and particularly during the recent Covid-19 pandemic, a significant failure or weakness in leadership across international, national, regional and corporate levels has been exposed. We have seen a move to autocratic leadership in the US and some European countries while we have seen an increase in corrupt leadership locally in South Africa and Africa generally. In fact, Leadership to promote the “common good” seems to have taken the back seat completely, to be replaced by leadership engaging in primarily self-serving behaviour which is totally ineffective with influencing people, which is at the core of Leadership.

Against this backdrop there has been an increased interest in Self-leadership as an alternative to the traditional leadership model which has become increasingly wanting, as mentioned earlier, in addressing the need for leadership at various group and organisational levels. It seems as if this is the “atom” or nucleus of Leadership which is the next space or perhaps the “last frontier” that needs to be engaged if we are to resuscitate Leadership as a relevant phenomenon in our society.

It is therefore propitious that in these turbulent times we revisit this concept which I mentioned previously in a book review of the work entitled “Conquering my Nemesis Stepping stones to Successful Self-leadership” by Dr Hekkie van der Westhuizen (2021). I would contend that the hour and time for Self-leadership has arrived. It is a model that supplements the need for entrepreneurship in SA.

Self-leadership is defined as “influencing” oneself much like traditional Leadership is seen as influencing members of the group. Some of the important elements of Self-Leadership are broadly conceptualised in his book as follows:

• “Taking Charge” (Chapter 1) and “Planning for Success” (Chapter 2)

• “Refusing to Make Excuses” (Chapter 6)

• “Getting through Tough Times” (Chapter 7) and “Becoming more Resilient” (Chapter 8)

• “Being in Charge of Your Emotions” (Chapter 9) and “Choosing to be positive”.

Regular readers of this publication will know that I focus as far as possible on Resilience (bounce-back-ability) in its many facets and applications since it seems to be the characteristic necessary for survival in these challenging times. Van der Westhuizen in his chapter on Resilience (p121) offers various suggestions to becoming more resilient including “refusing to give up”, “agility, speed and responsiveness” and “Rolling fortnight planning”. The suggestion that stuck with me, however, was the attitude of doing “whatever it takes”.

“People with this approach to life usually find alternate ways to get to the solution or to the other side of rough patches in their lives. They persevere until they overcome hardship. When they see a problem in front of them, they don’t stop and give up; they try to go over it. If that does not work, they try to go underneath it or around it. If all else fails they go through it. The point is that people who adopt this approach. Think outside of the box to find a solution to conquer the challenges with which they are facedwhatever it takes.”(p119). It is precisely this resilient attitude that is required to succeed and thrive in these VUCA times.

To conclude, the essence of what is being proposed in this article is expressed in an extract from the classic poem “If” by Rudyard Kipling:

If If you can keep your head when all about you Are losing theirs and blaming it on you, If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you, But make allowance for their doubting too; If you can wait and not be tired by waiting, Or being lied about, don’t deal in lies, Or being hated, don’t give way to hating, And yet don’t look too good, nor talk too wise...

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue, Or walk with Kings — nor lose the common touch, If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you, If all men count with you, but none too much; If you can fill the unforgiving minute With sixty seconds’ worth of distance run, Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it,

Source: A Choice of Kipling's Verse (1943)

Tony de Gouveia is a Clinical Psychologist and Resilience Coach in Private Practice at the Akeso and Life Brackenview Clinics in Alberton. He is the founder of the Positive Psychology Group (PPG) in Johannesburg and has made numerous presentations on various topics in Psychology, Positive Psychology and Resilience in various forums Nationally and Internationally.

https://tonydeGouveiaPsychologist.webs.com

PRR é oportunidade para a indústria portuguesa se afirmar na Europa

O Plano de Recuperação e Resiliência é uma «enorme oportunidade» para a indústria portuguesa crescer e se afirmar na produção industrial europeia, disse o Primeiro-Ministro António Costa, numa visita inserida no roteiro PRR em Movimento.

