Global speaker, entrepreneur, and venture capitalist Vusi Thembekwayo issued a powerful call to action at the Unlock Summit, hosted by The K3Y at the Mavuso Trade and Exhibition Centre in Manzini. He urged Eswatini’s entrepreneurs to break out of survival mode and embrace growth as a national priority.
Speaking to a captivated local audience of business owners, young professionals, and policy stakeholders, Thembekwayo challenged the country’s enterprising minds to reject the idea that staying small is virtuous, asserting that scale is the only way to create meaningful economic change.
“The role of small business is to get bigger,” he asserted. “It’s not to stay small.”
In a presentation that was both motivational and confrontational, Thembekwayo drew examples from global economic powers, arguing that nations like the United States and China built influence through bold vision and execution, not divine right.
“Nowhere in the Bible does it say that on the eighth day God created America,” he said. “It’s just a country that executed big ideas. And we in Africa need to stop passing on great ideas and start executing them.”
He added that local entrepreneurs must resist cultural tendencies that idolize humility while penalizing ambition.
“We come from cultures where it’s safer to be average, where success makes people uncomfortable. But that must change, because the only businesses that matter in an economy are the ones that grow, employ, and export,” he said.
Central to his keynote was a bold critique of the continent’s, and by extension Eswatini’s, overreliance on informal and micro-enterprises that never scale.
“During COVID-19, when governments called stakeholders to the table, they called big business, unions, and civil society. Nobody calls small businesses because they don’t matter in economic planning,” he said.
He made it clear that remaining small is not a badge of honor, but a limitation: “There’s no wealth creation in staying small. There’s no job creation. There’s no influence. So get bigger. That is the job.”
Referencing global investment patterns, Thembekwayo cautioned that while Africa has an abundance of entrepreneurs, most businesses on the continent are not designed for growth or investment.
“There is more capital in circulation now than ever before in human history, but capital is loyal to one thing only: return. It doesn’t care about passion. It follows structure, scalability, and profitability.”
He encouraged local entrepreneurs to professionalize their businesses, focus on the fundamentals, and create enterprises that investors can trust.
“If your business cannot be bought, it cannot scale. And if it cannot scale, it will be swallowed.”
Closing his high-impact presentation, Thembekwayo reminded the audience that building a business should be about more than survival; it should be about legacy.
“One day, you’ll stand before your maker and be asked what you did with the gifts you were given. You must have an answer,” he said. “So build. Scale. Leave something behind that’s bigger than you.”