Sistema mercantil de comércio

mercantil.
Baseado no Dicionário Random House, © Random House, Inc. 2018.
Copyright renovado em 1969 por August Mencken e Mercantile Safe Deposit Trust Co.
Além disso, o uso do mesmo está se estendendo gradualmente no meio marinho mercante.
Quando o Sr. Weddell começou sua vida mercantil, não era brincadeira de criança.
Ele sonhou em termos de navios de guerra e de um fuzileiro naval mercantil.
E devo rir para ver meus vizinhos fazendo uma tarefa a respeito de uma pechincha mercantil.
Meu amigo Tom trabalhou em uma fazenda, enquanto eu estava envolvido em atividades mercantis.
Para seu amigo mercantil na Wood Street, ele nunca se candidatou em vão.
É claro que o Mar Negro está aberto aos navios mercantis de todas as nações.
Ele empurrou seu negócio mercantil por anos, acumulando uma imensa fortuna.
Nossa marinha mercantil está no último suspiro (digressão bélica).
mercantil.
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins.
Editores 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012.
1640, do francês mercantil (17c.), Do italiano mercantil, do medieval latim mercantil, do latim mercantem (nominativo mercans) "um comerciante", também "trading", presente particípulo do mercari "trade", do merx (ver mercado (n.)). O sistema mercantil aparece pela primeira vez em Adam Smith (1776).

mercantil.
Sinônimos para mercantile.
Antônimos para mercantil.
Palavras relacionadas com mercantil.
Origem e História do Word.
1640 mercantis, via Fr., It. e M. L. mercantil, de L. mercantem (nom. mercans) "um comerciante", também "negociando", prp. of mercari "to trade", da merx (ver mercado). O sistema mercantil aparece pela primeira vez em Adam Smith (1776).
Exemplo Sentenças para mercantil.
Além disso, o uso do mesmo está se estendendo gradualmente no meio marinho mercante.
Quando o Sr. Weddell começou sua vida mercantil, não era brincadeira de criança.
Ele sonhou em termos de navios de guerra e de um fuzileiro naval mercantil.
E devo rir para ver meus vizinhos fazendo uma tarefa a respeito de uma pechincha mercantil.
Meu amigo Tom trabalhou em uma fazenda, enquanto eu estava envolvido em atividades mercantis.
Para o seu amigo mercantil na Wood Street, ele nunca se candidatou em vão.
É claro que o Mar Negro está aberto aos navios mercantis de todas as nações.
Ele empurrou seu negócio mercantil por anos, acumulando uma imensa fortuna.
Nossa marinha mercantil está no último suspiro (digressão bélica).
Os fatos obtidos pelas agências mercantis não são propriedade pública.

Mercantilismo
O que é mercantilismo?
O mercantilismo foi o principal sistema econômico de comércio usado do século XVI ao século XVIII. Os teóricos mercantilistas acreditavam que a quantidade de riqueza no mundo era estática. Assim, as nações européias deram vários passos para garantir que suas nações acumulassem o máximo possível dessa riqueza. O objetivo era aumentar a riqueza de uma nação, impondo regulamentação governamental que supervisionasse todos os interesses comerciais do país. Acreditava-se que a força nacional poderia ser maximizada limitando as importações via tarifas e maximizando as exportações.
QUEBRANDO 'Mercantilismo'
O mercantilismo foi popularizado na Europa durante os anos 1500. O sistema baseava-se no entendimento de que a riqueza e o poder de uma nação eram melhor atendidos pelo aumento das exportações e pela coleta de metais preciosos, como ouro e prata. O mercantilismo substituiu o antigo sistema econômico feudal na Europa Ocidental, levando a uma das primeiras ocorrências de controle e supervisão política sobre uma economia. Na época, a Inglaterra, o centro do Império Britânico, era pequena e continha relativamente poucos recursos naturais. Assim, para aumentar a riqueza da Inglaterra, a Inglaterra introduziu políticas fiscais, incluindo a Lei do Açúcar e os Atos de Navegação, para afastar os colonos de produtos estrangeiros e criar outro incentivo para comprar produtos britânicos. A resultante balança comercial foi pensada para aumentar a riqueza nacional.
A Lei do Açúcar de 1764 introduziu altos costumes para o açúcar e o melaço importados de fora da Inglaterra e das colônias britânicas. Da mesma forma, a Lei de Navegação de 1651 foi implementada para garantir que embarcações estrangeiras não seriam capazes de se engajar no comércio ao longo de sua costa, e também exigia que as exportações coloniais passassem primeiro pelo controle britânico antes de serem redistribuídas em toda a Europa. Grande Grã-Bretanha não estava sozinha nessa linha de pensar. Os franceses, espanhóis e portugueses competiam com os britânicos por riqueza e colônias; pensava-se, nenhuma nação grande poderia existir e ser auto-suficiente sem recursos coloniais.
Os Princípios Subjacentes do Mercantilismo.
O mercantilismo baseia-se na ideia de que os Estados-nação fortes tiveram a oportunidade de criar uma economia mundial usando o poder militar de um Estado para garantir que os mercados locais e as fontes de abastecimento fossem protegidos. Defensores do mercantilismo acreditavam que a prosperidade de uma nação dependia de seu suprimento de capital, e o volume global de comércio era estático. O resultado foi um sistema de economia que exigiu uma balança comercial positiva, com exportações excedentes. No entanto, uma vez que é impossível que cada país ou estado-nação tenha um excedente de exportações, com muitos precisando de aumento de importações para alimentar o crescimento, a base do mercantilismo garantiu que ele estava fadado ao fracasso.
Uma noção por trás do mercantilismo é que a saúde econômica de uma nação poderia ser avaliada pela quantidade de metais preciosos, ouro ou prata que possuía. O sistema defendia que cada nação se esforçasse para ser economicamente auto-suficiente, o que significava que a nação teria que aumentar a produção doméstica e construir novas casas e indústrias.
Defensores do mercantilismo também viram que a agricultura era importante e deveria ser promovida para que uma nação pudesse reduzir a necessidade de importar alimentos. Eles sugeriram que um Estado-nação forte precisava de colônias e de uma frota mercante, ambas as quais poderiam fornecer mercados adicionais para bens e matérias-primas. Os mercantilistas também acreditavam que uma grande população era parte integrante da força de trabalho doméstica de uma nação.
Como as colônias britânicas foram afetadas pelo mercantilismo?
Produção controlada e comércio: O mercantilismo levou à adoção de enormes restrições comerciais, que prejudicaram o crescimento e a liberdade dos negócios coloniais. A expansão do comércio de escravos: o comércio tornou-se triangular entre o Império Britânico, suas colônias e os mercados estrangeiros. Isso fomentou o desenvolvimento do tráfico de escravos em muitas colônias, inclusive na América. As colônias forneciam rum, algodão e outros produtos exigidos pelos imperialistas na África. Por sua vez, os escravos eram devolvidos à América ou às Índias Ocidentais e eram trocados por açúcar e melaço. Inflação e tributação: O governo britânico exigiu que as negociações fossem realizadas usando lingotes de ouro e prata, buscando sempre uma balança comercial positiva. As colônias freqüentemente tinham restos de lingotes insuficientes para circular em seus mercados, então, em vez disso, começaram a emitir papel-moeda. Má gestão de moeda impressa resultou em períodos de inflação. Além disso, a Grã-Bretanha estava em um estado quase constante de guerra. A tributação era necessária para sustentar o exército e a marinha. A combinação de impostos e inflação causou grande descontentamento colonial.
Qual é a diferença entre o mercantilismo e o imperialismo?
Enquanto o mercantilismo é um sistema econômico no qual o governo de um país manipula a economia para criar uma balança comercial favorável, o imperialismo é um sistema político e econômico, no qual um país afirma seu poder sobre outro, tipicamente para atingir os objetivos do mercantilismo. Através do uso da força ou imigração em massa ou ambos, as nações imperialistas estabelecem o controle sobre as regiões potencialmente menos desenvolvidas e forçam os habitantes a seguir as leis do país dominante. Porque o mercantilismo prevaleceu na Europa durante a era imperialista dos séculos XVI a XVIII, é freqüentemente visto como o sistema econômico que impulsiona o imperialismo.
Um dos exemplos mais poderosos da relação entre o mercantilismo e o imperialismo é o estabelecimento pela Grã-Bretanha das colônias americanas.
Como as corporações agiram sob o mercantilismo?
No início do século XVI, os teóricos financeiros europeus começaram a entender a importância da classe mercantil na geração de riqueza. Cidades e países com bens para vender prosperaram no final da Idade Média. Argumentou-se que o Estado deveria franquear os principais comerciantes em setores promissores para criar monopólios e cartéis exclusivos. Essas corporações monopolistas deveriam ser controladas pelo governo e agir como um braço de interesses do governo. Em troca, o governo usaria regulamentações, subsídios e, se necessário, força militar para proteger a corporação da concorrência interna e externa.
Os cidadãos poderiam investir dinheiro em corporações mercantilistas em troca de propriedade e responsabilidade limitada em suas cartas reais. Eles receberam "ações" do lucro da empresa - as primeiras ações corporativas negociadas. As corporações mercantilistas mais famosas e poderosas eram as empresas britânicas e holandesas das Índias Orientais. A Companhia Britânica das Índias Orientais tinha o direito exclusivo e exclusivo de realizar comércio entre a Grã-Bretanha, a Índia e a China por mais de 250 anos. Suas rotas comerciais eram protegidas pela Marinha Real e seus membros de alto escalão se tornaram muito influentes na determinação da política externa britânica.
Jean-Baptiste Colbert: O campeão do mercantilismo.
Indiscutivelmente um dos proponentes mais influentes do mercantilismo foi o secretário de Estado francês Jean-Baptiste Colbert (1619-1683). Colbert havia estudado os teóricos anteriores de uma economia impulsionada pelo comércio exterior e estava em uma posição única de autoridade para executar suas ideias. Ele também era um monarquista devoto e queria uma estratégia econômica para proteger a coroa francesa de uma crescente classe mercantil holandesa.
Colbert aumentou o tamanho da marinha francesa com a premissa de que seu país teria que assumir o controle das rotas comerciais para aumentar sua riqueza. Apesar de suas práticas não terem sido bem sucedidas, suas idéias tornaram-se imensamente populares até que a teoria da economia de livre mercado foi popularizada.
Como o mercantilismo contribuiu para a revolução americana?
Quando a Grã-Bretanha introduziu a Lei do Açúcar e os Atos de Navegação para forçar os colonos a se afastarem dos produtos estrangeiros, o plano saiu pela culatra, irritando as colônias e promovendo a insatisfação com o domínio britânico. A imposição de pesados ​​impostos e restrições frustrou os colonos americanos e acabou contribuindo para a Revolução Americana.
Defensores do mercantilismo argumentaram que o sistema econômico cria economias mais fortes ao unir as colônias e os países fundadores. As colônias, criando seus próprios produtos e obtendo outras no comércio do fundador, são independentes da influência de nações hostis que podem manipular as colônias usando restrições comerciais. Os países mercantilistas usam a autoridade do Estado para aumentar a riqueza do Estado. À medida que impostos e restrições são impostos ao comércio, é buscada uma balança comercial benéfica que promova a riqueza do envio de produtos e da aquisição de ouro. As colônias beneficiariam os países fundadores, fornecendo as grandes quantidades de matéria-prima necessárias para um setor manufatureiro produtivo. As nações fundadoras exportariam os produtos de sua fabricação para as colônias. Esse sistema tornou a colônia e a nação fundadora mais independente e serviu para enriquecer o estado.
Os críticos da filosofia econômica observaram o aumento das despesas criadas pela restrição ao comércio internacional. As importações estrangeiras eram mais caras porque todas as importações tinham de ser enviadas por navios britânicos da Grã-Bretanha, independentemente da origem do produto. As exportações das colônias tiveram que ser despachadas pelos britânicos através da Grã-Bretanha, forçando os custos dos produtos americanos mais altos. Essas desvantagens foram, aos olhos dos colonos, superadas pelos benefícios da afiliação com a Grã-Bretanha. A decisão de aumentar as taxas de impostos nas colônias mudou a quantidade de colonos que viram o Império. Neste ponto, os benefícios da independência tornaram-se mais atraentes.
Uma dispendiosa guerra com a França deixou o Império Britânico ávido por receita e interessado em aumentar os impostos. Os colonos pagavam uma taxa de imposto mais baixa do que os cidadãos da Grã-Bretanha, portanto, aumentar os impostos coloniais fazia sentido para o Parlamento britânico. Os aumentos causaram crescente frustração entre os colonos e levaram a uma rebelião aberta. Um boicote de produtos britânicos começou e as importações caíram em um terço. O Boston Tea Party acrescentou à feroz resistência às políticas britânicas. A falta de representação disponível para os colonos levou muitos a se tornarem hostis. O governo britânico tinha o direito irrestrito de impor novos impostos aos colonos sem fornecer às colônias qualquer palavra ou recurso contra políticas indesejáveis. A fim de proteger o sistema mercantilista, a Grã-Bretanha pressionou ainda mais contra as colônias, e a Guerra Revolucionária acabou resultando da crescente divergência entre o Império Britânico e as colônias americanas.
Como o mercantilismo impediu o crescimento econômico global?
O mercantilismo impediu o crescimento econômico global, levando os produtores a se especializar em bens e serviços que não levam em conta a vantagem comparativa. De uma perspectiva econômica, o mercantilismo promove a superprodução de bens que carregam um alto custo de oportunidade. Por exemplo, se as restrições comerciais impedirem um país com mão-de-obra altamente qualificada de importar roupas, as empresas poderão desviar recursos para sua produção. Essa roupa é relativamente cara de produzir devido aos altos salários exigidos por uma força de trabalho qualificada. Os retornos ao vestuário de alto custo serão menores do que os retornos de um conjunto de atividades mais apropriado. O crescimento econômico é atenuado para o país com as restrições comerciais, e outro país com mão-de-obra pouco qualificada perde um importante mercado potencial para seus produtos, levando a um menor crescimento também.
Quais são as vantagens do livre comércio sobre o mercantilismo?
O livre comércio oferece várias vantagens sobre o mercantilismo para indivíduos, empresas e nações.
Em um sistema de livre comércio, os indivíduos se beneficiam de uma maior escolha de bens para compra a preços acessíveis. O mercantilismo restringe as importações, o que reduz as escolhas disponíveis para os consumidores no mercado. Menos importações significam menos concorrência e, portanto, preços mais altos.
Além disso, sob um sistema de livre comércio, as nações são mais prósperas porque não estão envolvidas em um jogo de soma zero. Durante os anos em que o mercantilismo era o principal sistema econômico, os países estavam engajados em uma guerra quase constante. O mercantilismo encorajou as nações a lutar por recursos escassos ao invés de encontrar maneiras de se engajar em relações comerciais mutuamente benéficas.
O economista Adam Smith, que é amplamente considerado o pai da economia moderna, argumentou em seu livro seminal "The Wealth of Nations" que o livre comércio permite que as empresas se especializem na produção dos bens que fabricam com mais eficiência. A produção especializada leva a economias de escala que, por sua vez, levam a maior produtividade e crescimento econômico. Em um sistema de livre comércio, as empresas têm incentivos para serem inovadoras. Ao criar produtos mais úteis, melhores sistemas de produção e distribuição e operações mais eficientes, as empresas podem crescer e prosperar.
Hoje, o mercantilismo é considerado uma filosofia ultrapassada. No entanto, ainda existem barreiras ao comércio para proteger as indústrias localmente arraigadas. Por exemplo, os Estados Unidos adotaram uma política comercial protecionista em relação ao Japão no período pós-guerra e negociaram restrições voluntárias de exportação com o governo japonês, o que limitou a quantidade de exportações japonesas para os Estados Unidos.

Mercantilismo
A razão econômica mais importante para o mercantilismo no século XVI foi a consolidação dos centros regionais de poder da era feudal por grandes estados nacionais competitivos. Outros fatores contribuintes foram o estabelecimento de colônias fora da Europa; o crescimento do comércio e da indústria europeus em relação à agricultura; o aumento no volume e na amplitude do comércio; e o aumento no uso de sistemas monetários metálicos, particularmente ouro e prata, em relação às transações de permuta.
Durante o período mercantilista, o conflito militar entre estados-nação foi mais frequente e mais extenso do que em qualquer outra época da história. Os exércitos e marinhas dos principais protagonistas já não eram forças temporárias levantadas para enfrentar uma ameaça específica ou objetivo, mas eram forças profissionais em tempo integral. O principal objetivo econômico de cada governo era comandar uma quantidade suficiente de moeda forte para apoiar uma força militar que dissuadisse ataques de outros países e ajudasse sua própria expansão territorial.
