One of the things that I’ve seen come up time & time again on the blogs of our local web.entrepreneurs is the sheer frustration at the lack of innovation in the ideas that get funded.
What’s going on here? Is it risk-aversion or just a lack of creativity? Are we South Africans a little short on the firespark of innovation? For a country with such diversity, such a powerful emotion.soaked history, it can’t be because we have a shortage of inspiration.
I believe it’s fear. PLEASE challenge me with strong evidence to the contrary if you believe this wrong. But I see a leadership that shows the backs down in matters of moral courage & calls it diplomacy. An education system that only rewards us when we conform, and give the right answers. Banks that cheerfully charge like a bull & foreclose if you fail in your first round of business. And let’s not go near the productivity.leeching ball & chain Telkom. Innovation just isn’t supported by industry, society or infrastructure, because it’s RISKY & requires change, and potential loss to those who have the current system serving them well. Oh yeah, and in-built is the possibility of looking like an ass. It requires courage to be different.
I would LOVE to see SA starting to shake off the shackles of learned helplessness and shining as one of the brightest hubs of fresh ideas. But it won’t happen if we don’t step a little beyond the tried & tested. One sure-fire way to ignite creative genius is creating a culture that supports the brave. The Free Culture Tour was a small but potent reminder that we need to individually start rocking it hard if we want this country to get the right kind of attention (that we can be proud of please – not the Bullard version – there are times when all PR is good PR is bollocks)
So there a couple of things that you can do today to start rocking with the revolution:
- Support Creative Commons esp. iCommons because the global HQ is here in SA!! If you have a healthy interest in change & a healthy bank account, consider being a benefactor (or get your company to sponsor – hint: sweet branding opportunity)
- Use your inborn genius to think of creative ways around the stuff that doesn’t work efficiently here, create a business out of it or create a rock.solid campaign & join or start a lobbying group to influence policy.making.
- If you have expertise in a particular field and speak another (official) South African language contribute your knowledge to Wikipedia. (Afrikaans up & running already)
- If you’re a creator & your inspiration overflows – consider offering some of your brillance to the world to play with – video, text, art, design, ideas. Rock a Creative Commons license on it to get attribution :: & set it free
PS. if you want to support iCommons I’ve done a couple of buttons you can grab & use as you choose (a linkto: http://icommons.org would be schweeeet & seriously appreciated).
Get creative & take more daring actions this week & use your powers for good!
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