António Costa apontou como vantagens competitivas de Portugal, a posição geográfica, o alto nível de segurança pública, o saber fazer acumulado ao longo de séculos, a mão de obra qualificada e o estar «na linha da frente» da transição energética.

«Isto dá-nos uma oportunidade extraordinária» que o PRR visa concretizar, disse, acrescentando que todos «ambicionamos que o País cresça sempre mais», o

que significa «produzir mais valor do que aquele que produzia no ano anterior».

R EAPR oVEITAR f IBRAS

O Primeiro-Ministro visitou a empresa têxtil Riopele, em Famalicão, que integra a agenda mobilizadora Projeto Lusitano, que visa encontrar soluções têxteis sustentáveis a partir de fibras naturais e fibras recicladas provenientes de vestuário em final de vida.

«Cada vez mais os têxteis técnicos têm um maior peso, porque é o valor acrescentado que a inovação trouxe a esta indústria que lhe permite hoje ser competitiva, próspera, geradora de emprego e geradora cada vez de maior rendimento para quem trabalha em toda esta fileira», disse.

R E duz IR con S u M o d E G á S

António Costa visitou também a central de biomassa da empresa, que deverá começar a produzir vapor ainda no primeiro trimestre deste ano, para reduzir em 65% o consumo de gás natural.

Com o dinheiro do Plano de Recuperação e Resiliência, a farmacêutica portuguesa, que compete no mercado mundial, está acelerar um projeto já com seis anos, com um investimento de 30 milhões de euros, para desenvolver medicamentos injetáveis complexos, em consórcio com a Universidade de Coimbra, o Laboratório Ibérico Internacional de Nanotecnologia e outras empresas.

cRES c ER S u STE n TA dAME n TE

António Costa afirmou que Portugal está a «concentrar os recursos do PRR, não para fazer o que faz habitualmente, mas para fazer o que é extraordinário, irrepetível e que ficará para o futuro».

Para isto, está a «investir em investigação e desenvolvimento», criando maior capacidade para «continuar a trajetória de crescimento sustentado e de maior prosperidade», acrescentou.

«Todos nós percebemos, pela brutal subida do preço do gás natural» decorrente da agressão russa à Ucrânia, «como é essencial avançar para outras formas de produção de energia», disse referindo que as transições energética e digital são «desafios cruciais» para o futuro da indústria nacional, disse.

n oVo S ME d I cAME n To S

Durante a manhã, o Primeiro-Ministro, que esteve acompanhado pela Ministra da Presidência, Mariana Vieira da Silva, que tutela os fundos europeus, e pelo Ministro da economia e do Mar, António Costa Silva, visitou a empresa farmacêutica nacional Bluepharma, em Coimbra.

«A lógica do PRR é dar oportunidade às empresas e consórcios das áreas mais diversas de fazerem o que ainda não foi feito, o que nos dá a confiança de que o País pode crescer mais do que anteriormente e de forma sustentável», sublinhou.

Fonte: https://www.portugal.gov.pt/pt/gc23/comunicacao/ noticia?i=prr-e-oportunidade-para-a-industria-portuguesa-seafirmar-na-europa

Indústria farmacêutica (foto: Mariana Lima)

Space capabilities boosted in Azores archipelago

The Portuguese Minister of Science, Technology and Higher Education Elvira Fortunato signed an extension of the agreement between the Portuguese Government and the European Space Agency (ESA) allowing the latter to remain on Santa Maria for another five years.

During a visit to the Space Teleport on the Island, Elvira Fortunato noted that Portugal’s financial boost in the last ESA Council Meeting at Ministerial Level of €115M will be reflected on that infrastructure "together with the Regional Government of the Azores" and an investment of €4M will be made to purchase a new antenna with additional capabilities in coordination with the Portuguese Space Agency to replace the old one and reequip this station with a new building, ensuring continuity of operations and positioning the Teleport for new space missions"

"The Portuguese Space Agency will now launch the international bid for tender to operate this antenna, allowing the Santa Maria Teleport capabilities to be leveraged due to the infrastructure’s unique capabilities

to take part in the ESA main missions as well as being a competitive factor in the private sector and an additional components of the Santa Maria space ecosystem".

