South Africa, SME Networks and the 4IR

“There is no passion to be found playing small — in settling for a life that is less than the one you are capable of living.” ¹

Yesterday was the 25th anniversary of South Africa’s remarkable transition to democracy. Like any “young adult”, the country has a sense of optimism — that it is ready to prove that it can deliver on its hopes and dreams.

There are two particular economic phenomena to highlight in South Africa. The first is the deep recognition of and commitment to the role of the small business in creating economic growth⁴. This commitment is shared by government, corporate businesses and civil society. The country has a particularly rich heritage of social entrepreneurship, but building small businesses at scale is a challenge.

The second is the recognition of the need to respond to the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR). “Unless we adapt, unless we understand the nature of the profound change that is reshaping our world and unless we readily embrace the opportunities it presents, the promise of our nation’s birth will forever remain unfulfilled.” ²

I believe that South Africa has a unique opportunity to combine “social entrepreneurship” with creative and more human uses of technology – to not only fill some of our backlog in development, but to blaze a trail for the rest of the world.

“Social” technology

“Social networks” are the dominant technology platform model. They have radically changed the way people interact and share information. But there is a real opportunity to improve how they work, especially when connecting businesses.

Participants in social networks give up rights to and control of their data; they have no share in the financial benefits that come from the use of their data; social networks can appear unaccountable, often reinforcing existing social biases; and, from a practical business perspective, they provide limited opportunities for businesses to engage outside of marketing.

This can’t actually be the last word on “social” technology, especially for businesses?

Recent advances in cryptography allow a very different network model — one that empowers participants to engage directly with each other — retaining full ownership and control of their data — and giving them opportunities to exchange services that take risk and friction out of their business.

IOUze

IOUze is an open, free network for businesses that aspires to create a network of SMEs that can engage as “peers” with each other and larger businesses.

The IOUze network helps to solve common challenges for SMEs. The most significant is the difficulty that SMEs have in managing cashflow. Without funding, fledgling businesses are vulnerable and struggle to grow. SMEs also find it difficult to prove a track record, making it difficult to gain access to some parts of the economy. In addition, the technology needed to transact in established supply chains is often prohibitively expensive.

How we do this

At its heart, IOUze is a business network of “verified data” that can be shared securely. It builds on innovations in blockchain technology.

IOUze securely exchanges transaction data for quoting, delivering, invoicing and paying, and enables a new level of automation, integrity and trust.

The “verified data” ensures that there is high trust in “who is who” on the network. It also allows supply chain transactions to be conducted with much lower risk and improved automation.

Typically, a supply chain transaction has multiple participants, making it risky and difficult to manage. IOUze simplifies supply chain by sharing the work more efficiently between participants and by providing real-time, verified and secure information about the transaction.

This efficiency helps SMEs get paid timeously, opens up affordable funding opportunities and allows them to reliably prove their performance without having to reveal confidential data³.

SMEs are given a better chance to flourish and grow.

---

Collectively combining a passion for social and economic transformation with a confidence in our ability to lead with creative engineering could be the solution to building an SME ecosystem at scale — and for small businesses to “live the life of which we are capable”.

We are currently in a pilot phase and are especially keen to work with SMEs who want to help SMEs, or organisations that are passionate about Enterprise Development. Leave a comment below or hit us up on hello@iouze.com.

Notes

¹ Nelson Mandela, “Long Walk to Freedom”, 1994

² Cyril Ramaphosa, South African State of the Nation Address, 2019

³ This is achieved using advanced cryptographic technologies such as “Zero Knowledge Proofs” and “Blockchain”

⁴ South African National Development Plan 2030 (link)