A maioria das políticas mercantilistas foi o resultado da relação entre os governos dos estados-nação e suas classes mercantis. Em troca do pagamento de taxas e impostos para apoiar os exércitos dos estados-nação, as classes mercantis induziam os governos a promulgar políticas que protegessem seus interesses comerciais contra a concorrência estrangeira.
Essas políticas assumiram muitas formas. Internamente, os governos forneceriam capital para novas indústrias, isentariam novas indústrias das regras e impostos das guildas, estabeleceriam monopólios sobre os mercados locais e coloniais e concederiam títulos e pensões aos produtores bem-sucedidos. Na política comercial, o governo ajudou a indústria local impondo tarifas, cotas e proibições às importações de bens que competiam com os fabricantes locais. Os governos também proibiram a exportação de ferramentas e equipamentos de capital e a emigração de mão-de-obra qualificada que permitiria que países estrangeiros e até mesmo as colônias do país de origem pudessem competir na produção de bens manufaturados. Ao mesmo tempo, os diplomatas encorajaram os fabricantes estrangeiros a se mudarem para os próprios países dos diplomatas.
O embarque foi particularmente importante durante o período mercantil. Com o crescimento das colônias e o envio de ouro do Novo Mundo para a Espanha e Portugal, o controle dos oceanos foi considerado vital para o poder nacional. Como os navios podiam ser usados ​​para fins mercantis ou militares, os governos da época desenvolveram fortes fuzileiros mercantes. Na França, Jean-Baptiste Colbert, ministro das Finanças de Luís XIV, de 1661 a 1683, aumentou as tarifas portuárias de embarcações estrangeiras que entravam nos portos franceses e fornecia bênçãos aos construtores navais franceses.
Na Inglaterra, a Lei de Navegação de 1651 proibia embarcações estrangeiras de se envolverem no comércio costeiro na Inglaterra e exigia que todas as mercadorias importadas do continente europeu fossem transportadas em um navio inglês ou em um navio registrado no país de origem das mercadorias. Finalmente, todo o comércio entre a Inglaterra e suas colônias tinha que ser feito em navios ingleses ou coloniais. O Staple Act de 1663 estendeu a Lei de Navegação ao exigir que todas as exportações coloniais para a Europa fossem desembarcadas através de um porto inglês antes de serem reexportadas para a Europa. Políticas de navegação pela França, Inglaterra e outros poderes foram dirigidas principalmente contra os holandeses, que dominaram a atividade marinha comercial nos séculos XVI e XVII.
Durante a era mercantilista, era frequentemente sugerido, se não realmente acreditado, que o principal benefício do comércio exterior era a importação de ouro e prata. De acordo com essa visão, os benefícios para uma nação foram compensados ​​pelos custos para as outras nações que exportaram ouro e prata, e não houve ganhos líquidos com o comércio. Para as nações quase constantemente à beira da guerra, drenando-se uma à outra de ouro valioso e prata, pensava-se ser quase tão desejável quanto os benefícios diretos do comércio. Adam Smith refutou a idéia de que a riqueza de uma nação é medida pelo tamanho do tesouro em seu famoso tratado The Wealth of Nations, um livro considerado o fundamento da moderna teoria econômica. Smith fez uma série de críticas importantes à doutrina mercantilista. Primeiro, ele demonstrou que o comércio, quando iniciado livremente, beneficia ambas as partes. Segundo, ele argumentou que a especialização na produção permite economias de escala, o que melhora a eficiência e o crescimento. Finalmente, Smith argumentou que o relacionamento colusivo entre governo e indústria era prejudicial à população em geral. Enquanto as políticas mercantilistas foram projetadas para beneficiar o governo e a classe comercial, as doutrinas do laissez-faire, ou mercados livres, que se originaram com Smith, interpretavam o bem-estar econômico em um sentido muito mais amplo de abranger toda a população.
Enquanto a publicação de A riqueza das nações é geralmente considerada como o fim da era mercantilista, as doutrinas do laissez-faire da economia de livre mercado também refletem um desencanto geral com as políticas imperialistas dos estados-nação. As Guerras Napoleônicas na Europa e a Guerra Revolucionária nos Estados Unidos anunciaram o fim do período de confronto militar na Europa e as políticas mercantilistas que o apoiavam.
Apesar dessas políticas e das guerras com as quais estavam associados, o período mercantilista era de crescimento geralmente rápido, particularmente na Inglaterra. Isso ocorre em parte porque os governos não foram muito eficazes em aplicar as políticas que adotaram. Embora o governo pudesse proibir as importações, por exemplo, faltavam-lhe os recursos para impedir o contrabando que a proibição criaria. Além disso, a variedade de novos produtos criados durante a revolução industrial dificultou a aplicação das políticas industriais associadas à doutrina mercantilista.
Em 1860, a Inglaterra havia removido os últimos vestígios da era mercantil. Regulamentos industriais, monopólios e tarifas foram abolidos e as exportações de emigração e maquinário foram liberadas. Em grande parte por causa de suas políticas de livre comércio, a Inglaterra tornou-se a potência econômica dominante na Europa. O sucesso da Inglaterra como potência industrial e financeira, aliado aos Estados Unidos como uma potência agrícola emergente, levou à retomada das pressões protecionistas na Europa e à corrida armamentista entre Alemanha, França e Inglaterra, que resultou na Primeira Guerra Mundial.
O protecionismo continuou importante no período entre guerras. A Primeira Guerra Mundial destruiu o sistema monetário internacional baseado no padrão ouro. Depois da guerra, a manipulação da taxa de câmbio foi adicionada às listas de armas comerciais dos governos. Um país poderia simultaneamente baixar os preços internacionais de suas exportações e aumentar o preço em moeda local de suas importações, desvalorizando sua moeda em relação às moedas de seus parceiros comerciais. Essa “desvalorização competitiva” foi praticada por muitos países durante a Grande Depressão dos anos 1930 e levou a uma redução acentuada do comércio mundial.
Vários fatores levaram ao ressurgimento de políticas mercantilistas após a Segunda Guerra Mundial. A Grande Depressão criou dúvidas sobre a eficácia e a estabilidade das economias de livre mercado, e um corpo emergente de pensamento econômico que varia de políticas anticíclicas keynesianas a sistemas marxistas de planejamento central criou um novo papel para os governos no controle dos assuntos econômicos. Além disso, a parceria de guerra entre o governo e a indústria nos Estados Unidos criou um relacionamento - o complexo militar-industrial, nas palavras de Dwight D. Eisenhower - que também encorajava políticas governamentais ativistas. Na Europa, a escassez de dólares após a guerra induziu os governos a restringir as importações e a negociar acordos comerciais bilaterais para economizar recursos escassos de câmbio. Essas políticas restringiram severamente o volume de comércio intra-europeu e impediram o processo de recuperação na Europa no período imediato do pós-guerra.
A força econômica dos Estados Unidos, no entanto, proporcionou a estabilidade que permitiu que o mundo emergisse do caos do pós-guerra em uma nova era de prosperidade e crescimento. O Plano Marshall forneceu recursos americanos que superaram a mais aguda escassez de dólares. O acordo de Bretton Woods estabeleceu um novo sistema de taxas de câmbio relativamente estáveis ​​que encorajou o livre fluxo de bens e capital. Finalmente, a assinatura do GATT (Acordo Geral sobre Tarifas e Comércio) em 1947 marcou o reconhecimento oficial da necessidade de estabelecer uma ordem internacional de livre comércio multilateral.
A era mercantilista passou. Os economistas modernos aceitam a visão de Adam Smith de que o livre comércio leva à especialização internacional do trabalho e, geralmente, a um maior bem-estar econômico para todas as nações. Mas algumas políticas mercantilistas continuam a existir. De fato, a onda de sentimento protecionista que começou com a crise do petróleo em meados da década de 1970 e expandiu com a recessão global do início dos anos 1980 levou alguns economistas a rotular a moderna atitude pró-exportação e anti-importação de “neomercantilismo”. O GATT entrou em vigor em 1948, oito rodadas de negociações comerciais multilaterais resultaram em uma liberalização significativa do comércio de bens manufaturados, na assinatura do Acordo Geral sobre Comércio de Serviços (GATS) em 1994 e no estabelecimento da Organização Mundial do Comércio ( OMC) para fazer cumprir as regras acordadas do comércio internacional. No entanto, existem inúmeras exceções, dando origem a ações discriminatórias antidumping, direitos compensatórios e medidas emergenciais de salvaguarda quando as importações ameaçam subitamente romper ou “injustamente” competir com uma indústria doméstica. O comércio agrícola ainda é fortemente protegido por cotas, subsídios e tarifas, e é um tema central na agenda da nona rodada de negociações (Doha). E as leis de cabotagem, como a Lei dos EUA, promulgada em 1920 e defendida com sucesso contra a reforma liberalizadora nos anos 90, são a contrapartida moderna das Leis de Navegação da Inglaterra. O Jones Act exige que todos os navios que transportam carga entre os EUA sejam construídos, possuídos e documentados nos EUA.
Práticas mercantilistas modernas surgem da mesma fonte que as políticas mercantilistas dos séculos XVI a XVIII. Grupos com poder político usam esse poder para assegurar a intervenção do governo para proteger seus interesses enquanto afirmam buscar benefícios para a nação como um todo. Em sua recente interpretação do mercantilismo histórico, Robert B. Ekelund e Robert D. Tollison (1997) concentraram-se nas atividades de busca de privilégios de monarcas e mercadores. Os regulamentos mercantis protegiam as posições privilegiadas de monopolistas e cartéis, que por sua vez davam receita ao monarca ou estado. De acordo com essa interpretação, a razão pela qual a Inglaterra era tão próspera durante a era mercantilista era que o mercantilismo não era bem aplicado. O parlamento e os juízes da common law competiam com a monarquia e os tribunais reais para compartilhar os lucros do monopólio ou do cartel criados por restrições mercantilistas ao comércio. Isso fez com que valesse menos a pena procurar e impor restrições mercantilistas. Maior poder monárquico e incerto direito de propriedade na França e na Espanha, em contraste, foram acompanhados por um crescimento mais lento e até mesmo estagnação durante este período. E as várias leis de cabotagem podem ser entendidas como uma ferramenta eficiente para policiar os cartéis de negociação. Por este ponto de vista, o estabelecimento da OMC terá um efeito liberalizante se conseguir aumentar os custos ou reduzir os benefícios daqueles que buscam lucros mercantilistas por meio de restrições comerciais.
Dos falsos princípios do mercantilismo que permanecem até hoje, o mais pernicioso é a ideia de que as importações reduzem o emprego doméstico. Os sindicatos usaram este argumento para justificar a proteção contra importações originárias de países de baixos salários, e tem havido muito debate político e midiático sobre as implicações do offshoring de empregos no setor de serviços para o emprego nacional. Muitos oponentes alegam que o offshoring de serviços coloca em risco empregos nos EUA. Embora isso ameace alguns empregos nos EUA, ele não coloca em risco nenhum emprego no total, mas simplesmente causa uma realocação de empregos entre as indústrias. Outra visão mercantilista que persiste hoje é que um déficit em conta corrente é ruim. Quando um país corre um déficit em conta corrente, ele está tomando emprestado ou vendendo ativos para o resto do mundo para financiar despesas com importações que excedam as receitas de exportação. No entanto, mesmo quando isso resultar em um aumento do endividamento externo líquido e nos futuros requisitos de serviço de débitos associados, ele promoverá a riqueza econômica se os gastos forem para fins produtivos que gerem um retorno maior do que o dos ativos permutados para financiar os gastos. Muitos países em desenvolvimento, com altas taxas de retorno sobre o capital, têm incorrido em déficits em conta corrente por períodos extremamente longos, enquanto desfrutam de rápido crescimento e solvência. Os Estados Unidos foram um desses durante grande parte do século XIX, tomando emprestados de investidores ingleses para construir ferrovias (ver fluxos internacionais de capital). Além disso, os superávits persistentes podem refletir principalmente a falta de oportunidades viáveis ​​de investimento em casa ou uma crescente demanda por dinheiro em um país em rápido desenvolvimento, e não uma acumulação “mercantil” de reservas internacionais às custas dos parceiros comerciais.
Sobre o autor.
Laura LaHaye é professora adjunta do Instituto de Tecnologia de Illinois. Foi professora visitante de 2004 a 2005 na Universidade de Illinois em Chicago e professora de economia de 1981 a 1990. Em 1981, foi economista de pesquisa no Acordo Geral sobre Tarifas e Comércio.

Uma investigação sobre a natureza e as causas da riqueza das nações.
De sistemas de conomia política.
Introdução.
A conomia política, considerada como um ramo da ciência de um estadista ou legislador, propõe dois objetos distintos: primeiro, fornecer uma receita abundante ou de subsistência para as pessoas, ou, mais propriamente, capacitá-los a fornecer tal receita ou subsistência para si; e, em segundo lugar, fornecer ao Estado ou à comunidade uma receita suficiente para os serviços públicos. Propõe-se a enriquecer tanto o povo quanto o soberano. * 1
O diferente progresso da opulência em diferentes eras e nações deu ocasião a dois sistemas diferentes de conformação política no que diz respeito ao enriquecimento do povo. Um pode ser chamado de sistema de comércio, o outro de agricultura. Esforçar-me-ei por explicar tanto quanto possível e de forma clara, e começo pelo sistema de comércio. É o sistema moderno, e é melhor compreendido em nosso próprio país e em nossos tempos.
Notas para este capítulo.
Fim das notas.
Livro IV, Capítulo I.
Do Princípio do Sistema Comercial ou Mercantil.
Essa riqueza consiste em dinheiro, ou em ouro e prata, é uma noção popular que naturalmente surge da dupla função do dinheiro, como instrumento do comércio e como medida de valor. Em conseqüência de ser o instrumento do comércio, quando temos dinheiro, podemos mais prontamente obter qualquer outra coisa para a qual tenhamos ocasião do que por meio de qualquer outra mercadoria. O grande caso, sempre achamos, é conseguir dinheiro. Quando isso é obtido, não há dificuldade em fazer qualquer compra subsequente. Em conseqüência de ser a medida de valor, estimamos que de todas as outras mercadorias pela quantidade de dinheiro que eles trocarão por. Dizemos de um homem rico que ele vale muito, e de um homem pobre que ele vale muito pouco dinheiro. Diz-se que um homem frugal, ou um homem ansioso por ser rico, ama dinheiro; e um homem descuidado, generoso ou profuso é considerado indiferente a respeito. Crescer rico é ganhar dinheiro; and wealth and money, in short, are, in common language, considered as in every respect synonymous.
A rich country, in the same manner as a rich man, is supposed to be a country abounding in money; and to heap up gold and silver in any country is supposed to be the readiest way to enrich it. For some time after the discovery of America, the first inquiry of the Spaniards, when they arrived upon an unknown coast, used to be, if there was any gold or silver to be found in the neighbourhood. By the information which they received, they judged whether it was worth while to make a settlement there, or if the country was worth the conquering. Plano Carpino, a monk, sent ambassador from the King of France to one of the sons of the famous Genghis Khan, says that the Tartars used frequently to ask him if there was plenty of sheep and oxen in the kingdom of France? *2 Their inquiry had the same object with that of the Spaniards. They wanted to know if the country was rich enough to be worth the conquering. Among the Tartars, as among all other nations of shepherds, who are generally ignorant of the use of money, cattle are the instruments of commerce and the measures of value. Wealth, therefore, according to them, consisted in cattle, as according to the Spaniards it consisted in gold and silver. Of the two, the Tartar notion, perhaps, was the nearest to the truth.
Mr. Locke remarks a distinction between money and other movable goods. All other movable goods, he says, are of so consumable a nature that the wealth which consists in them cannot be much depended on, and a nation which abounds in them one year may, without any exportation, but merely their own waste and extravagance, be in great want of them the next. Money, on the contrary, is a steady friend, which, though it may travel about from hand to hand, yet if it can be kept from going out of the country, is not very liable to be wasted and consumed. Gold and silver, therefore, are, according to him, the most solid and substantial part of the movable wealth of a nation, and to multiply those metals ought, he thinks, upon that account, to be the great object of its political œconomy. *3.
