It's difficult to overstate how dramatically Steve Jobs reshaped how we interact with computers. The snappy, brilliant entrepreneur opened up a whole new world from minicomputers and IBM PCs squashed into beige metal boxes to the Macintosh, the iPhone, and the concept that technology should be fun to use.
However many is of the opinion that beyond products like the iPhone, iPad or iPod, Jobs’ legacy may well lie in the importance and awareness he gave to software. His ‘never say die’ attitude and ability to create new markets, and most of all the man knew how to market. This legacy is an example for all in the IT world.
That is true even here, in the ‘off the map’ part of the world, there is no shortage of entrepreneurial energy in SA, with many talented people with great business ideas jostling for attention. Yet very few of the country’s technology start-ups manage to grow into sustainable businesses. It leaves the question whether South Africa is indeed able to offer the right entrepreneurial environment for the growth of local Web, mobile and information technology entrepreneurs?
Nobody can deny that in many ways the South Africa IT employment industry still suffers very much from a shortage of skills and then of course there is always the issue of funding and financial backing. TechCentral column writer Gareth Knight is of the opinion that “we are especially weak in the skills needed to commercialise product concepts and get them out into the market.”
“The IT employment industries in emerging markets need entrepreneurs to be schooled in the art of creating, launching and scaling a great tech concept, becoming skilled at pitching, and being mentored by dozens of tech entrepreneurs.” Eric Edelstein
It’s not however all doom and gloom.
Initiative like Google’s Umbono programme, Silicon Cape and ISlabs most recently mLab is indicative that South Africa has the right ingredients to become an innovation hotspot.
Sure, there is work to be done in the areas of product management and implementation, but SA has the raw components in spades: smart, make-a-plan-type thinking; strong engineering; strong financial acumen; and oodles of confidence. Justin Spratt
While we had to say farewell to a great man and innovative thinker, Mr Steve Jobs – the Information Technology industry in South Africa can take heart from the great man’s words:
“No one wants to die. Even people who want to go to heaven don’t want to die to get there. And yet death is the destination we all share. No one has ever escaped it. And that is as it should be, because Death is very likely the single best invention of Life. It is Life’s change agent. It clears out the old to make way for the new. Right now the new is you, but someday not too long from now, you will gradually become the old and be cleared away. Sorry to be so dramatic, but it is quite true.
Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.”
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