The Minister claimed this infrastructure "has put Portugal and the Azores on the path of the main European programmes, both with ESA, in the main launch missions, as well as the European Space Programme, namely for Copernicus and Galileo».

In addition to this Teleport, a Technological and Space Centre was opened to develop the space ecosystem and "whose principle is based on the diversity of complementary technological capabilities, bringing together various areas of the space sector and thereby creating the synergies and conditions to attract new companies and new services", as stated by the Minister.

Among the capabilities identified this year a test unit for hypersonic vehicles will be installed, a base for

assembling sub-orbital launch pads and a base for testing stratospheric platforms.

The Santa Maria Technological and Space Sector is the outcome of a collaboration between the Portuguese Government, the Azores Regional Government and Vila do Porto municipality via the common thread of the Portuguese Space Agency to implement the Portugal Space 2030 strategy.

It is also largely due to the investment Portugal has made in the Space sector, namely by participating in the ESA, coordinated by the Portuguese Space Agency. At the ESA Council Meeting at Ministerial Level last November, Portugal made the largest contribution yet, to the sum of €115M, enabling a strengthening of the national presence in the European major space initiatives.

Elvira Fortunato noted that this infrastructure will allow "the seeds to be sewn to create conditions for greater diversity of activities in the sector, making the most of the geographical conditions that set us apart and the complementary capabilities installed on Santa Maria, such as the abovementioned Teleport and the Raege Station".

Another important point mentioned by the Minister is that "our universities are providing responses by opening new courses in this area to prepare our youth and build the necessary critical matter in this sector".

Elvira Fortunato concluded by assuring she intends to "ground on the Azores and Santa Maria a point of return and access to space, a hub for space communications and operations with new capabilities offered in the Teleport, as well as capabilities to study ad monitor oceans via the installed capabilities on Terceira Island with the AIR centre and the various initiatives launched to provide Portugal with a satellite constellation, with the Atlantic Constellation in a partnership with Spain to build the tools to manage the territory and create an industrial agenda to integrate satellites".

Source: https://www.portugal.gov.pt/pt/gc23/comunicacao/ noticia?i=reforco-das-capacidades-espaciais-do-arquipelagodos-acores

Cartão de Cidadão será gratuito para recém-nascidos

O Cartão de Cidadão para os recém-nascidos, até aos primeiros 20 dias, passará a ser gratuito ainda este ano, assegurando que todos os portugueses nascem Cidadãos e tem direito à sua identidade, sem custos.

Passados mais de 15 anos sobre o lançamento do Cartão de Cidadão, está em preparação a evolução que permitirá acompanhar as transformações tecnológicas e as necessidades de reforço de segurança.

O novo Cartão, previsto para o último trimestre deste ano, será sem contacto (contactless), ainda mais seguro, com novos standards comuns a todos os Estados-membros da União Europeia e terá novas funcionalidades digitais, que vão reforçar a sua utilização, com mais conveniência.

Serão introduzidas alterações na componente física (adição da bandeira da União Europeia em cor azul com as siglas "PT" em negativo, do nome do documento em inglês com a tradução "IdentityCard",

do símbolo de documento eletrónico da ICAO e do código de acesso à componente contactless), na componente eletrónica (disponibilização de acesso à informação gravada no chip através de interface contactless, adição da imagem das impressões digitais recolhidas de acordo com a especificação da ICAO) e componente de segurança (revisão do esquema criptográfico dos certificados de autenticação e assinatura presentes no CC).

Para o cidadão, as alterações mais visíveis são:

- Chip de contacto passa para o verso do cartão;

- Fotografia aumenta de tamanho e passa para a posição anterior do chip;

- Aumento do tamanho da letra dos diferentes textos;

- Em consequência do aumento do tamanho da letra, existe igualmente um aumento do número de linhas para o nome e apelido do cidadão, bem como para a filiação, reduzindo o número máximo de caracteres por linha;

O novo Cartão vai ainda permitir que a morada que consta no documento possa ser alterada online e sem a necessidade de mudar fisicamente de cartão.

funcionalidade acrescida de simplificação, mantendo a possibilidade de leitura do chip através da introdução do cartão no terminal.