Others admit that if a nation could be separated from all the world, it would be of no consequence how much, or how little money circulated in it. The consumable goods which were circulated by means of this money would only be exchanged for a greater or a smaller number of pieces; but the real wealth or poverty of the country, they allow, would depend altogether upon the abundance or scarcity of those consumable goods. But it is otherwise, they think, with countries which have connections with foreign nations, and which are obliged to carry on foreign wars, and to maintain fleets and armies in distant countries. This, they say, cannot be done but by sending abroad money to pay them with; and a nation cannot send much money abroad unless it has a good deal at home. Every such nation, therefore, must endeavour in time of peace to accumulate gold and silver that, when occasion requires, it may have wherewithal to carry on foreign wars.
In consequence of these popular notions, all the different nations of Europe have studied, though to little purpose, every possible means of accumulating gold and silver in their respective countries. Spain and Portugal, the proprietors of the principal mines which supply Europe with those metals, have either prohibited their exportation under the severest penalties, or subjected it to a considerable duty. *4 The like prohibition seems anciently to have made a part of the policy of most other European nations. It is even to be found, where we should least of all expect *5 to find it, in some old Scotch acts of Parliament, which forbid under heavy penalties the carrying gold or silver forth of the kingdom . *6 The like policy anciently took place both in France and England.
When those countries became commercial, the merchants found this prohibition, upon many occasions, extremely inconvenient. They could frequently buy more advantageously with gold and silver than with any other commodity the foreign goods which they wanted, either to import into their own, or to carry to some other foreign country. They remonstrated, therefore, against this prohibition as hurtful to trade.
They represented, first, that the exportation of gold and silver in order to purchase foreign goods, did not always diminish the quantity of those metals in the kingdom. That, on the contrary, it might frequently increase that quantity; *7 because, if the consumption of foreign goods was not thereby increased in the country, those goods might be re-exported to foreign countries, and, being there sold for a large profit, might bring back much more treasure than was originally sent out to purchase them. Mr. Mun compares this operation of foreign trade to the seed-time and harvest of agriculture. If we only behold, [says he] the actions of the husbandman in the seed-time, when he casteth away much good corn into the ground, we shall account him rather a madman than a husbandman. But when we consider his labours in the harvest, which is the end of his endeavours, we shall find the worth and plentiful increase of his action. *8.
They represented, secondly, that this prohibition could not hinder the exportation of gold and silver, which, on account of the smallness of their bulk in proportion to their value, could easily be smuggled abroad. *9 That this exportation could only be prevented by a proper attention to, what they called, the balance of trade. *10 That when the country exported to a greater value than it imported, a balance became due to it from foreign nations, which was necessarily paid to it in gold and silver, and thereby increased the quantity of those metals in the kingdom. But that when it imported to a greater value than it exported, a contrary balance became due to foreign nations, which was necessarily paid to them in the same manner, and thereby diminished that quantity. That in this case to prohibit the exportation of those metals could not prevent it, but only, by making it more dangerous, render it more expensive. That the exchange was thereby turned more against the country which owed the balance than it otherwise might have been; the merchant who purchased a bill upon the foreign country being obliged to pay the banker who sold it, not only for the natural risk, trouble, and expence of sending the money thither, but for the extraordinary risk arising from the prohibition. But that the more the exchange was against any country, the more the balance of trade became necessarily against it; the money of that country becoming necessarily of so much less value in comparison with that of the country to which the balance was due. That if the exchange between England and Holland, for example, was five per cent. against England, it would require a hundred and five ounces of silver in England to purchase a bill for a hundred ounces of silver in Holland: that a hundred and five ounces of silver in England, therefore, would be worth only a hundred ounces of silver in Holland, and would purchase only a proportionable quantity of Dutch goods; but that a hundred ounces of silver in Holland, on the contrary, would be worth a hundred and five ounces in England, and would purchase a proportionable quantity of English goods: that the English goods which were sold to Holland would be sold so much cheaper; and the Dutch goods which were sold to England so much dearer by the difference of the exchange; that the one would draw so much less Dutch money to England, and the other so much more English money to Holland, as this difference amounted to: and that the balance of trade, therefore, would necessarily be so much more against England, and would require a greater balance of gold and silver to be exported to Holland.
Those arguments were partly solid and partly sophistical. They were solid so far as they asserted that the exportation of gold and silver in trade might frequently be advantageous to the country. They were solid, too, in asserting that no prohibition could prevent their exportation when private people found any advantage in exporting them. But they were sophistical in supposing that either to preserve or to augment the quantity of those metals required more the attention of government than to preserve or to augment the quantity of any other useful commodities, which the freedom of trade, without any such attention, never fails to supply in the proper quantity. They were sophistical too, perhaps, in asserting that the high price of exchange necessarily increased what they called the unfavourable balance of trade, or occasioned the exportation of a greater quantity of gold and silver. That high price, indeed, was extremely disadvantageous to the merchants who had any money to pay in foreign countries. They paid so much dearer for the bills which their bankers granted them upon those countries. But though the risk arising from the prohibition might occasion some extraordinary expence to the bankers, it would not necessarily carry any more money out of the country. This expence would generally be all laid out in the country, in smuggling the money out of it, and could seldom occasion the exportation of a single six-pence beyond the precise sum drawn for. The high price of exchange too would naturally dispose the merchants to endeavour to make their exports nearly balance their imports, in order that they might have this high exchange to pay upon as small a sum as possible. The high price of exchange, besides, must necessarily have operated as a tax, in raising the price of foreign goods, and thereby diminishing their consumption. *11 It would tend, therefore, not to increase but to diminish what they called the unfavourable balance of trade, and consequently the exportation of gold and silver.
Such as they were, however, those arguments convinced the people to whom they were addressed. They were addressed by merchants to parliaments and to the councils of princes, to nobles and to country gentlemen, by those who were supposed to understand trade to those who were conscious to themselves that they knew nothing about the matter. That foreign trade enriched the country, experience demonstrated to the nobles and country gentlemen as well as to the merchants; but how, or in what manner, none of them well knew. The merchants knew perfectly in what manner it enriched themselves. It was their business to know it. But to know in what manner it enriched the country was no part of their business. This subject never came into their consideration but when they had occasion to apply to their country for some change in the laws relating to foreign trade. It then became necessary to say something about the beneficial effects of foreign trade, and the manner in which those effects were obstructed by the laws as they then stood. To the judges who were to decide the business it appeared a most satisfactory account of the matter, when they were told that foreign trade brought money into the country, but that the laws in question hindered it from bringing so much as it otherwise would do. Those arguments therefore produced the wished-for effect. The prohibition of exporting gold and silver was in France and England confined to the coin of those respective countries. The exportation of foreign coin and of bullion was made free. In Holland, and in some other places, this liberty was extended even to the coin of the country. The attention of government was turned away from guarding against the exportation of gold and silver to watch over the balance of trade as the only cause which could occasion any augmentation or diminution of those metals. From one fruitless care it was turned away to another care much more intricate, much more embarrassing, and just equally fruitless. The title of Mun's book, England's Treasure in *12 Foreign Trade, became a fundamental maxim in the political œconomy, not of England only, but of all other commercial countries. The inland or home trade, the most important of all, the trade in which an equal capital affords the greatest revenue, and creates the greatest employment to the people of the country, was considered as subsidiary only to foreign trade. It neither brought money into the country, it was said, nor carried any out of it. The country, therefore, could never become either richer or poorer by means of it, except so far as its prosperity or decay might indirectly influence the state of foreign trade.
A country that has no mines of its own must undoubtedly draw its gold and silver from foreign countries in the same manner as one that has no vineyards of its own must draw its wines. It does not seem necessary, however, that the attention of government should be more turned towards the one than towards the other object. A country that has wherewithal to buy wine will always get the wine which it has occasion for; and a country that has wherewithal to buy gold and silver will never be in want of those metals. They are to be bought for a certain price like all other commodities, and as they are the price of all other commodities, so all other commodities are the price of those metals. We trust with perfect security that the freedom of trade, without any attention of government, will always supply us with the wine which we have occasion for: and we may trust with equal security that it will always supply us with all the gold and silver which we can afford to purchase or to employ, either in circulating our commodities, or in other uses.
The quantity of every commodity which human industry can either purchase or produce naturally regulates itself in every country according to the effectual demand, or according to the demand of those who are willing to pay the whole rent, labour, and profits which must be paid in order to prepare and bring it to market. But no commodities regulate themselves more easily or more exactly according to this effectual demand than gold and silver; because, on account of the small bulk and great value of those metals, no commodities can be more easily transported from one place to another, from the places where they are cheap to those where they are dear, from the places where they exceed to those where they fall short of this effectual demand. If there were in England, for example, an effectual demand for an additional quantity of gold, a packet-boat could bring from Lisbon, or from wherever else it was to be had, fifty tons of gold, which could be coined into more than five millions of guineas. But if there were *13 an effectual demand for grain to the same value, to import it would require, at five guineas a ton, a million of tons of shipping, or a thousand ships of a thousand tons each. The navy of England would not be sufficient.
When the quantity of gold and silver imported into any country exceeds the effectual demand, no vigilance of government can prevent their exportation. All the sanguinary laws of Spain and Portugal are not able to keep their gold and silver at home. The continual importations from Peru and Brazil exceed the effectual demand of those countries, and sink the price of those metals there below that in the neighbouring countries. If, on the contrary, in any particular country their quantity fell short of the effectual demand, so as to raise their price above that of *14 the neighbouring countries, the government would have no occasion to take any pains to import them. If it were *15 even to take pains to prevent their importation, it would not be able to effectuate it. Those metals, when the Spartans had got wherewithal to purchase them, broke through all the barriers which the laws of Lycurgus opposed to their entrance into Lacedemon. All the sanguinary laws of the customs are not able to prevent the importation of the teas of the Dutch and Gottenburgh East India Companies, because somewhat cheaper than those of the British company. A pound of tea, however, is about a hundred times the bulk of one of the highest prices, sixteen shillings, that is commonly paid for it in silver, and more than two thousand times the bulk of the same price in gold, and consequently just so many times more difficult to smuggle.
It is partly owing to the easy transportation of gold and silver from the places where they abound to those where they are wanted that the price of those metals does not fluctuate continually like that of the greater part of other commodities, which are hindered by their bulk from shifting their situation when the market happens to be either over or under-stocked with them. O. price of those metals, indeed, is not altogether exempted from variation, but the changes to which it is liable are generally slow, gradual and uniform. In Europe, for example, it is supposed, without much foundation, perhaps, that during the course of the present and preceding century they have been constantly, but gradually, sinking in their value, on account of the continual importations from the Spanish West Indies. *16 But to make any sudden change in the price of gold and silver, so as to raise or lower at once, sensibly and remarkably, the money price of all other commodities, requires such a revolution in commerce as that occasioned by the discovery of America.
If, notwithstanding all this, gold and silver should at any time fall short in a country which has wherewithal to purchase them, there are more expedients for supplying their place than that of almost any other commodity. If the materials of manufacture are wanted, industry must stop. If provisions are wanted, the people must starve. But if money is wanted, barter will supply its place, though with a good deal of inconveniency. Buying and selling upon credit, and the different dealers compensating their credits with one another, once a month or once a year, will supply it with less inconveniency. A well-regulated paper money will supply it, not only without any inconveniency, but, in some cases, with some advantages. *17 Upon every account, therefore, the attention of government never was so unnecessarily employed as when directed to watch over the preservation or increase of the quantity of money in any country.
No complaint, however, is more common than that of a scarcity of money. Money, like wine, must always be scarce with those who have neither wherewithal to buy it nor credit to borrow it. Those who have either will seldom be in want either of the money or of the wine which they have occasion for. This complaint, however, of the scarcity of money is not always confined to improvident spendthrifts. It is sometimes general through a whole mercantile town and the country in its neighbourhood. Over-trading is the common cause of it. Sober men, whose projects have been disproportioned to their capitals, are as likely to have neither wherewithal to buy money nor credit to borrow it, as prodigals whose expence has been disproportioned to their revenue. Before their projects can be brought to bear, their stock is gone, and their credit with it. They run about every-where to borrow money, and everybody tells them that they have none to lend. Even such general complaints of the scarcity of money do not always prove that the usual number of gold and silver pieces are not circulating in the country, but that many people want those pieces who have nothing to give for them. When the profits of trade happen to be greater than ordinary, over-trading becomes a general error both among great and small dealers. They do not always send more money abroad than usual, but they buy upon credit, both at home and abroad, an unusual quantity of goods, which they send to some distant market in hopes that the returns will come in before the demand for payment. The demand comes before the returns, and they have nothing at hand with which they can either purchase money, or give solid security for borrowing. It is not any scarcity of gold and silver, but the difficulty which such people find in borrowing, and which their creditors find in getting payment, that occasions the general complaint of the scarcity of money.
It would be too ridiculous to go about seriously to prove that wealth does not consist in money, or in gold and silver; but in what money purchases, and is valuable only for purchasing. Money, no doubt, makes always a part of the national capital; but it has already been shown *18 that it generally makes but a small part, and always the most unprofitable part of it.
It is not because wealth consists more essentially in money than in goods that the merchant find it generally more easy to buy goods with money than to buy money with goods; but because money is the known and established instrument of commerce, for which everything is readily given in exchange, but which is not always with equal readiness to be got in exchange for everything. The greater part of goods, besides, are more perishable than money, and he may frequently sustain a much greater loss by keeping them. When his goods are upon hand, too, he is more liable to such demands for money as he may not be able to answer than when he has got their price in his coffers. Over and above all this, his profit arises more directly from selling than from buying, and he is upon all these accounts generally much more anxious to exchange his goods for money than his money for goods. But though a particular merchant, with abundance of goods in his warehouse, may sometimes be ruined by not being able to sell them in time, a nation or country is not liable to the same accident. The whole capital of a merchant frequently consists in perish, able goods destined for purchasing money. But it is but a very small part of the annual produce of the land and labour of a country which can ever be destined for purchasing gold and silver from their neighbours. The far greater part is circulated and consumed among themselves; and even of the surplus which is sent abroad, the greater part is generally destined for the purchase of other foreign goods. Though gold and silver, therefore, could not be had in exchange for the goods destined to purchase them, the nation would not be ruined. It might, indeed, suffer some loss and inconveniency, and be forced upon some of those expedients which are necessary for supplying the place of money. The annual produce of its land and labour, however, would be the same, or very nearly the same, as usual, because the same, or very nearly the same, consumable capital would be employed in maintaining it. And though goods do not always draw money so readily as money draws goods, in the long-run they draw it more necessarily than even it draws them. Goods can serve many other purposes besides purchasing money, but money can serve no other purpose besides purchasing goods. Money, therefore, necessarily runs after goods, but goods do not always or necessarily run after money. The man who buys does not always mean to sell again, but frequently to use or to consume; whereas he who sells always means to buy again. The one may frequently have done the whole, but the other can never have done more than the one-half of his business. It is not for its own sake that men desire money, but for the sake of what they can purchase with it.
Consumable commodities, it is said, are soon destroyed; whereas gold and silver are of a more durable nature, and, were it not for this continual exportation, might be accumulated for ages together, to the incredible augmentation of the real wealth of the country. Nothing, therefore, it is pretended, can be more disadvantageous to any country than the trade which consists in the exchange of such lasting for such perishable commodities. We do not, however, reckon that trade disadvantageous which consists in the exchange of the hard-ware of England for the wines of France; and yet hard-ware is a very durable commodity, and were it not *19 for this continual exportation might, too, be accumulated for ages together, to the incredible augmentation of the pots and pans of the country. But it readily occurs that the number of such utensils is in every country necessarily limited by the use which there is for them; that it would be absurd to have more pots and pans than were necessary for cooking the victuals usually consumed there; and that if the quantity of victuals were to increase, the number of pots and pans would readily increase along with it, a part of the increased quantity of victuals being employed in purchasing them, or in maintaining an additional number of workmen whose business it was to make them. It should as readily occur that the quantity of gold and silver is in every country limited by the use which there is for those metals; that their use consists in circulating commodities as coin, and in affording a species of household furniture as plate; that the quantity of coin in every country is regulated by the value of the commodities which are to be circulated by it: increase that value, and immediately a part of it will be sent abroad to purchase, wherever it is to be had, the additional quantity of coin requisite for circulating them: that the quantity of plate is regulated by the number and wealth of those private families who choose to indulge themselves in that sort of magnificence: increase the number and wealth of such families, and a part of this increased wealth will most probably be employed in purchasing, wherever it is to be found, an additional quantity of plate: that to attempt to increase the wealth of any country, either by introducing or by detaining in it an unnecessary quantity of gold and silver, is as absurd as it would be to attempt to increase the good cheer of private families by obliging them to keep an unnecessary number of kitchen utensils. As the expence of purchasing those unnecessary utensils would diminish instead of increasing either the quantity of goodness of the family provisions, so the expence of purchasing an unnecessary quantity of gold and silver must, in every country, as necessarily diminish the wealth which feeds, clothes, and lodges, which maintains and employs the people. Gold and silver, whether in the shape of coin or of plate, are utensils, it must be remembered, as much as the furniture of the kitchen. Increase the use for them, increase the consumable commodities which are to be circulated, managed, and prepared by means of them, and you will infallibly increase the quantity; but if you attempt, by extraordinary means, to increase the quantity, you will as infallibly diminish the use and even the quantity too, which in those metals can never be greater than what the use requires. Were they ever to be accumulated beyond this quantity, their transportation is so easy, and the loss which attends their lying idle and unemployed so great, that no law could prevent their being immediately sent out of the country.
