Living life entrepreneurial: Africa Optimism

The traditional ‘9-to-5’ jobs are declining in popularity. The reason for this is millennial’s are seeking a certain degree of flexibility and control. As such, there is a focus to seek out ways in which one can exercise their entrepreneurial interests.

What is supplementing this?

In addition to this, there is a great sense of ambition within these people. This contributes to the desire to go out and make their own money and success. There is also a desire to maintain a lifestyle where they have enough balance between work and play. The feeling is that it is not being replicated in a lifestyle of a ‘9-to-5’ worker. Ideally, this new generation are gravitating towards a lifestyle in which they believe that they are able to build and maintain for themselves. The aim is to achieve this through entrepreneurial exploits and by result, an increase in flexibility in lifestyle and subsequently; freedom.

Interestingly enough, people are weighing-up financial security against the benefits of being self-employed. The EIGCT survey (2017) points out that there is now an expectation to be self-employed in some capacity for millennial’s. This is paired with the decline in a feeling that financial security needs to be secured over the possibility of being self-employed. The thought is that financial security is still achievable with self-employment. This is paired with the benefit that you’re following a passion rather than working in a job that doesn’t necessarily fulfill the person.

The development from this trend has been quite surprising. To elaborate, corporate are placing emphasis on their strategies based on employee happiness in the workplace. These strategies focus on the job position and roles and responsibilities as well as career development in the long-term. There is also a careful consideration paid to daily operations and workplace environment for the employees.

About the author

Matthew is obsessed with the why. As a strategist he is never satisfied with accepting things on face-value - he wants a deeper understanding. This is driven by the love to learn and an appreciation for detail.