Num dos maiores exemplos de inovação e integração dos serviços públicos, o Cartão de Cidadão juntou, pela primeira vez, a informação que estava dispersa por vários documentos e incorporou uma série de atributos, que foram decisivos para a adesão das pessoas aos serviços públicos online.

Será também possível ativar o cartão de cidadão com recurso a biometria, eliminando a necessidade de entrega presencial do cartão de cidadão para ativar os certificados, mediante a utilização de mecanismos seguros e conformes com as disposições previstas nos regulamentos europeus.

Estas alterações foram introduzidas com total garantia de segurança documental e o reforço da cadeia de identidade. Os leitores de cartão utilizados atualmente não terão de ser substituídos, sendo o contactless uma

A partir de setembro de 2020, os cidadãos passaram a poder optar pelo envio postal como modalidade de entrega do Cartão de Cidadão. Essa entrega é feita pelos CTT com confirmação da identidade do titular do CC e apenas este o pode receber. Já foram efetuadas mais de 2,1 milhões de entregas, nesta modalidade. Já a renovação automática, que permite concluir todo o processo sem necessidade de deslocação a um balcão, conta já com mais de 1,7 milhões de cartões de cidadão renovados de forma não presencial.

Os atuais Cartões de Cidadão manter-se-ão válidos até à data de validade inscrita no documento, sendo a sua substituição feita à medida que estes forem caducando e que sejam emitidos novos cartões.

Fonte: https://www.portugal.gov.pt/pt/gc23/comunicacao/ noticia?i=cartao-de-cidadao-sera-gratuito-para-recem-nascidos

Are entrepreneurs born or made?

By Allon Raiz*

entrepreneurship education solutions. Entrepreneurs, on the other hand, respond that they are born, different, unique, special; reinforcing their need to stand out and be different from those who took the route of employment.

Eight years ago, I read a piece of research from the US that stated that the most successful first-time entrepreneurs (those that have never been in entrepreneurship in their lifetime) were 60 years of age and older. On the surface this seemed like a nice-to-know fact to use in my understanding of the entrepreneurial space but, on deeper reflection, I realised it broke this commonly asked question in half.

Allon Raiz

Many people who have business ideas feel in some way that they are not ready to take the plunge, and one of the most convenient excuses is that they feel that they “are not entrepreneurs”. But this doesn’t take away the business idea smouldering at the back of their minds. To try and resolve their dilemma, they start looking around for answers as to whether entrepreneurs are born or made. As a result, this is a question that gets asked of experts almost continuously.

After having witnessed various experts respond to this question, I’ve realised that they all give an answer based on where they’ve come from. Those in entrepreneurship education are far more likely to answer that entrepreneurs are made, therefore highlighting the need for

If you had to meet one of these 60 year olds at the age of 55 (after having worked at IBM for 30 years) in the IBM canteen while having their coffee, and you asked “Was this person born an entrepreneur?”, the answer would certainly be no. How could they be? For 30 years they’ve been corporate. “Was this person made into an entrepreneur?” and again the answer would be no. The corporate environment didn’t train them to become an entrepreneur or employ them to be one. Yet, five years later they become part of the echelon of entrepreneurs with the lowest rate of failure. The question, “Are they born or made?”, doesn’t apply.

So this got me thinking and trying to analyse what it is that makes ordinary people precipitate into trading or successful entrepreneurs.

Many people have business ideas and do nothing about them. They may even go as far as registering a business, but never trade. These are the nascent entrepreneurs. For this argument, I’m not particularly interested in these entrepreneurs, but rather the ones that have actually moved to a point where they’ve been trading for six months or more. After a number of years of research and conversations, I have come to the conclusion that in order for an entrepreneur to precipitate from a nascent state (“I have an idea”) to an actively trading entrepreneur (“I’ve commercialised my idea and customers are buying”), the following five conditions have to be present:

1. An oPPoRTunIT y oR cRISIS

Without fail, every entrepreneurial story has one or both. The entrepreneur perceives an opportunity, and/or a life crisis occurs (e.g. death, divorce, relocating). No entrepreneurial story can start without such a shift in conditions.