It is not always necessary to accumulate gold and silver in order to enable a country to carry on foreign wars, and to maintain fleets and armies in distant countries. Fleets and armies are maintained, not with gold and silver, but with consumable goods. The nation which, from the annual produce of its domestic industry, from the annual revenue arising out of its lands, labour, and consumable stock, has wherewithal to purchase those consumable goods in distant countries, can maintain foreign wars there.
A nation may purchase the pay and provisions of an army in a distant country three different ways: by sending abroad either, first, some part of its accumulated gold and silver, or, secondly, some part of the annual produce of its manufactures; or, last of all, some part of its annual rude produce.
The gold and silver which can properly be considered as accumulated or stored up in any country may be distinguished into three parts: first, the circulating money; secondly, the plate of private families; and, last of all, the money which may have been collected by many years parsimony, and laid up in the treasury of the prince.
It can seldom happen that much can be spared from the circulating money of the country; because in that there can seldom be much redundancy. The value of goods annually bought and sold in any country requires a certain quantity of money to circulate and distribute them to their proper consumers, and can give employment to no more. The channel of circulation necessarily draws to itself a sum sufficient to fill it, and never admits any more. Something, however, is generally withdrawn from this channel in the case of foreign war. By the great number of people who are maintained abroad, fewer are maintained at home. Fewer goods are circulated there, and less money becomes necessary to circulate them. An extraordinary quantity of paper money, of some sort or other, such as exchequer notes, navy bills, and bank bills in England, is generally issued upon such occasions, and by supplying the place of circulating gold and silver, gives an opportunity of sending a greater quantity of it abroad. All this, however, could afford but a poor resource for maintaining a foreign war of great expence and several years duration.
The melting down the plate of private families has upon every occasion been found a still more insignificant one. The French, in the beginning of the last war, did not derive so much advantage from this expedient as to compensate the loss of the fashion.
The accumulated treasures of the prince have, in former times, afforded a much greater and more lasting resource. In the present times, if you except the king of Prussia, to accumulate treasure seems to be no part of the policy of European princes.
The funds which maintained the foreign wars of the present century, the most expensive perhaps which history records, seem to have had little dependency upon the exportation either of the circulating money, or of the plate of private families, or of the treasure of the prince. The last French war cost Great Britain upwards of ninety millions, including not only the seventy-five millions of new debt that was contracted, *20 but the additional two shillings in the pound land-tax, and what was annually borrowed of the sinking fund. More than two-thirds of this expence were *21 laid out in distant countries; in Germany, Portugal, America, in the ports of the Mediterranean, in the East and West Indies. The kings of England had no accumulated treasure. We never heard of any extraordinary quantity of plate being melted down. The circulating gold and silver of the country had not been supposed to exceed eighteen millions. Since the late recoinage of the gold, however, it is believed to have been a good deal under-rated. Let us suppose, therefore, according to the most exaggerated computation which I remember to have either seen or heard of, *22 that, gold and silver together, it amounted to thirty millions. *23 Had the war been carried on by means of our money, the whole of it must, even according to this computation, have been sent out and returned again at least twice in a period of between six and seven years. Should this be supposed, it would afford the most decisive argument to demonstrate how unnecessary it is for government to watch over the preservation of money, since upon this supposition the whole money of the country must have gone from it and returned to it again, two different times in so short a period, without anybody's knowing anything of the matter. The channel of circulation, however, never appeared more empty than usual during any part of this period. Few people wanted money who had wherewithal to pay for it. The profits of foreign trade, indeed, were greater than usual during the whole war; but especially towards the end of it. This occasioned, what it always occasions, a general over-trading in all the parts of Great Britain; and this again occasioned the usual complaint of the scarcity of money, which always follows over-trading. Many people wanted it, who had neither wherewithal to buy it, nor credit to borrow it; and because the debtors found it difficult to borrow, the creditors found it difficult to get payment. Gold and silver, however, were generally to be had for their value, by those who had that value to give for them.
The enormous expence of the late war, therefore, must have been chiefly defrayed, not by the exportation of gold and silver, but by that of British commodities of some kind or other. When the government, or those who acted under them, contracted with a merchant for a remittance to some foreign country, he would naturally endeavour to pay his foreign correspondent, upon whom he had granted a bill, by sending abroad rather commodities than gold and silver. If the commodities of Great Britain were not in demand in that country, he would endeavour to send them to some other country, in which he could purchase a bill upon that country. The transportation of commodities, when properly suited to the market, is always attended with a considerable profit; whereas that of gold and silver is scarce ever attended with any. When those metals are sent abroad in order to purchase foreign commodities, the merchant's profit arises, not from the purchase, but from the sale of the returns. But when they are sent abroad merely to pay a debt, he gets no returns, and consequently no profit. He naturally, therefore, exerts his invention to find out a way of paying his foreign debts rather by the exportation of commodities than by that of gold and silver. The great quantity of British goods exported during the course of the late war, without bringing back any returns, is accordingly remarked by the author of The Present State of the Nation. *24.
Besides the three sorts of gold and silver above mentioned, there is in all great commercial countries a good deal of bullion alternately imported and exported for the purposes of foreign trade. This bullion, as it circulates among different commercial countries in the same manner as the national coin circulates in every particular country, may be considered as the money of the great mercantile republic. The national coin receives its movement and direction from the commodities circulated within the precincts of each particular country: the money of the mercantile republic, from those circulated between different countries. Both are employed in facilitating exchanges, the one between different individuals of the same, the other between those of different nations. Part of this money of the great mercantile republic may have been, and probably was, employed in carrying on the late war. In time of a general war, it is natural to suppose that a movement and direction should be impressed upon it, different from what it usually follows in profound peace; that it should circulate more about the seat of the war, and be more employed in purchasing there, and in the neighbouring countries, the pay and provisions of the different armies. But whatever part of this money of the mercantile republic Great Britain may have annually employed in this manner, it must have been annually purchased, either with British commodities, or with something else that had been purchased with them; which still brings us back to commodities, to the annual produce of the land and labour of the country, as the ultimate resources which enabled us to carry on the war. It is natural indeed to suppose that so great an annual expence must have been defrayed from a great annual produce. The expence of 1761, for example, amounted to more than nineteen millions. No accumulation could have supported so great an annual profusion. There is no annual produce even of gold and silver which could have supported it. The whole gold and silver annually imported into both Spain and Portugal, according to the best accounts, does not commonly much exceed six millions sterling, *25 which, in some years, would scarce have paid four month's expence of the late war.
The commodities most proper for being transported to distant countries, in order to purchase there either the pay and provisions of an army, or some part of the money of the mercantile republic to be employed in purchasing them, seem to be the finer and more improved manufactures; such as contain a great value in a small bulk, and can, therefore, be exported to a great distance at little expence. A country whose industry produces a great annual surplus of such manufactures, which are usually exported to foreign countries, may carry on for many years a very expensive foreign war without either exporting any considerable quantity of gold and silver, or even having any such quantity to export. A considerable part of the annual surplus of its manufactures must, indeed, in this case be exported without bringing back any returns to the country, though it does to the merchant; the government purchasing of the merchant his bills upon foreign countries, in order to purchase there the pay and provisions of an army. Some part of this surplus, however, may still continue to bring back a return. *26 The manufacturers, during the war, will have a double demand upon them, and be called upon, first, to work up goods to be sent abroad, for paying the bills drawn upon foreign countries for the pay and provisions of the army; and, secondly, to work up such as are necessary for purchasing the common returns that had usually been consumed in the country. In the midst of the most destructive foreign war, therefore, the greater part of manufactures may frequently flourish greatly; and, on the contrary, they may decline on the return of the peace. They may flourish amidst the ruin of their country, and begin to decay upon the return of its prosperity. The different state of many different branches of the British manufactures during the late war, and for some time after the peace, may serve as an illustration of what has been just now said.
No foreign war of great expence or duration could conveniently be carried on by the exportation of the rude produce of the soil. The expence of sending such a quantity of it to a foreign country as might purchase the pay and provisions of an army would be too great. Few countries produce much more rude produce than what is sufficient for the subsistence of their own inhabitants. To send abroad any great quantity of it, therefore, would be to send abroad a part of the necessary subsistence of the people. It is otherwise with the exportation of manufactures. The maintenance of the people employed in them is kept at home, and only the surplus part of their work is exported. Mr. Hume frequently takes notice of the inability of the ancient kings of England to carry on, without interruption, any foreign war of long duration. *27 The English, in those days, had nothing wherewithal to purchase the pay and provisions of their armies in foreign countries, but either the rude produce of the soil, of which no considerable part could be spared from the home consumption, or a few manufactures of the coarsest kind, of which, as well as of the rude produce, the transportation was too expensive. This inability did not arise from the want of money, but of the finer and more improved manufactures. Buying and selling was transacted by means of money in England then as well as now. The quantity of circulating money must have borne the same proportion to the number and value of purchases and sales usually transacted at that time, which it does to those transacted at present; or rather it must have borne a greater proportion, because there was then no paper, which now occupies a great part of the employment of gold and silver. Among nations to whom commerce and manufactures are little known, the sovereign, upon extraordinary occasions, can seldom draw any considerable aid from his subjects, for reasons which shall be explained hereafter. *28 It is in such countries, therefore, that he generally endeavours to accumulate a treasure, as the only resource against such emergencies. Independent of this necessity, he is in such a situation naturally disposed to the parsimony requisite for accumulation. In that simple state, the expence even of a sovereign is not directed by the vanity which delights in the gaudy finery of a court, but is employed in bounty to his tenants, and hospitality to his retainers. But bounty and hospitality very seldom lead to extravagance; though vanity almost always does. *29 Every Tartar chief, accordingly, has a treasure. The treasures of Mazepa, chief of the Cossacks in the Ukraine, the famous ally of Charles the XIIth, are said to have been very great. The French kings of the Merovingian race all had treasures. When they divided their kingdom among their different children, they divided their treasure too. The Saxon princes, and the first kings after the Conquest, seem likewise to have accumulated treasures. The first exploit of every new reign was commonly to seize the treasure of the preceding king, as the most essential measure for securing the succession. The sovereigns of improved and commercial countries are not under the same necessity of accumulating treasures, because they can generally draw from their subjects extraordinary aids upon extraordinary occasions. They are likewise less disposed to do so. They naturally, perhaps necessarily, follow the mode of the times, and their expence comes to be regulated by the same extravagant vanity which directs that of all the other great proprietors in their dominions. The insignificant pageantry of their court becomes every day more brilliant, and the expence of it not only prevents accumulation, but frequently encroaches upon the funds destined for more necessary expences. What Dercyllidas said of the court of Persia may be applied to that of several European princes, that he saw there much splendour but little strength, and many servants but few soldiers. *30.
The importation of gold and silver is not the principal, much less the sole benefit which a nation derives from its foreign trade. Between whatever places foreign trade is carried on, they all of them derive two distinct benefits from it. It carries out that surplus part of the produce of their land and labour for which there is no demand among them, and brings back in return for it something else for which there is a demand. It gives a value to their superfluities, by exchanging them for something else, which may satisfy a part of their wants, and increase their enjoyments. By means of it the narrowness of the home market does not hinder the division of labour in any particular branch of art or manufacture from being carried to the highest perfection. By opening a more extensive market for whatever part of the produce of their labour may exceed the home consumption, it encourages them to improve its productive powers, and to augment its annual produce to the utmost, and thereby to increase *31 the real revenue and wealth of the society. These great and important services foreign trade is continually occupied in performing to all the different countries between which it is carried on. They all derive great benefit from it, though that in which the merchant resides generally derives the greatest, as he is generally more employed in supplying the wants, and carrying out the superfluities of his own, than of any other particular country. To import the gold and silver which may be wanted into the countries which have no mines is, no doubt, a part of the business of foreign commerce. It is, however, a most insignificant part of it. A country which carried on foreign trade merely upon this account could scarce have occasion to freight a ship in a century.
It is not by the importation of gold and silver that the discovery of America has enriched Europe. By the abundance of the American mines, those metals have become cheaper. A service of plate can now be purchased for about a third part of the corn, or a third part of the labour, which it would have cost in the fifteenth century. With the same annual expence of labour and commodities, Europe can annually purchase about three times the quantity of plate which it could have purchased at that time. But when a commodity comes to be sold for a third part of what had been its usual price, not only those who purchased it before can purchase three times their former quantity, but it is brought down to the level of a much greater number of purchasers, perhaps to more than ten, perhaps to more than twenty times the former number. So that there may be in Europe at present not only more than three times, but more than twenty or thirty times the quantity of plate which would have been in it, even in its present state of improvement, had the discovery of the American mines never been made. So far Europe has, no doubt, gained a real conveniency, though surely a very trifling one. The cheapness of gold and silver renders those metals rather less fit for the purposes of money than they were before. In order to make the same purchases, we must load ourselves with a greater quantity of them, and carry about a shilling in our pocket where a groat would have done before. It is difficult to say which is most trifling, this inconveniency or the opposite conveniency. Neither the one nor the other could have made any very essential change in the state of Europe. The discovery of America, however, certainly made a most essential one. By opening a new and inexhaustible market to all the commodities of Europe, it gave occasion to new divisions of labour and improvements of art, which in the narrow circle of the ancient commerce, could never have taken place for want of a market to take off the greater part of their produce. The productive powers of labour were improved, and its produce increased in all the different countries of Europe, and together with it the real revenue and wealth of the inhabitants. The commodities of Europe were almost all new to America, and many of those of America were new to Europe. A new set of exchanges, therefore, began to take place which had never been thought of before, and which should naturally have proved as advantageous to the new, as it certainly did to the old continent. The savage injustice of the Europeans rendered an event, which ought to have been beneficial to all, ruinous and destructive to several of those unfortunate countries.
The discovery of a passage to the East Indies by the Cape of Good Hope, which happened much about the same time, opened perhaps a still more extensive range to foreign commerce than even that of America, notwithstanding the greater distance. There were but two nations in America in any respect superior to savages, and these were destroyed almost as soon as discovered. The rest were mere savages. But the empires of China, Indostan, Japan, as well as several others in the East Indies, without having richer mines of gold or silver, were in every other respect much richer, better cultivated, and more advanced in all arts and manufactures than either Mexico or Peru, even though we should credit, what plainly deserves no credit, the exaggerated accounts of the Spanish writers concerning the ancient state of those empires. But rich and civilized nations can always exchange to a much greater value with one another than with savages and barbarians. Europe, however, has hitherto derived much less advantage from its commerce with the East Indies than from that with America. The Portuguese monopolized the East India trade to themselves for about a century, and it was only indirectly and through them that the other nations of Europe could either send out or receive any goods from that country. When the Dutch, in the beginning of the last century, began to encroach upon them, they vested their whole East India commerce in an exclusive company. The English, French, Swedes, and Danes have all followed their example, so that no great nation in Europe has ever yet had the benefit of a free commerce to the East Indies. No other reason need be assigned why it has never been so advantageous as the trade to America, which, between almost every nation of Europe and its own colonies, is free to all its subjects. The exclusive privileges of those East India companies, their great riches, the great favour and protection which these have procured them from their respective governments, have excited much envy against them. This envy has frequently represented their trade as altogether pernicious, on account of the great quantities of silver which it every year exports from the countries from which it is carried on. The parties concerned have replied that their trade, by this continual exportation of silver, might indeed tend to impoverish Europe in general, but not the particular country from which it was carried on; because, by the exportation of a part of the returns to other European countries, it annually brought home a much greater quantity of that metal than it carried out. Both the objection and the reply are founded in the popular notion which I have been just now examining. It is therefore unnecessary to say anything further about either. By the annual exportation of silver to the East Indies, plate is probably somewhat dearer in Europe than it otherwise might have been; and coined silver probably purchases a larger quantity both of labour and commodities. The former of these two effects is a very small loss, the latter a very small advantage; both too insignificant to deserve any part of the public attention. The trade to the East Indies, by opening a market to the commodities of Europe, or, what comes nearly to the same thing, to the gold and silver which is purchased with those commodities, must necessarily tend to increase the annual production of European commodities, and consequently the real wealth and revenue of Europe. That it has hitherto increased them so little is probably owing to the restraints which it every-where labours under.
