Surprise, surprise - South Africa is one of the most challenging places in the world to be an entrepreneur

In news that will only surprise people with nice corporate jobs - where you're paid to attend cocktail parties and draw a monthly salary - a recent report confirms what every South African entrepreneur already knows all too well: South Africa is a terrible place to try to start and grow a business.

And yes, obviously government policy-makers (who apply much the same regulatory burden to a spaza shop, as they do to a multinational) and our terribly outdated education system (which is structured to produce employees, not confident entrepreneurs) are part of the problem.

But the private sector's attitude towards smaller business also needs to be put under the spotlight.

Just try apply for a mortgage from a bank as a self-employed professional and you'll quickly discover that your status as a financial risk is pegged at the same level as that of a zama zama. Even if you can prove without a shadow of a doubt that you are good for the loan (secured against an immovable asset) very few banks like to offer finance to anyone that describes themselves as an entrepreneur.

Then the business tax burden, PAYE, UIF (and good luck trying to figure this one out, or getting hold of anybody at the Labour Department to try sort out any issues you might have), VAT etc etc.

What corporates tackle with huge specialist teams, you as an entrepreneur are expected to do by yourself between school runs and trips to the police station for an affidavit confirming your BBBEE status.

The government and big business go on and on all the time about the need for more entrepreneurs in South Africa, while constructing a system that makes their demise far more likely.

Bureaucracy is a way of life in South Africa.

We have a culture of red tape and exclusion.

And until we recognise that much of our economic and institutional infrastructure is designed around established organisations and salaried employees rather than the emergence of new value creators, we will continue to struggle with low economic growth, unemployment and arrested development.