2. youR TolERAncE foR PAIn

As entrepreneurs, we go out daily to sell our products or services and we get told: “You’re too old”, “… too young”, “… too black”, “… too white”. We’re always too something. The litany of rejection that we have to endure in order to achieve success requires a certain tolerance for pain. Entrepreneurs need to work through these high levels of rejection, especially in the early stages of a start-up.

Very often we receive negative feedback from people we look up to, like family and friends, who mean well and are trying to protect us from the risks associated with our “bizarre” ideas. Most people will give up after receiving negative feedback. Such feedback means that for an entrepreneur to precipitate from nascent to trading, they require a thick skin, self-confidence in reserve, and a high tolerance for pain and rejection. Without these they’ll give up. Entrepreneurs who succeed say they have done so despite early rejections (more on this in point 5). But there are cases where giving up is the right choice, because creating a better mousetrap may not be the right idea and the advice you’ve received may be spot on. Not one entrepreneur has precipitated without going through a baptism of fire.

3. youR TolERAncE foR RISk

You have two individuals: one is a 23-year-old single male who drives a paid-up second-hand VW Polo, and the other is a 45-year-old married male with two kids in private school and a bond on his house. Let’s say an opportunity presents itself to both of them; they both see it, and we can assume they have the same tolerance for pain. My hypothesis is

that the 45 year old is far less likely to take the opportunity than the 23 year old. The reason for this is that there is a bell curve of risk from your early 20s, right through and peaking in your 40s, and then tapering down in your 60s. This very often has to do with your level of financial and family commitments. This would explain the 60-year-old’s increased appetite for risk because they are likely to have kids who’ve left the house, a house that’s paid off, and excess cash.

BElIEf In youR ABIlIT y To MuSTER RESouRcES

It’s not your ability to muster resources, but your belief in your ability to muster them. Many entrepreneurs have been heard to say, “If I knew then what I know now, I wouldn’t have started my business.” This blind naivety and ignorance about the complexity of a problem allows entrepreneurs to take on an opportunity and start a business. An entrepreneur’s mind-set is that they have the ability and can put resources together in order to take advantage of an opportunity. My experience with successful entrepreneurs is that their belief is so strong that they actively go out and find the resources despite the pain they’re experiencing. They’ll move heaven and earth to put them together, and they’ll persist at convincing capital to invest and people to participate.

It is exceptionally rare that an entrepreneur’s business today would look exactly as she had initially envisaged it six months ago. Entrepreneurs that go to market and say, “Here it is, take it or leave it” don’t succeed. Those who are able to learn from feedback, process it to see if it’s valid, apply that feedback and adapt their products based on this learning, and iterate this entire process, are successful. No successful entrepreneurs go through a process without making adjustments along the way. They need to have an open mind and take feedback.

I don’t believe that entrepreneurs are either born or made. They precipitate only when these five conditions are met, which may occur at any point in their life. If you are 50 and reading this, you might not have started a business because you hold some belief that you need to be born with a special gene or need to have studied entrepreneurship. If this is so, I ask you to reconsider. Rather ask yourself, if all five of these conditions were present in your life, would you start a business?

*About Allon Raiz

Allon Raiz is the CEO of Raizcorp. In 2008, Raiz was selected as a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum, and in 2011 he was appointed for the first time as a member of the Global Agenda Council on Fostering Entrepreneurship. Following a series of entrepreneurship master classes delivered at Oxford University in 2014, 2015 and 2016, Raiz has been recognised as the Entrepreneur-in-Residence at the University of Oxford’s Saïd Business School. Follow Allon on Twitter: www.twitter.com/allonraiz

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5. youR ABIlIT y To lEARn And ITERATE

ENDEREçOS ÚTEIS

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MultiChamber Speed NetworkiNg event

8 March 2023

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KEY BENEFITS of membership are:

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