I thought it necessary, though at the hazard of being tedious, to examine at full length this popular notion that wealth consists in money, or in gold and silver. Money in common language, as I have already observed, frequently signifies wealth, and this ambiguity of expression has rendered this popular notion so familiar to us that even they who are convinced of its absurdity are very apt to forget their own principles, and in the course of their reasonings to take it for granted as a certain and undeniable truth. Some of the best English writers upon commerce set out with observing that the wealth of a country consists, not in its gold and silver only, but in its lands, houses, and consumable goods of all different kinds. In the course of their reasonings, however, the lands, houses, and consumable goods seem to slip out of their memory, and the strain of their argument frequently supposes that all wealth consists in gold and silver, and that to multiply those metals is the great object of national industry and commerce.
The two principles being established, however, that wealth consisted in gold and silver, and that those metals could be brought into a country which had no mines only by the balance of trade, or by exporting to a greater value than it imported, it necessarily became the great object of political œconomy to diminish as much as possible the importation of foreign goods for home consumption, and to increase as much as possible the exportation of the produce of domestic industry. Its two great engines for enriching the country, therefore, were restraints upon importation, and encouragements to exportation.
The restraints upon importation were of two kinds.
First, restraints upon the importation of such foreign goods for home consumption as could be produced at home, from whatever country they were imported.
Secondly, restraints upon the importation of goods of almost all kinds from those particular countries with which the balance of trade was supposed to be disadvantageous.
Those different restraints consisted sometimes in high duties, and sometimes in absolute prohibitions.
Exportation was encouraged sometimes by drawbacks, sometimes by bounties, sometimes by advantageous treaties of commerce with foreign states, and sometimes by the establishment of colonies in distant countries.
Drawbacks were given upon two different occasions. When the home manufactures were subject to any duty or excise, either the whole or a part of it was frequently drawn back upon their exportation; and when foreign goods liable to a duty were imported in order to be exported again, either the whole or a part of this duty was sometimes given back upon such exportation.
Bounties were given for the encouragement either of some beginning manufactures, or of such sorts of industry of other kinds as supposed to deserve particular favour.
By advantageous treaties of commerce, particular privileges were procured in some foreign state for the goods and merchants of the country, beyond what were granted to those other countries.
By established establishment of colonies in distant countries, not only particular privileges, but a monopoly was frequently procured for the goods and merchants of the country which established them.
The two sorts of restraints upon importation above-mentioned, together with these four encouragements to exportation, constitute the six principal means by which the commercial system proposes to increase the quantity of gold and silver in any country by turning the balance of trade in its favour. I shall consider each of them in a particular chapter, and without taking much further notice of their supposed tendency to bring money into the country, I shall examine chiefly what are likely to be the effects of each of them upon the annual produce of its industry. According as they tend either to increase or diminish the value of this annual produce, they must evidently tend either to increase or diminish the real wealth and revenue of the country.

Mercantile system of trade

It’s what we know.
Mercantile Bank celebrates 50 years of growing entrepreneurs.
As an entrepreneur, you’ve established a business through hard work and determination, and Mercantile Bank can help you to take your business to the next level with a “grow your business loan” of up to R250 million. With 50 years’ experience growing entrepreneurs, matched with full banking capabilities and personal attention, Mercantile Bank forms dedicated relationships to grow your business.
Ronnie Apteker.
INTERNET SOLUTIONS (IS)
Michelle Okafor.
MICHELLE OKAFOR DESIGNS.
IGNITE MY POTENTIAL.
Yossi Hasson.
Herman Mashaba.
LEPHATSI INVESTMENTS AND BLACK LIKE ME.
Raymond Ackerman.
Eddy Khosa.
Jafta Claude.
Larry and Bianca Shakinovsky.
Benjy Porter.
Jonathan Novick.
Stephen Brick.
Henry Johnson.
Herschel Jawitz.
Paul Clark.
CLARK CUPIDO ATTORNEYS.
Mandy Cupido.
CLARK CUPIDO ATTORNEYS.
Mike Anderson.
NATIONAL SMALL BUSINESS CHAMBER FOUNDER (NSBC)
Kim Marola and Clarissa Heyman.
Maria Bruni.
M&B TRANSPORT AND SERVICES.
Jorge Da Costa.
IMPROVON PROPERTY GROUP.
Peter Birch.
Luis, Luis Jnr and Rui Magalhaes.
Dr Wayne Nell.
SOUTH AFRICAN BRAKE FLUID AND COOLANTS.
Fernando Marques.
Jannie Mouton.
Jerome Smith.
CIPLA SOUTH AFRICA.
Chris du Toit.
MERCANTILE RENTAL FINANCE.
Michael Gouveia.
Mike du Toit.
POWER PROCESS SYSTEMS.
Natalie Ralphs.
Nick Gennerakis.
SUPERSPAR (KUILSRIVER & ATHLONE)
Paula Caetano.
SÉCULO GROUP OF COMPANIES.
Riaan de Swardt.
INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY CONSULTANTS (INTECON)
Richard Beddow.
Milton and Maria Caldeira.
CALDEIRA AND ASSOCIATES ATTORNEYS.
Younus Karolia.
Sergio Aquino.
Stan Ferreira.
STAN FERREIRA GROUP.
Thabo Seretse.
Mark Barnes.
David Wertheim Aymes.
Jaime Vilela and Mariza Vilela.
Colin Brown.
Zak Calisto.
Barry, Marius and Eben Marais.
MARAIS 4 ARCHITECTS.
Antonio Marques.
Grant Salzwedel.
MERCANTILE PAYMENT SOLUTIONS.
Greg Venter.
Aurelio Fernandes.
FERNANDES BRICK AND BLOCK.
Brent Kairuz.
Ronnie Apteker.
Internet Solutions (IS)
“Say what you mean, and mean what you say”
Back in 1993, while still at Wits University, Ronnie Apteker convinced a few Computer Science graduates to explore what it would mean to connect companies to the Internet. The company they formed was Internet Solutions (IS), which today is the leading Internet Service Provider in South Africa, and Africa. “The inspiration for IS was an innocent and natural thing,” says Ronnie. “It was not some big eureka moment. It was about labours of love and about creating magic in the world. Now, as I look back at the things I have done over the past 20 years or so, I understand clearly the word ‘risk’, which is what entrepreneurs do. I also understand what it means to lead people and to be responsible for the people you lead.”
Those involved in IS in the early days spent late nights, weekends and holidays at the office, which Ronnie still does. “It’s not a big sacrifice to make when you are heading in a clear direction,” adds Ronnie. “The biggest challenge, in my view, always is about people: how do you find good people? In the beginning we persuaded all our friends at university to join us. And they then inspired their friends to also join, and so it grew. The key to any success is very simple: just keep your promises. Say what you mean, and mean what you say.”
Michelle Okafor.
MICHELLE OKAFOR DESIGNS.
“A hands-on approach enables us to give that personal touch”
Michelle Okafor was inspired to become an entrepreneur and founded Michelle Okafor Designs when she visited Nigeria for the first time in 2008. She was so impressed with the prints that she brought back some fabrics to make her dresses. People liked them, so she saw a gap in the market. “After I sold my designs, people would send me pictures and say they received compliments, which motivated me,” says Michelle. “I started to officially operate in 2013; it was a very good year. By 2015 things became slow. I closed the workshop and worked from home. I decided to go back and find work while I picked myself up. I mostly rely on word-of-mouth advertisement. I’ve put in a lot of resources into the business, and haven’t had outside financing.”
Not having a long track record to prove her worth was also a real obstacle to growing the business. One major challenge was to find staff to manufacture or design, and it was difficult finding skilled people who understood the needs of the business. “The size of the business helps us move with the market,” says Michelle. “We have been able to diversify quickly because we are small and agile. We have a handson approach which enables us to give that personal touch. My advice to someone starting out as an entrepreneur is to be realistic with their business and work hard… extra hard.”
IGNITE MY POTENTIAL.
“An entrepreneur gets paid for work done, not for showing up”
Growing up among subsistence farmers in a small village in Zimbabwe made Max Moyo realise that you don’t plant today and reap tomorrow. Rather do the right things and be patient, and you will reap the rewards. This ideal, and Max’s love for oratory, put him in good stead when he entered the corporate world in South Africa, building up a vast experience in sales and strategies backed by a solid educational grounding in business administration, management and accounting. After leaving Allan Gray as Head of Emerging Markets Development, Max started his own business and was fortunate to get Allan Gray as his first client. “Soon I realised that getting a client does not immediately translate to business,” says Max. “It took me a year to sign up my next client.”
It wasn’t long before Max’s business savvy, coupled with his natural gift as a public speaker and motivator, led him to launch Ignite My Potential. Today Max consults widely with a diverse array of organisations and groups from all walks of life. His talks have reached thousands of influential movers and shakers in businesses, communities and universities on a local as well as a global scale. “The principle is that when one person follows a dream, tries something new, or takes a daring leap, everyone nearby feels their passionate energy. And before long, they are making their own daring leaps while simultaneously inspiring others.”
Yossi Hasson.
“You need the ability and determination to stay the course”
Yossi Hasson knew from a young age that he wanted to be a businessman. He got his first PC at the age of 12 and fell in love with the world of technology from there. “In 2004, David, a high school friend, and I wrote a business plan and took it to anyone who was willing to listen. We were able to raise capital of R1 million through David’s brother and a friend of his, who invested in the business. We initially worked from a lounge and then moved to spare 20m 2 office space that was available at the offices of one of our investors. My partner focused on the more technical side of the business while I focused on sales and business development.”
However, they soon realised that the business wasn’t scalable and they were struggling to grow with the people they had. “So we started building products which took twice the cost and twice the time we had anticipated,” adds Yossi. “We had to reduce costs and staff numbers, take significant pay cuts and renegotiate contracts. From the beginning, our investors were helpful. We were 21 when we started and although our investors were not from an IT background, they taught us business principles. Today we have over 5 000 clients and look after one million mailboxes. To be a successful entrepreneur you have to have persistence, perseverance, as well as the ability and determination to stay the course.”
Herman Mashaba.
LEPHATSI INVESTMENTS AND BLACK LIKE ME.
“Get into an industry you really understand”
Herman Mashaba was a second-year student at the University of the North in 1980 when the university shut down. With no degree or income, he worked for several companies for about 30 months before deciding to buy a car and become a commission sales representative. He saw that black women wanted to perm their hair and grabbed the opportunity to provide them with products aimed specifically at them. “I started the business with three partners and my wife who joined me from the start,” says Herman. “Having the right product with the right provocative and eye-catching name such as Black Like Me caught the market. Our product created a sense of belonging, dignity and self-respect for black women.”
Then in November 1993 their factory in Mabopane was torched. “This proved a great challenge for the survival of the business,” adds Herman. “For over a year I couldn’t supply some of my products, and this set me back for about two to three years. At a time like this, consumers won’t wait until you fix the crisis and of course competitors will take advantage of the situation. But we persevered and through hard work and dedication we came out on top. My advice to someone starting their own business is to be vigilant; do not take things for granted and get into an industry you really understand.”
Raymond Ackerman.
“Work mad and passionately, and people will back you”
In his own words, “Ten percent capital and 90 percent guts” is what it took for Raymond Ackerman to start Pick n Pay in 1967. He was at the low ebb in his career, having just lost his job at Checkers, and had returned to Cape Town from his Johannesburg base. Once back in the Mother City, he started negotiations for four small shops – called Pick n Pay. “I borrowed money from the bank and got shareholders to back me,” recalls Raymond. “I moved from Johannesburg to get away from the big chains, otherwise we might have gone down. Things went well through a lot of hard work and lots of man hours. We were growing and went public early. We got many shareholders in and grew that way. We opened up in new markets and in 1975 we started with the Hypermarket approach.”
It was when Nelson Mandela became president in 1994 that opened up new opportunities for the group. “We opened franchising and today approximately half of P n P is franchised, enabling the people to own their own stores,” adds Raymond. “I have always been very positive and hopeful about South Africa. I’ve always been on the side of the consumer. I’ve fought issues with suppliers on price fixing and I fought the Nationalist government to cut the price of petrol and prevent price fixing on agricultural products. My advice to someone starting their own business? Have something people need. Work mad and passionately, and people will back you. And always find new ways of helping your consumers.”
Eddy Khosa.
“Have a vision and a good strategy”
After working for a multinational leading hotel for many years, and as the first black general manager, Eddy Khosa felt he had reached a point where he could take a risk on what he’d learnt, and make a success in the hospitality industry. “To start up, I negotiated with the family to use the family house in Parktown and convert the rest of the rooms into guest rooms,” says Eddy. “This meant my whole family had to live in one room. My first challenge was getting the necessary permits, grading and the finance. From the outset I took a decision not to earn a salary. There was no guarantee that the business would work, as I was competing against big brands with years of building a reputation.”
In 2008, Eddy opened a lodge in Warrenton with 30 rooms which seemed a good proposition at the time. But then the recession came and he had little business. Fortunately, he decided not to finance via a bank so he was able to keep the property. “I always say that business is like the weather, it can be unpredictable, we cannot foresee everything,” adds Eddy. “My advice for anyone starting their own business would be to have a vision and a good strategy. Also, it is essential to be flexible enough to amend your strategy when needed. Focus on creating value for customers and suppliers and build something that can be sustained by domestic market demand.”
Jafta Claude.
“Be committed and give it your all”
Jafta Claude became an entrepreneur by chance while he was working at Eskom as part of the first intake of black apprentices. He was the first black supervisor and headed the aircon division. In 1992, the Managing Director decided to get rid of all the auxiliary services and asked if he wanted to buy the aircon business. Jafta obliged because it was the only division making money, but he couldn’t afford to pay the price. “However, we came to a payment arrangement and I took over the business and named it Rotac Air-Conditioning,” says Jafta. “I was computer illiterate but had been taught the basics. I paid Rotac off in three months as the business was doing well. After that there was no looking back”.
As Sasol Vikings, Jafta’s company invests in a variety of industries including petroleum, furniture, clothing and property development. The key to Jafta’s success? “My commitment to growing my business interests by working hard and putting everything into it. My faith in God and staying humble, together with the help and support I have had for the past 20 years from Mercantile Bank. If I had one piece of advice for aspiring entrepreneurs it would be to venture into something you like doing. Then you will be committed and give it your all – no pain, no gain.”
“Be realistic, persistent and serve your clients with integrity”
Although CJ Steyn came from a farming background, he decided to venture into the business world of trading by importing and exporting ferrous and non-ferrous metals from Africa to India and China. “I used my credit card with a limit of R3 000 as starting capital,” says Steyn. “I bought my first product from friends who were already in the industry and with enough trust in me, they gave me a chance to buy on credit from them. I started building relationships abroad (India, China etc.). When the recession struck in 2009 my business totally collapsed. Trying to survive financially and to put food on the table, with the help of family and colleagues I went to Angola selling potatoes and onions. Those were really tough financial times.” Steyn would take potatoes and onions by truck to Angola and sell the product from there. He opened his first shop in a shanty and for nearly six months he lived in a vehicle with his main diet being potatoes cooked on an open fire.
“When I returned from Angola I started a small logistics company transporting ore from the Northern Cape to the various ports. With my already established international relationships I started a new venture within the mineral and mining industry,” adds Steyn. “In 2013 I started working with Mercantile Bank. With their help and unique ability to see potential in business opportunities, the Nexus Group was born. I think we at Nexus can owe our success to being realistic, persistent, having a phenomenal financial partner (Mercantile Bank) and serving our clients with passion and integrity. For anyone just starting out, I’d advise them to conduct proper market research to make sure there is a need for their product or services - whatever their business may be. Be realistic and secure a financial partner willing to stand by you and most importantly, willing to sacrifice a lot by working long and ungrateful hours.”
Larry and Bianca Shakinovsky.
“Relook, rethink and consider all options but never give up”
Pentafloor was established in 2005 by Larry and Bianca Shakinovsky. Since joining forces with other prominent brands, Pentafloor is the largest access flooring company in South Africa. “After being employed and practically running the business ourselves, we believed we had the skills and knowledge to start our own business,” says Bianca. “We selected the fi eld of manufacturing/construction/supply as we have always had a passion for sales and supplying of goods. When we started, Larry was in sales and I was in finance. Funding was our main challenge. Most financial institutions (banks) turned down our applications for financial assistance. To get clients on board proved to be very tricky without a track record.”
