“We have been brought up to believe that wanting to be rich is somehow evil, negative, makes you greedy. We need to change that mindset,” said Polo Leteka, founder of IDF Managers, which launched in 2008 and invests exclusively in women entrepreneurs.
She added that the reality is that when you start a business it’s to make money. “We need to be unapologetic about it. I am not proposing of course that we start to make money by any means and at any cost. You need to be mindful of the environment that you operate in, you need to be mindful of the society that you operate in.”
Siya Beyile, known as The Threaded Man recently had a discussion with his friend, DJ Eugenics, on changing the mindset they were brought up to believe.
On his radio show #TheThreadedExchange, which is aired on Cliff Central, Beyile spoke on the topic “Poverty Mindset. Beyile, who is a stylist, writer, public speaker, MC and entrepreneur grew up with Siyabonga Sibaca in Langa, a township in Cape Town.
Sibaca, known as DJ Eugenics, is a DJ at Cliff Central radio and also previously hosted a show on the popular internet radio station, 2OceansVibe Radio.
Here’s what we can learn from their discussion on the poverty mindset:
According to both Sibaca and Beyile having a poverty mindset means “you’ll take whatever you have, which is, to accept this is how it’s supposed to be.”
Beyile said that poverty mindset makes you think beyond your current circumstances.
Sibaca said that someone who has a poverty mindset is often very close-minded.
He added: “You don’t necessary have to be in the hood (to be close-minded). You could be in Constantia and I could be in Langa. You could be poverty-minded living in Constantia, and I’m not, living in Langa, because I’m thinking further instead of just thinking I only have these resources.”
“If you are poverty-minded, you’ll take whatever you have, which is, to accept this is how it’s supposed to be.
Beyile says it was his mother, who doesn’t rich family, who broke the mould. “My mom was always like ‘I see my circumstances, but f* it there must be more, there must be more than this for me, there must be an easier life for me, there must be a way for me to lead a different life!'”
