One of the most frequently used statements about unemployment is that the answer will come from small and medium enterprises.
Large corporations are no longer adding jobs; in fact, many are shedding jobs as they seek to become more competitive in the current global market.
A quick trip around Africa would quickly convince any observer that there is no shortage of raw entrepreneurial energy in the continent.
Why then are we lagging so far behind the miracle economies of the East? Why has the leadership of Africa failed to create the conditions that we see developing in China, India, Korea, Malaysia, Vietnam and other Asian countries? Are leaders in Africa different from leaders elsewhere?
This raises the contentious issue of whether certain racial or religious groups have an exceptionally effective leadership X factor enabling them to succeed as a group.
A series of studies Eskom commissioned sought to learn from the apparent success achieved in some groups, such as the Jewish and Indian communities.
Their religious and family structures seem to support economic success. Similarly, the expatriate Chinese communities of east and southeast Asia have achieved extraordinary success.
Of course, an Italian baby raised from birth in a Chinese family would behave no differently from her Chinese siblings, making it incorrect to attribute these differences to intrinsic racial characteristics.
Ultimately, all human beings belong to the same genus. So to make sense of these differences, one has to turn to the habits of behaviour and thinking that are passed down from generation to generation, which we call culture. But even culture is a tricky explanation for these differences.
For example, in 1905 Max Webber, observing the greater prosperity of northern Europe compared with southern Europe, concluded that the protestant work ethic was an important precursor in the development of capitalism.
After World War 2 many commentators ruled out Asian countries as significant economic players in the future because they did not have this protestant work ethic. How wrong they were.
The most spectacular growth in economic history occurred first in Japan, then in the Asian Tigers, and is now continuing in the next set of Asian miracles. Protestantism had nothing to do with it.
So what is it that makes the difference? The best current explanation is that there are social institutions that enable effective forms of economic enterprise to emerge. Leadership is both a cause and an effect of these institutions.
Institutions are both formal - such as representative government, an effective legal system that can enforce contracts, education and the banking system - and informal, such as traditions and customs.
Institutions nurture and direct people, and enable them to reach their potential in business, politics and other fields. In some African countries we lack even very basic infrastructure such as roads and telecommunications.
In such conditions, it would be almost impossible for even the most gifted and experienced business person to run a globally competitive business. In this country, for example, small business has been greatly facilitated by the roll-out of cellphones.
Even something as mundane as traffic management can be a facilitator or inhibitor of business, as anyone can attest who has had to battle with the traffic congestion of a city like Lagos, Nigeria.
So officials at all levels have a part to play in creating the conditions for business to succeed.
Leadership is not only exercised in the highest echelons of organisations or governmental management. People in middle and lower management in business, politics and other institutions also need to be equipped with effective leadership qualities.
Middle-level government officials are critically important in ensuring that policy is implemented efficiently in a way that enables citizens to achieve legitimate ends.
Their leadership abilities determine whether programmes such as small business development and rolling out housing projects succeed or fail. Therefore, at their level too, leadership is of great significance.
If leadership is important to create the conditions in which entrepreneurship can flourish, it is also true that we shall need an entrepreneurial approach to leadership development if we are to create the generation of leaders we need at all levels.
Our business schools, businesses and civil service have a responsibility to equip a new generation of leaders with the skills and mind-set they will require.
An even greater responsibility rests on our leaders to demonstrate those elusive qualities of responsibility, innovation and energy that will be required for South Africa and Africa to compete in the global economic race.
- Jonathan Cook is the director for executive development at the Gordon Institute of Business Science