But both Bianca and Larry were determined to make a success of their new company, despite the many obstacles in their way. “We’ve always looked for new, innovative ways to grow and expand our business,” adds Bianca. “There is no time to rest, because you always need to be one step ahead of the others. The bad times are when the construction industry quietens and the rand weakens. Then we have to cut our cloth accordingly until the position improves. The greatest advice I would give entrepreneurs is ‘never give up’. No matter how hard things get, relook, rethink and consider all options but never give up.”
Benjy Porter.
“Don’t get caught up in mishaps; learn and move on”
When Benjy Porter bought into and became the CEO of Legal & Tax, this was the opportunity he’d been waiting for. “It was a small business – we started with only 30 people - but we realised it had great future potential,” says Benjy. “The emerging democracy was opening up new opportunities to offer the mass market affordable insurance and lifestyle products, and that’s what we provide. In the early days the biggest personal challenge was to find money to own enough meaningful equity. That’s when Mercantile Bank came to my assistance. We’ve had a very good relationship because we have a mutual understanding of what is needed to help a business grow and prosper.”
Benjy is the first to acknowledge that to be successful in business, it can’t be a one-man show. “Having the best people around you, supportive and loyal people, is essential to the success of any business or venture. It’s important to cultivate a culture where people feel proud to be part of the company, and to find the best people and partners, even if it’s expensive. For anyone starting a business I would say – believe in what you are doing – don’t stop, keep going, stick to your plan. Above all, don’t get caught up in mishaps; learn and move on.”
Jonathan Novick.
“Do what you are good at, be resolute and never give in”
As an attorney by profession, Jonathan Novick worked at Investec until the opportunity arose in the mid-1970s to buy an estate agency. Jonathan had always been interested in the property industry, and the prospect of finding people the perfect homes to live in looked like it could be profitable and exciting. Apart from being part of a highly competitive marketplace, Jonathan found that a three-person partnership did not work so he bought out his partners in 2009 and took on a new partner. Between them they took Vered Estates to greater heights. “Apart from my partner, I had incredibly strong support from my wife during this difficult time,” says Jonathan. “We were also fortunate enough to deal with Mercantile Bank, who made it their business to understand ours. When we needed to make some growth calls, Mercantile participated in helping us achieve our aspirations.”
Like most successful entrepreneurs, Jonathan credits much of his success to hard work and a strong belief in doing something you really love. Jonathan reiterates this by saying: “Whatever you get into, do something you really enjoy. It is great to do something you are passionate about. Do what you are good at, be resolute and never give in, and you’ll be pleasantly surprised how easily success comes your way.”
Stephen Brick.
“Take advantage of opportunities and get rid of bad options”
Stephen Brick was involved in a number of businesses until in 2009 he bought into Vered Estates. It was here that his entrepreneurial spirit came to the fore. “I never went to university but did business courses,” says Stephen. “I’m a typical hands-on person and I really liked the challenge that confronted us at Vered. We bought the company in January 2009 and a month later the market crashed. The banks stopped giving bonds and clients wouldn’t buy. But we weren’t prepared to retrench people. We just put our heads down and continued marketing and advertising. We encouraged our staff to do better and still promoted them.”
Like most successful entrepreneurs, Stephen credits much of the company’s success to hard work and a strong belief in doing something he really loves. “When we started we were tight with finances and became smarter for it,” adds Stephen. “The moral support we had from our families also helped us to succeed, as did Mercantile Bank who understands me and my business, and treats us like more than just a number. My advice to someone just starting out would be to go with your gut feeling; take advice from only a select few. Identify the good and the bad of every situation to take advantage of opportunities and get rid of bad options. Also, relationships are very important, especially with your bank.”
Henry Johnson.
“Work hard at doing the right work”
Henry Johnson, an accountant by trade, owned a small engineering company with a partner, and in 1996 he was introduced to the Australian Pirtek brand. “I always wanted to attach myself to a specific product, and franchising gave me the perfect opportunity,” says Henry. “Pirtek makes high quality hydraulic hosing and fittings, so when it came to South Africa in 1998, I knew it was something to get involved in. In 2006 I approached Pirtek to buy a franchise, and by 2007 I was up and running with my first operation on the West Rand. The initial challenge, apart from funding, lay in finding technically qualified people who understood the product because our field requires specialist skills.”
As with all new enterprises, Henry had to fi rst find a bank that understood his business and provide the necessary financial support. This he got from Mercantile Bank. “Mercantile has been very good to me,” adds Henry. “As an entrepreneur, you know there are no guarantees; I shared my vision with them and they backed me as I had built credibility with them. When we started the business, our sales stood at R1.7m per annum. They are now in excess of R55m. My advice to anyone starting a business would be to do a lot of homework and planning, be concise about the product you’re going to supply and work hard at doing the right work.”
Herschel Jawitz.
“A deep sense of commitment to achieve”
It was a negative experience in buying his first home and an unwavering commitment to service excellence that inspired current Chairman Eskel Jawitz to start his own estate agency in 1969. Originally known as Eskel Jawitz Real Estate, the company rebranded to Jawitz Properties in 2005 to reflect the changing nature and the leadership in the company. 46 years later, Jawitz Properties is a second-generation family business run by Herschel Jawitz. “My entrepreneurial flair came from watching from a young age what it takes to start and grow a business with energy, passion and a never-say-die attitude,” says Herschel. “I was lucky enough to have that experience with my father.”
As a family business, one of the biggest challenges was building an organisation that had the feel and the founding values of a family business, and still achieve its goals. “Our business, like many private and family businesses, has meant sacrifices and challenges for the family, especially in difficult times,” adds Herschel. “I think that my success as an entrepreneur is having a deep sense of commitment to what I want to achieve, a strong belief in the business idea and the ability in most instances to turn the idea into an actual business that makes money. I’m proud of the fact that today the company has 50 offices countrywide and employs over 500 people.”
Paul Clark.
CLARK CUPIDO ATTORNEYS.
“Have a high work ethic and employ the right people”
Paul Clark worked from 1993 for the national law firm Smith Tabata Buchanan Boyes (STBB), where he was an executive director. When the entrepreneurial bug bit him in 2008, he started his own company which he named Paul Clark Attorneys. Two years later he was joined by Mandy Cupido, also an ex-director of STBB, and together they formed Clark Cupido Attorneys. “I would never go back to the big corporates,” says Paul. “Being my own boss and being ‘smaller’, I am now able to focus on our clients by providing more specialised, individual attention. Of course, the risk of leaving a big organisation is that there is no guarantee that your clients will follow you. Luckily in my case I ‘cherry picked’ and took over each and every client that I targeted. Also, leaving the security of a high income for zero income is a great motivator.”
Through hard work and putting in long hours, within a year they were back to the same income levels they enjoyed at the big law firm. “Finding staff wasn’t difficult, as both Mandy and I were well known in the industry,” says Paul. “For any new business, funding is always a problem. When you’re on your own, banks look at you differently. The ‘big 5’, which I knew intimately at the ‘big firm’, just dropped me but Mercantile Bank was willing to help me and showed good faith. This has been a very effective relationship for my business. We owe our success to a number of things, such as working harder and smarter, ensuring effective time management, having a high work ethic and employing the right people. The experience Mandy and I gained working in the big corporates has been a big contributor to our success.”
Mandy Cupido.
CLARK CUPIDO ATTORNEYS.
“Mix with the people who can give you business”
Although she was a director at a large organisation, Mandy Cupido wanted to offer clients a highly specialised service where she could champion the rights of the consumer without being compromised by the demands of the corporate property heavyweights. After flying solo for four years, she joined forces with Paul Clark and in March 2015, Clark Cupido was born. “Paul and I complement one another as business partners,” says Mandy. “As we both have different strengths, this means that together we are able to offer our clients a specialised, top-end service, backed by vast legal and banking experience and expertise. Also, having both run our own successful businesses, we were able to avoid a few of the teething problems that most entrepreneurs experience.”
However, the company had to focus hard on finding a variety of new clients who could sustain the business. “As an entrepreneur, your private life inevitably suffers as your business is one of your main priorities,” adds Mandy. “There are long hours and shorter holidays, but the sacrifice and effort are definitely worth it. I also think that a key element of my success was my experience in a corporate environment, as it gave me an excellent grounding in my profession. It is easier to be a successful entrepreneur if you are familiar with the industry. To be successful you must work at your business consistently, work hard and work smart. And mix with the people who can give you business.”
Mike Anderson.
NATIONAL SMALL BUSINESS CHAMBER FOUNDER (NSBC)
“Turn every negative into a positive”
Founded by Mike Anderson in 2008, the National Small Business Chamber (NSBC), a non-profit membership organisation, is one of the world’s fastest growing and most successful organisations of its kind. Its real purpose is fostering the sustainability and growth of the SME sector, driving job creation, alleviating unemployment and nurturing the country’s entrepreneurial spirit. What inspired Mike to become an entrepreneur? “I liked the idea of controlling my destiny,” says Mike. “I believed the smarter and harder I worked, the more success and happiness I would have. If I could help one small business in one small way then I would be successful. Now, seven years later, more than 90 000 SMEs are part of the NSBC.”
It was Mike’s driving force and the desire to keep going positively that kept him on the road to success. “In order to survive and grow, it meant working 18 hours a day, seven days a week,” Mike adds. “We also needed to have support from the corporate sector. This was our biggest challenge. However, slowly but surely, South Africa’s biggest brands believed in the vision and came on board as national partners. By building a strong SME customer base and attracting big corporate clients, this has allowed us to steer away from funding. My advice to someone starting their own business? Turn every negative into a positive. In this way, failures and obstacles become a way of life on the success path. Don’t lose opportunities due to the fear of failure.”
Kim Marola and Clarissa Heyman.
“Start off small and have a sound business plan”
After working 13 years representing Robertet, a fragrance and flavours manufacturer, Clarissa Heyman had built enough experience to go on her own. Because she was passionate about the fragrance industry, she approached Robertet to become their agent in South Africa. All she needed was the finance to start her own business. “I had to start everything from scratch,” says Clarissa. “I used my access bond which was nearly at nil. I managed to pay back the bond, then loaned it again to buy land. I paid it up and loaned it again to design and build offices and a warehouse. Then I settled the bond once and for all.”
Clarissa’s main challenge was the aspect of stepping into the unknown. She’d never experienced financial challenges as she’d always had an access bond. In terms of employing staff, Kim Merola became her business partner handling the financial aspect of the business. “Currently we are challenged by the exchange rate. Customers are in very tight situations financially and, in our type of business, cash flow is key. It can be hard to get customers to accept price adjustments brought on by forex changes. My advice to entrepreneurs starting their own business? Don’t borrow too much money. Don’t overspend. Invest back into your business. Start off small and have a sound business plan.”
“Setting goals is the easy part, delivering on those is the hardest”
Daltron Forge, which specialises in cold forming of various specialised parts for the coal mining industry, was founded by Dale Cox who wanted to prove that he could be more innovative than the competition. “I had a vision that I was determined to fulfil,” says Dale. “I presented my business plan to a bank and with their approval I purchased two 21-year-old CNC machines. In the beginning the issues centred around survival and building up a consistent client base. Many long hours were spent on the factory floor creating a reputation of reliable quality at fair value. Without my faith in the Lord, I could not have endured the challenging and difficult times, and I give all the credit for our success in the past and present to my wife and to God.”
As the company grew, the importance of a strong, trusting relationship with the company’s financial backers became paramount. “It’s important to keep your bank informed and deliver, at all costs, on what you have proposed,” adds Dale. “They are crucial in your growth stage and you cannot expect them to take all the risk. We are proud of our relationship with Mercantile Bank and give credit to them for taking us to new heights. My advice to those starting their own business? Be realistic; setting targets and goals is the easy part, following through and delivering on those is the hardest. I was merciless in this aspect and it proved successful.”
Maria Bruni.
M&B TRANSPORT AND SERVICES.
“Adapting consistently to clients’ needs”
From the humble beginnings of only one eight-ton vehicle operating solely on the Johannesburg to Swaziland route, M&B Transport has undergone a massive transformation in the 17 years of its existence. No fewer than 30 vehicles currently operate around-the-clock in cross-border services to and from Botswana, Lesotho and Swaziland. “We started our company in 1998 and got the opportunity to transport printed marketing material and flyers,” says Maria Bruni, MD of M&B Transport. “I started with my brother, Mick, who was an engineer at Anglo at the same time. In 2004 we bought out M&B Transport and eventually left to start doing business full time.”
The new company found it very challenging because it had a blue chip company as a client and wanted to carry on without affecting delivery. Also, there were lots of politics and regulations to deal with. “Africa is not for sissies,” adds Maria. “We know this after 11 years of operating. Fortunately the family helped us with financing in the beginning. We were able to finance all our vehicles and we bought our own building. We took over staff from the company we bought. Constantly having to evolve is key in our industry. Our success is based on adapting consistently to clients’ needs and the market environment. We form strong relationships with clients and good relationships with all stakeholders, with respect and understanding.”
Jorge Da Costa.
IMPROVON PROPERTY GROUP.
“Don’t have a plan B, be committed to making it work”
It was way back in 1994 that Jorge Da Costa together with his three brothers, founded the Improvon Property Group. Through market research they identified logistics warehouses as a growth market, and today they are the leading logistics property developers in South Africa. “I have always been in the construction business,” says Jorge. “I’m not one to take orders but one to make things happen. Starting the company wasn’t easy because we were an unknown and operating in a new sector that was not well known. Finding capital was a challenge. We had to do everything ourselves as we couldn’t afford to hire staff – from doing building work on site, admin and bookkeeping, and so on. The fi rst five years were very intense and we had to sacrifice family time and luxuries.”
When asked what he believes to be the key to his success as an entrepreneur, Jorge replies, “The way you think; if you think it’s too difficult and you won’t make it, you’ll fail. If you believe in yourself and think smart, you’ll succeed. I have a possibility mentality. It’s about a can-do attitude. Make up your mind and reach a point of no return to start your business. Don’t have a plan B, be committed to making it work, give it everything. Commitment should drive you to success. Above all, honour your own commitment.”
Peter Birch.
“Set realistic goals and don’t give up until you reach them”
It was Peter Birch’s father who inspired him to become an entrepreneur. From an early age he drummed into Peter the words ‘be your own boss’. He created the opportunity for Peter and his wife to start their own property management business. “We later sold the business and for a number of years I was a consultant,” says Peter. “During that time my now partners and I had significant exposure to various aspects of the private security industry in South Africa and when the opportunity to start a security business presented itself we grasped it. Our credo was, and still is, ‘what the mind can conceive and believe it can achieve’. Having said that, we quickly faced the reality that the big banks don’t embrace entrepreneurs. All except Mercantile Bank who believed in us and our venture.”
In the past eight years their partnership with Mercantile has allowed the company to grow and reach heights that would not otherwise have been possible. “Challenges are opportunities in disguise,” adds Peter. “It’s a cliché but the reality is with faith and a positive approach you can do anything. The important things for any entrepreneur to remember are to have faith, remain positive, choose the right partners, treat people with respect, be honest and admit to mistakes and fix them fast. Also, set realistic goals and don’t give up until you reach them; then set new ones.”
Luis, Luis Jnr and Rui Magalhaes.
“Hard work, good planning and research”
Luis Magalhaes (Senior) arrived from Zimbabwe in 1983 and through his experience, quality workmanship and honesty established himself in the building industry. Mag Builders CC was established in 1985, which became Mag Developments in 2000 when Luis (Junior), with degrees in Quantity Surveying/ Construction Management, joined his father. The company has not looked back since then. “We have been very fortunate to have my father’s experience, and through Mercantile Bank, who he has banked with since 1983, we have had continuous support,” says Luis. “To add to this, we have my younger brother, Rui, who is a Chartered Accountant. Rui takes care of all financial aspects for the Group. So we have a good team.”
It is well known that the building industry is subjected to fluctuations in tandem with the state of the economy. “When interest rates were very high it made it difficult for builders and developers to do business,” adds Luis. “But we managed to ride out the tough times and I’m pleased to say that the business is thriving. As an entrepreneur I’d say that we could base our success on hard work, good planning and research. The important thing for anyone starting a business is to believe in your product and be totally focused on successfully meeting the requirements of your customers. No matter what it takes or what you have to sacrifice along the way.”
Dr Wayne Nell.
