Entrepreneurship Is The Key To Unemployment

Indeed, with his Cradle2Career programme, this charismatic motivational speaker has addressed rapturous audiences at schools and conventions around the area.

Mark's message is both uplifting and inspiring, and he makes it clear to his audiences that they shouldn't rely on outside help or help from the government once they enter the work world. Instead, they should embrace entrepreneurship.

With unemployment in South Africa being as high as 40 percent, and arguably even higher among the country's youth, Mark rams home the vital importance of self-reliance.

"My message to today's youth is not to rely on government to make their dreams come true. And they can't sit around waiting for the phone to ring," says Mark.

"They need to be proactive. I want the youth to realise that entitlement starts with hard work, and I want them to know that money is just a tool - not a god."

Adds Mark: "All too often children are told by their parents what they want to be. I am asking parents to listen to their children, to hear what they want to be. There is reason to believe that the entrepreneurial movement I am starting will trigger a whole new wave of South African entrepreneurs."

Mark himself is a highly successful entrepreneur and commodity trader, having relocated to South Africa from England in 1984. He now heads a multi-million-rand automotive import and export company that trades in Africa, the Middle East and Europe, while he calls Hillcrest home.

And now through his Cradle2Career organisation, Mead is fanning the flames of an entrepreneurial spirit in young people, "teaching the children not to fit in, but to stand out."

"Right now there is so much lethargy on all levels of society," says Mark. "I want South Africans to wake up and to be the agents of change. We have forgotten our own power to make things happen."

"I do talks on business motivation to kids in Grades 10 to 12," explains Mead. When talking at schools, he then asks the learners what they want to become on leaving.

"I then go through all this, and return to the school three weeks later and give four kids who I've selected a certificate, and a 50 cent coin that represents commonsense and that must stay in their pockets at all times. They also each get R500 in cash."

The children then have three weeks to turn that R500 into profit, with 10 percent of the profits returning to Mark. That 10 percent is then ploughed into fostering yet more entrepreneurs.

Perhaps even more importantly, the children also get the opportunity to have Mead as a business partner.

"You know, I have been on this amazing journey of life, and this is an amazing country with an amazing future. It always saddens me to see kids who are leaving the country," says Mark.

"Right now, just about everything going on in this country is fear-based. And because South Africa, and Africa, has been so good to me, I feel it's time to give back."

As Mark remarked at a recent UKZN conference where he delivered an electrifying address to learners: "Boys and girls, the new world is coming, and for years the winds of change have been blowing. You were born not to fit in, but to stand out."

"Governments around the world do not give you jobs," he emphasised to the mesmerised children. "They do not give you what you want. You do. You are the future."

For more information, visit https://www.cradle2career.co.za