SOUTH AFRICAN BRAKE FLUID AND COOLANTS.
“Manage your costs well and have good financial discipline”
How does a dentist turn into an entrepreneur and start a company blending and bottling brake fluid and engine coolant? “My patients talk to me about many things during our consultations,” says Dr Wayne Nell, founder of South African Brake Fluid and Coolants. “One of them brought to my attention the opportunity to buy the business via a liquidation sale. Because I’ve always had the entrepreneurial spirit, I decided to take it. This was in 2003. I had no product knowledge so I approached my professor in chemistry from college to get product understanding. My father, who had been in construction, always stressed the importance of a good disciplined, hard-working ethical background. The equipment was dilapidated, but Mercantile Bank helped us to buy more machines, equipment and raw materials.”
As a small business just starting out, Wayne could not afford to hire staff, so he had to drive around the country delivering the products to customers. “I’ve had good support,” adds Wayne. “I’ve always had partners who have been with us for a long time. Other opportunities have opened up and I am in the process of acquiring another business. To be successful you have to believe in your company and in yourself. Most importantly, you must be prepared to work hard and smarter, every day. You must also manage your costs well and have good financial discipline – even if it means you’re a bit of a control freak in this area.”
Fernando Marques.
“Stand for what you believe in”
Established as a small, family-run business in 1997 by Fernando Marques, Paramount Trailers is today one of South Africa’s leading manufacturers and refurbishers of commercial trailers. “I was a Financial Director for ERF Trucks and Business but I wanted to become my own boss,” says Fernando. “So with my brother and partner, I went into the panel beating business. I then started a trailer business, bought my partner out and I dedicated myself to making the business a success. I started the business with nothing but sweat and tears. Nine years ago I brought my son, who is a CA, into the business. We moved to Kliprivier two years ago and since then, the business has grown considerably.”
While Fernando focuses on the management of the business, his son handles production. “An important factor for any start-up business is finding the right bank to support you through thick or thin,” adds Fernando. “In this regard, I’ve had a strong relationship with Mercantile Bank for over 36 years. The advice I would give to anyone starting a business would be: believe you can do it. And stand for what you believe in. Have good common sense and a good sense of humour. Don’t leave till tomorrow what can be done today. No matter what field you’re in, learn about other industries. Don’t start with the rewards – start with the groundwork. And remember, a can-do attitude will take you a very long way.”
Jannie Mouton.
“Build a reputation first – don’t be over-ambitious”
After working for a stockbroking company (S&K) for 13 years, Jannie Mouton decided to join forces with some loyal friends and start their own company, PSG Group. They found that there were always challenges to face, especially with stock markets always moving up and down. But they slowly built up the company. They discovered that you’ll always find opportunities when you put your head down and look for them. “The key is to surround yourself with good, honest and hard-working people,” says Jannie. “Give them a stake in the company – that’s ultimate empowerment. And give your people the power to make decisions.”
In 1997 the company concluded a BEE transaction with a BEE partner but never used this to obtain favour or contracts from government. ‘We don’t look for shortcuts,” adds Jannie. “Trust is also a key factor. If through the years people trust you, you build credibility and you can attract funds. To any entrepreneur starting a business I would say, build a reputation first – don’t be over-ambitious. There is finance available in South Africa, but you need to prove yourself. Start small, do something well and make it your focus. There is no instant rise to the top. There is no easy way.”
Jerome Smith.
CIPLA SOUTH AFRICA.
“Don’t get waylaid by failures and mishaps”
Coming from a family of doctors and medical professionals, it seemed only natural that one day Jerome Smith would start his own pharmaceutical company. This he did in 1993 – his aim was to help make healthcare accessible and more affordable to all South Africans – as such, his company was one of the few generic companies in the early years of generics. “Getting credit in South Africa was a huge challenge,” says Jerome. “But Cipla India gave me extended credit terms which completely allowed us to grow extremely rapidly. But it wasn’t always easy. There were many sleepless nights. It was very difficult, but we all pulled together to make it work. Today, I am still close to many doctors and pharmacists who helped us build our business.”
Three years later Jerome approached Cipla India to be his partner in South Africa and this partnership lasted until 2014 when Cipla India bought out Cipla South Africa for over R5 billion. Jerome is quick to give credit to the people with whom he worked. “I was working with people with the same single-mindedness and perseverance as myself. We knew what we wanted to achieve and were happy to learn from others. If I had one piece of advice for someone just starting out it would be to trust your instincts, know your subject and don’t get waylaid by failures and mishaps.”
Chris du Toit.
MERCANTILE RENTAL FINANCE.
“Corporates don’t want to be your guinea pig”
Always fascinated by buying and selling, it could be said that Chris du Toit was born with an entrepreneurial flair in his blood. He had a mission and he was totally committed to achieving it. Chris honed his business skills in a company where he worked and was mentored; within 10 years he’d risen from a salesman to MD. In 2001 Chris decided to start his own company with his brother, Pierre. “In those days none of the banks wanted to fund young entrepreneurs,” says Chris. “So we decided to buy transactions from the suppliers and sell to banks. We didn’t draw a salary for 18 months but realised we were building for the future.”
Chris admits that the life of an entrepreneur can be very lonely. Initially it was difficult to find good people and no one wanted to take a chance on products offered by a new business. “Corporates don’t want to be your guinea pig,” adds Chris. “That’s why references are so important. There are many essential factors that help build a successful company. Among them are honesty, authenticity, working cleverly, consistently doing the basics right and perseverance.” In 2011 Mercantile approached Chris and Pierre with the view of partnering them on building a billion-rand portfolio. This has proved to be an extremely successful partnership. His advice to young entrepreneurs is to remember to have fun. “The day you stop having fun is the day you must hang up your boots.”
Michael Gouveia.
“Be fair to your business and your employees”
Michael Gouveia’s grandfather farmed the land, that Michael is currently farming, some 70 years ago, so farming is most definitely in Michael’s DNA. ”My father, who has been farming for over 50 years, is now still farming with me on that same land,” says Michael. “He advised me to study further but I was not interested. As commercial farmers, we grow various vegetables for the Germiston community. It is a family business, with my father being the main decision maker and our voice of reason and wisdom. We’re faced with challenges every day, what with machinery breaking down, pricing issues and employee issues; but we always bounce back and persevere. I always make a point to negotiate and discuss issues with our employees.”
However, the last three years have been particularly challenging due to hail damage on the farm. “This caused crippling losses that almost shut us down,” adds Michael. “We save and store in advance so the reserves have been key in seeing us through the tough times. We still feel the tough times but Mercantile Bank has always supported us. They know who I am and are always ready to help. I think our success is due to hard work, negotiating fairly and not giving up through thick or thin. For someone starting out I would advise them to find a balance, don’t be greedy, persevere, and be fair to your business and your employees.”
Mike du Toit.
POWER PROCESS SYSTEMS.
“Do what’s right for you according to your own situation and goals”
With money inherited from his late mother’s estate, Mike du Toit started Power Process Systems with his father. However, after three years through unfortunate circumstances (his father’s death), Mike found himself in charge of a business that was in a deep financial crisis and had little prospects. “I had no choice but to make it work,” says Mike. “The bank retracted all credit facilities, and suppliers cut our account limits. It was very tough. I’m sure many people thought the business would inevitably stagger and fall. We had to prove ourselves in everything we did and to everyone we were involved with – and we had to do this over and over again. Some were accommodating, but many were not.”
At that time the electrical networks in the townships were badly vandalised and there seemed to be very little consistency regarding the street kiosk and metering cabinets. That’s when the company developed a Shroud, which ensured that the electrical network had consistency through any particular area. Since then innovation has become part of the company’s strength. Mike’s advice to future entrepreneurs? “Don’t take anyone else’s advice as gospel. You can ask for advice from someone you respect, then take your situation into consideration. Find out as much about the topic in question as possible and make your own decision. Essentially, do what’s right for you according to your own situation and goals.”
Natalie Ralphs.
“Keep your feet on the ground and never give up”
As one of the six shareholders of Lite Optec, founded by Marc-Ager in 1987, Natalie Ralphs’ inspiration comes from an enormous drive and passion for success. “My desire has always been to contribute to society and make a difference. The development and upskilling of people is a deep passion and I can see the incredible benefits of this to our company and the bottom line. In the early days, we were faced with the normal challenges of trying to get a company off the ground. Building a successful business is not easy, it requires long hours, passion, patience and discipline. We have been fortunate in that the shareholder base has always been very solid and supportive, from a financial aspect and operational perspective.”
“The key to our success has been our ability to provide the best possible products, service and attention to our clients, suppliers and business partners,” continues Natalie. “Our company has maintained a very strong emphasis on maintaining an ethical, stable and supportive dealer structure, as well as loyally promoting the product lines and the intellectual property of our international and local brand names. We have created that teamwork which has been essential in our company’s functioning and success. My advice to future entrepreneurs? Keep your feet on the ground, manage your cash flow carefully and never give up. Value and take care of your employees, who will then take care of your clients.”
Nick Gennerakis.
SUPERSPAR (KUILSRIVER & ATHLONE)
“Don’t be afraid to do things differently”
Nick Gennerakis and his two brothers, whose parents emigrated from Greece, grew up in Vanderbijlpark. “I learnt retail with my father who had a café in Jo’burg in the late 1970’s and early 1980’s,” says Nick. “I fell in love with supermarkets, in particular with Spar. I knew then that this was what I wanted to pursue as a career. It was my father who inspired me to believe in myself. I worked for my uncle at his Spar store in Vaalpark for five years, then with his help and some cash that I had saved, I bought Hout Bay Kwikspar in Cape Town in June 1994.”
Hout Bay Kwikspar was a year-old store and technically bankrupt. With 12 staff, and Nick’s wife, Celeste, they worked the business seven days a week for two years. “Our biggest challenges we faced as the store grew were cash flow and finding good people,” adds Nick. “We kept on having to upgrade the business and plough all cash resources back into the store. But it paid off in the end.” Nick now owns two Superspars and employs approximately 450 people. Nick’s advice to anyone starting their own business? “Be innovative. Don’t be afraid to do things differently. Push the boundaries. Never, ever give up. Be extraordinary every day.”
Paula Caetano.
SÉCULO GROUP OF COMPANIES.
“Believe and have confidence in yourself”
Século was founded in 1963 by António Braz, a banana distributor who believed it was important for the Portuguese community to have a voice in Southern Africa. Having worked in the Século Group for over 30 years and now the Group president, Paula Caetano is proud of the fact that Século newspaper has affirmed itself as one of the most renowned publications in the Portuguese diaspora and the longest standing. “The legacy left to me by my late husband, Horácio Roque, has been the force of inspiration to keep alive the Portuguese culture with a spirit of patriotism through a prestigious newspaper,” says Paula.
“I am very proud to be the president of this group of companies,” continues Paula. “I’m also deeply honoured to head such an extraordinary, knowledgeable and skilled team, who over the years have worked very hard in contributing greatly towards the success of the Group. I think that success comes through setting clear objectives, choosing your goals carefully and working hard to achieve them. Be honest with people and enjoy the good in them. Believe and have confidence in yourself. Follow the trends and keep in touch with the constant changes in the world. A good dose of resilience is needed to overcome the obstacles that we have to face daily, but being able to rise above adversity can make a difference in your life, and you’ll be a stronger person for it.”
Riaan de Swardt.
INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY CONSULTANTS (INTECON)
“If decisions do not work, change them”
In 1995 the South African Reserve Bank published a National Framework and Strategy document that introduced the concept of System Operators. Riaan de Swardt, a practicing attorney in Pretoria, realised that a unique business opportunity now existed. He approached software development companies, suppliers of point-ofsale devices, a transaction switch company and the old Boland Bank. “When the parties were convinced that the business opportunity existed, and various legal agreements had been put in place, Intecon was created (on paper)”, says Riaan. “I obtained funding through an access bond on my house, rented conservative office space and bought office furniture and computers on a liquidation sale.”
In February Riaan started working at Intecon on a full-time basis with a total staff count of four including Riaan. The early days required various sacrifices and without the support of his wife who assisted, supported and never stopped believing in Riaan, Intecon would have failed. “Having been an attorney and starting as an entrepreneur was difficult initially. The markets felt that negotiations required an attorney to represent them and all agreements were scrutinised,” adds Riaan. “I think the key to my success was my legal and commercial background, attention to detail, ability to clearly document business requirements and dealing with software houses. As an entrepreneur, if you plan to execute within six months, you have to have access to funding carrying the business for at least 12 months… and always have a plan B – if decisions do not work, change them.”
Richard Beddow.
“Focus on the simple, clear and unique benefits”
After nine years working in London, Richard Beddow noticed that there might be a niche in the SA Forex market to provide competitive rates and tailored risk advice to SMEs. In 2003, with the backing of Mercantile Bank, who saw ‘the bigger picture’, which no other bank did at that time, and together with FX Admin expert, Sadhana Singh, Richard launched ForexPeople. “We took a tiny office in Rivonia and set about cold calling 20 new companies per day, every day,” recalls Richard. “Many people said that we had no chance taking on the commercial banks, and when things were slow it was easy to get disheartened. Fortunately the business was not capital intensive. It just required tenacity, belief and disciplined activity levels.”
Apart from their unwavering belief in their concept and their determination, the key factor to the company’s success was in focusing on the simple, clear and unique benefits to their clients, not making them fit into their systems and not focusing on the money side of things. “My one piece of advice to someone just starting a business would be not to allow their confidence to be dented by the naysayers – and there are sure to be lots of them. Also, if you sit in front of enough people and sell your product or service with enough conviction, you will always find someone who will buy into you and what you are offering.”
Milton and Maria Caldeira.
CALDEIRA AND ASSOCIATES ATTORNEYS.
“Be patient and manage your cash flow well”
It was Milton Caldeira’s family and friends in the community who inspired Milton to start his own business. “We started off as a husband and wife team, myself and Maria,” says Milton. “We got into business straight out of our articles. It was in May 1987 when we decided to take the plunge and opened our office on the 27th floor of the Carlton Centre. We had no money, but Mercantile Bank gave us a R25 000 loan with my father standing surety for us. We bought furniture and equipment. Soon after that, we moved out of the Carlton Centre and we bought a floor in Ilpa House, Commissioner Street. In 2002, as the CBD’s appeal started to deteriorate, many of our clients became uncomfortable to drive into the city centre, so we relocated to Bruma. As with most new businesses, finance was always an issue. “We had no surplus to hire staff,” adds Milton. “We had to do everything ourselves. Also, we did not have a mentor so we had to reach out to more experienced people. But we survived and succeeded. I’m proud to say many of our clients that we had in the beginning are still with us because of the relationships we have built with them. For anyone starting out, I would suggest that they be patient. Manage your cash flow well. And be honest – walk in integrity. You stand and fall by your reputation. There’s no shortcut. It’s all about hard work and being true to your business and yourself.”
Younus Karolia.
“Have the right human resources”
Younus Karolia is a chartered accountant by profession. His journey in the pharmaceutical industry began when he forged a partnership with a leader in pharmaceutical distribution, which led to a vertical integration of the business and the launch of a fully fledged pharmaceutical company, Austell.
Since then, Austell has branched out into providing new and truly innovative solutions that offer genuine advantages over the current treatment conventions. As a result, they have been one of the top three fastest growing pharmaceutical companies in South Africa for the past five years. Austell’s success relies on the strength of two key components – the remarkable products and the people who breathe life into them. “It was a challenge to find the right human resources, but over time we have built a core team of skilled, dedicated and passionate people who rally behind our cause and drive the Austell business forward,” says Younus.
industry, capital can pose a significant constraint on the growth of the organisation. South Africa’s regulatory requirements for drug registration often result in a fiveyear lag between investment into new products and the realisation of commercial value. Thus the need for capital can be significant. However, with the right partners, Austell has been able to weather the storm.
How would Younus advise prospective entrepreneurs? “Have a comprehensive business plan. Know your market. Have the right human resources and partner with funders who can see the value you bring and can adapt to changes with you.”
Sergio Aquino.
“Bringing people together makes things happen”
The Lushaka group of companies was started by Sergio Aquino’s late father in 1969. Lushaka Investments, a property development company, started in 2003 at the same time that Sergio joined the group. It focuses on delivering the highest value and best quality residential, retail and commercial property development projects. Today the company is run by Sergio, whose passion lies in bringing together various elements and disciplines to create aesthetically beautiful, community enhancing, comfortable but functional property developments. “At the time, Lushaka Investments was a small business but I could see it had great potential. We pioneered things. We were the first to incorporate high-end kitchen appliances as a standard feature into all apartment kitchens. But as every entrepreneur knows, running a business is not always smooth sailing and there are often many challenges to be faced.”
One of these challenges came in 2008 when the financial markets crashed. At the time, the company was finishing off the World Trade Centre in Sandton which was completed in 2010, sold in 2013 and was the first of three phases of Lushaka’s most ambitious project – Central Square. “I spoke to every bank and private investor to raise the necessary capital to complete phase two, but they all turned me away – except Mercantile Bank.” Sergio adds, “Mercantile Bank came to our aid with a most innovative and enabling funding solution, a first of its kind in the market. I’d say that the key to my success as an entrepreneur is the ability to bring people together to make things happen.”
Stan Ferreira.
STAN FERREIRA GROUP.
“Work harder than the next person”
Some of Stan Ferreira’s family had been suppliers of ceramic tiles and sanitary ware in Portugal for over a century. So when Stan moved to South Africa, trading was a natural transition. “I traded in Kosher delicatessen for three years, then opened several businesses, including the Honeydew Country Store,” says Stan. “I started the Ferreira’s Group in 1973 and decided to list it on the Stock Exchange in 1998. Buying on terms was very helpful. It sustained us until the business grew to a substantial size. In 1976 we formed a partnership with Lisbon Bank, now Mercantile Bank, who funded the business. I was the biggest borrower at the time with R15 million worth of funding.”
In the early days, Stan discovered that starting a business required a great deal of hard work and a self-belief that his venture would be a success. “I took calculated risks and was conscious of how I managed cash flow,” Stan continues. “Because the company bears my name, it was important for me to hold it up with honour to be respected by creditors, staff and other people in business. Integrity is important to me and I was able to say no to business which I thought was lacking in integrity. My advice to someone wanting to start a business would be to be loyal to yourself and others and work harder than the next person.”
Thabo Seretse.
“Don’t work for money, work for what you want to build”
Thabo Seretse started working at BP, which gave him an opportunity to learn about the workings of the petrol business. Once he had the experience, he left the company and bought a petrol station in partnership with his financially able friends. “Once I had raised enough money, I bought them out,” says Thabo. “Fortunately, the franchise environment did not require me to buy much to start off with. I just needed to pay rent and buy stock, as I did not have to buy equipment. The critical equipment was owned by the oil company. However, the working capital requirements were quite high because I needed to pay cash upfront to pay for fuel.”
Fortunately, Thabo had built good relationships with the banks and he reached out to them to buy another existing business. “This meant I now needed more skilled employees in the first station, while I focused on the new business,” Thabo continues. “There were times when I had to beg for money because I did not have enough collateral. Fortunately, I had friends who believed in me and offered to help. As a young entrepreneur, it is important to form a strong relationship with a good bank. Mercantile Bank helped me and I’ve built a good a relationship with them. My advice for someone starting off would be: make sure you understand the demands and requirements of what you are getting into. Don’t work for money, work for what you want to build – have a long-term view.”
Mark Barnes.
“Surround yourself with skills that complement yours”
After moving out of the corporate sector where he had spent most of his working life, Mark Barnes decided that he wanted to become more closely involved in economics and to help South Africans understand, participate in, and benefit from financial markets. “I bought into Global Trader 247 over eight years ago and it became Purple Group, an asset management company,” says Mark. “Starting out was hard. We did not have big balance sheets to help us access capital so we had to grow within limits. We were dealing with people who were not sure of our capital strength – so we had to fight for everything to prove as a disruptor that we had a valid business case. Fortunately we had a lot of support. In business, there’s not much you can do without support.”
One of Mark’s early challenges was to build a good financial system. “Even though we started small, the skills were there, including specialists such as IT, financial and risk,” adds Mark. “Today we employ around 70 people, all of whom I’m proud to say, are totally committed to the success of the company. My advice to someone just starting out? You need to know how you make money, in a deep real way. Profits don’t count, cash does. Make friends with many entrepreneurs with a risk appetite in South Africa. Surround yourself with skills that complement yours. Celebrate differences between people and leverage each other’s skills.”
David Wertheim Aymes.
“True human qualities lead to value creation”
In 1989, once he had qualified as a CA(SA), David Wertheim Aymes decided to work for the Industrial Development Corporation (IDC). There he discovered the difference between those who created businesses and those who chose to amalgamate or break up these businesses. He knew then that he wanted to be a creator. “Once I was in business on my own, however, I realised that no longer were there comfortable offices, an accounts department to blame for my mistakes or a boss to correct my language,” remembers David. “Now it was just me and the truck driver, the fitter, the girl Friday, the staff, the theft and the bad advice from suppliers who saw an ‘office boy’ trying to make it in concrete.” David realised that he had taken on something tough and only pride made him persevere. He gingerly felt his way into this space.
Thinking about the key to the Bosun Group’s success, David adds that, “In hindsight it is the realisation that only human beings have the potential to change the forces of nature. We invested in people and gave them the possibility of stability by providing routine, backing them, and assisting in giving them absolute clarity on what they wanted to pursue. It has been a huge test of my own morality and courage to leave the numbers, the convention, the done thing, the ‘winner takes all’ paradigm. I have had to find the courage to love my human beingness. In the Bosun Group we are all striving individuals trying to have skill and care in service of the whole. The numbers we deliver come as a consequence of this focus. The expression of true human qualities leads to value creation in an organisation – the numbers follow.”
Jaime Vilela and Mariza Vilela.
“Never, never give up on yourself”
Jaime Vilela started learning about electronics at the tender age of fifteen. His father began teaching him the intricacies of manufacturing radio lights in 1986. Jaime was a quick and enthusiastic learner and within five years he was a partner in his father’s business. The early days of the company were tough. Technology was evolving at a fast pace and it was a stiff challenge for the young company to compete against the major players. However, a partnership with Samsung enabled them to focus solely on their products.
A small loan from Lisbon Bank, now Mercantile Bank, helped them to turn all their profits into working capital and erase their loans. “You can’t measure success on margins but on cash flow because margins will be eroded without good cash flow management,” says Jaime. “The key to becoming a successful entrepreneur is the right relationships. Our best move as a business has been forming partnerships with huge companies. We improved our service to international standards so we could get contracts with well-established, reputable companies. It is also essential to be wary of the fact that no one knows what lies ahead – therefore, you have to be constantly far-seeking and innovative. And never, never give up on yourself.”
Colin Brown.
“Analyse and fully understand your potential market”
Tyre Corporation, which began with a small footprint in underground platinum mining operations, is today the leading independent service provider and supplier of tyres to the underground and surface mining markets. Company’s Group CEO, Colin Brown, says: “Due to the rapid growth and demand for products and services, and the necessary extension of our footprint, access to finance became a challenge. Thankfully Mercantile Bank understood our operational needs and quickly assisted us in meeting the opportunities. Tyre Corporation trades in South Africa, Namibia, Botswana, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Lesotho, Swaziland, DRC and Mozambique with a large service network in each country. The company has been very fortunate in that the collective skills and understanding of our business has kept its momentum. Our commitment to sound principles and values has ensured that we have ‘raised the bar’ in all situations. Tyre Corporation is not a wholesaler. We deal directly with the customer being the end user, and we are in a situation where we understand what customers require.”
The company has become the largest independent tyre supplier and service provider in its specialised market. “One of the company’s greatest successes is our independence without interference from a new tyre manufacturer,” continues Colin. “Our success is also based on our profound knowledge of the mining and transport tyre industries by the founders and key staff who joined the group as equity stakeholders and business drivers. For someone just starting their own business, I’d advise them to analyse and fully understand their potential market, create and skilfully manage and measure an account attack programme. Confidentiality is key to any successful business.”
Zak Calisto.
“Building flourishing communities through technology”
Zak Calisto is a familiar name within South Africa’s telecommunication circles. He is the CEO of Onecell and the Global CEO of Cartrack Holdings.
A serial entrepreneur, Zak attributes his business building success to solid hard work, the ability to adapt quickly to market needs and a stoic commitment to customer service. He is a technology innovator and an advocate for community development through technology.
“Entrepreneurship and flourishing communities have always been close to my heart, which is why I am so proud of Onecell, our community utilities company that offers, among other services, highly affordable wireless phone calls for as little as 20 cents,” says Zak. “Our technology is 100% in-house developed and is designed to serve the people. More importantly, we also allow our vendors to sell airtime, electricity and many other pre-paid services. Through this initiative, Onecell has created over 150 000 entrepreneurial jobs in South Africa since 2001 and we have held hands with some of these entrepreneurs for as long as 15 years.”
Cartrack was launched in 2004, when Zak identified a market gap in the vehicle monitoring space. Since then, the team of three has rapidly expanded to 1400 people servicing over 500 000 subscribers in 21 countries covering Africa, Europe and Asia. It is now a global market leader in GSM technology-driven vehicle telematics, used widely in stolen vehicle recovery, fleet management and insurance telematics. With its recent successful listing on the JSE, Zak now has his sights on assisting businesses worldwide to optimise both their assets and workforces.
“I have been very fortunate to be able to build scalable businesses involving two of my passions – people and technology,” Zak adds.
Barry, Marius and Eben Marais.
MARAIS 4 ARCHITECTS.
Marais 4 Architects is a family architectural firm comprising three directors, Barry Marais, the founder of the business in 1972, and his sons, Marius and Eben. The company prides itself on commitment to client service and innovation, and every design is synonymous with ingenious creativity and attention to detail. Drawing from Barry’s vast experience, his sons were quick to learn the concepts of design fundamentals and the administration of site meetings and building inspections. “Both boys had the same ambition I had, to make the company a monumental success; and they immediately joined the company after graduating from Wits and UP respectively,” says Barry. “For us, The Glen Shopping Centre was the cornerstone of our ‘new’ business. Marais 4 Architects was established when Marius and Eben became partners in the business in 1996. Interest rates climbed by 7% over the next few years until 1998 and work was hard to come by. Property development stagnated as a result of the economic downturn and the cost of capital made it very difficult to find new projects. Only by persistence, courage, determination and by scrapping all ‘work on risk’, we managed to survive,” he continues.
“We were also fortunate to have the support of a forward thinking bank such as Mercantile Bank, who was determined to make a success of our business, regardless of the poor financial climate at the time. The bank helped us grow its portfolio slowly but firmly, by trusting its directors to make the right decisions. There are several factors that contribute to the success of an entrepreneur,” adds Barry. “A clear vision before you start your business, honesty, and a commitment to outstanding customer service. And most importantly, never, ever give up in believing in yourself.”
Antonio Marques.
“Passion and focus are the key elements to success”
Antonio Marques thrives on challenges. But starting his own panel beating company some 40 years ago was one of the biggest challenges of his life. It was then that Antonio, already employed in one of the leading panel beating companies, and Willie Steinke, a spray painter, expressed the desire to start up their own business. In order to succeed they needed a wellequipped workshop including the ultimate piece of equipment at the time – a backed enamel oven for spray painting. They had very little collateral to offer the bank, thus sacrifices had to be made by selling off any assets to raise the necessary capital. This was not enough so they enlisted the help of a silent partner and in January 1977, Steimar Automotive opened its doors.
“For many months we worked seven days a week,” says Antonio. “The hard work started to pay off and we began to create a reputable name for ourselves. After three years the partnership was dissolved, leaving me the sole owner of Steimar. In my humble opinion, the key to my success was definitely hard work, and running my business with honesty and integrity. My advice to someone starting out as an entrepreneur would be passion and focus. Passion for what you really want to do and focus on what you really want.”
Grant Salzwedel.
MERCANTILE PAYMENT SOLUTIONS.
“Work harder and smarter than the next guy”
Today Grant Salzwedel runs a technology company in partnership with Mercantile Bank. A far cry indeed from when he ran a weekly disco in a gym while he had a day job as an electronic engineer. When it was no longer viable, Grant purchased the gym and started developing a computer system to manage the members and accounts at the gym. He found that over the next few years he could not keep up with the demand of selling the system to other gyms.
“In the early days I was able to secure a small overdraft that I used to manage the business cash flow,” says Grant. “I had to take on some contract work to help bring in revenue while I built my annuity-based products. In the beginning I did almost all of the work myself, from sales in the day time to writing the software at night, including most holidays and weekends. It was hard on our young family but I was lucky enough to work mostly at my computer, which I could do at home. So I was ‘around but not around’. My advice to someone starting out in business would be to remember that there is no short cut or big score. Keep costs down to a minimum, and work harder and smarter than the next guy.”
Grant Salzwedel.
MERCANTILE PAYMENT SOLUTIONS.
“Work harder and smarter than the next guy”
Today Grant Salzwedel runs a technology company in partnership with Mercantile Bank. A far cry indeed from when he ran a weekly disco in a gym while he had a day job as an electronic engineer. When it was no longer viable, Grant purchased the gym and started developing a computer system to manage the members and accounts at the gym. He found that over the next few years he could not keep up with the demand of selling the system to other gyms.
“In the early days I was able to secure a small overdraft that I used to manage the business cash flow,” says Grant. “I had to take on some contract work to help bring in revenue while I built my annuity-based products. In the beginning I did almost all of the work myself, from sales in the day time to writing the software at night, including most holidays and weekends. It was hard on our young family but I was lucky enough to work mostly at my computer, which I could do at home. So I was ‘around but not around’. My advice to someone starting out in business would be to remember that there is no short cut or big score. Keep costs down to a minimum, and work harder and smarter than the next guy.”
Greg Venter.
“If you have a vision – stick to it”
After a stint in the army, Greg Venter ventured into the world of corporate insurance, although he’d always had a notion of making it on his own. Therefore, when an opportunity arose to help start a short-term insurance arm of a company run by his brother and his partners, Greg jumped at the chance. After helping to grow the business over a period of four years, Greg decided that it was time to set up his own company, and this he did, starting small with one partner sharing one desk, one computer and one phone.
As business grew they were able to take on more staff, although there was a period when neither partner took home a salary for four months. “I was not married at the time,” says Greg. “So I did not have many other commitments – and by hook or by crook we made it through. In order to inject cash into the business and allow us to access funding, we took on an equity partner. Over the next 15 years we secured numerous acquisitions and now have a national footprint of nine offices and close to 120 skilled staff. Our ethos has always been: if you have a vision, stick to it, persevere and don’t be too proud to put up your hand and ask for help when you need it.”
Aurelio Fernandes.
FERNANDES BRICK AND BLOCK.
“Learn from the successes and failures of others”
Aurelio Fernandes owes much of his success to his father, who was his inspiration while growing up in Portugal, teaching Aurelio everything he knew about the construction industry. Aurelio arrived in South Africa in 1963 from Mozambique. He started his fi rst construction company in the late 1970s. “I would build a house, usually sell it to the Railway Company for a profit and use the money to build the next house,” says Aurelio. As a property developer, Aurelio identified that there was a shortage of good quality and reasonably priced building materials such as bricks and blocks. It was then he decided to begin manufacturing these products.
The challenge he faced was that the project was a big one and he was in need of financial assistance. Having banked with Mercantile Bank for many years, it was Mercantile Bank that he approached with his biggest project so far. With the financial assistance from Mercantile, Aurelio was able to establish Fernandes Brick and Block in 1987, which has grown into one of the leading brick and block manufacturers in Durban today. The success of his company allowed him to expand and continue his passion for property development. “The key to my success is that I planned ahead and invested all my time and energy in my business,” concludes Aurelio. “Also, I found that learning from the successes and failures of others helped to accelerate my growth.”
Brent Kairuz.
“You have to be in it to win it”
Brent Kairuz has been an entrepreneur most of his working life. After teaching karate at different schools as a teenager, he decided to move into the food space to diversify his interests. He soon realised that the food industry was a very involved sector in which you needed to be hands-on and he never anticipated how challenging the change in his career would be. “In the early days of the company it was difficult to raise capital, which slowed down our growth levels, especially without credit history,” says Brent. To take the business to the next level, a joint venture partnership was embarked on with large corporate companies.
“The challenge in forming an alliance with a corporate in the early days was to understand the corporate mindset,” adds Brent. “Entrepreneurs are able to make quick decisions, while corporations have processes that take longer. Utilising both companies’ strengths within the joint venture enabled us to get bigger business while developing systems and processes that benefited our entrepreneurial business.”
Brent advises that there is no manual to entrepreneurship. “You have to be honest with yourself. Do you have the sense of responsibility to be self-disciplined, be self-motivated to pick yourself up when you fall and have a passion for what you’re doing? For an entrepreneur just starting out I’d say you have to be in it to win it. Business will teach you, humble you and knock you down. But your determination will tell you to get up and continue the good fight, which will create success.”