I have spent more than two decades working across South Africa's business environment, from entrepreneurs and SMEs to large corporates. One question keeps returning to me:

What is our business culture?

I am not asking what our culture should be. I am asking what it actually is.

How do we treat one another when doing business? How do we handle relationships, opportunity, money, competition, collaboration and responsibility? What behaviours do we reward, tolerate and repeat?

I am asking this particularly within the Black African business community because I believe our collective economic progress deserves an honest conversation.

This is not a verdict. It is not an accusation. It is a question. Because culture does not wait for permission.

If we do not intentionally establish our culture, one will emerge anyway.

And I increasingly wonder whether the culture emerging around us is as healthy, productive and economically empowering as it could be.

We Talk About Business Problems, But Rarely About Business Culture

We are comfortable discussing South Africa's business problems.

We talk about access to finance, skills shortages, procurement, transformation, unemployment and entrepreneurship. We debate government policy and corporate responsibility.

But how often do we ask what behaviours are contributing to the environment in which these problems persist? That is a different conversation.

Business culture is not a slogan on a wall. It is what people repeatedly do.

It is whether you return a call when you cannot help someone. It is whether you honour a commitment after the meeting ends. It is how you treat an SME or smaller supplier when you hold the funding and purchasing power. It is how you respond when someone challenges your thinking.

These behaviours may seem insignificant individually. Collectively, they become the operating system of an economy.

That is why we need to examine not only our economic structures, but also our everyday business behaviours.

Culture Emerges When We Don't Build It Intentionally

Every business has a culture. The question is whether that culture was deliberately designed or accidentally created through repeated behaviour.

The same applies to communities and economies. What people repeatedly tolerate, reward and practise eventually becomes normal. What becomes normal eventually becomes culture. This is why I believe we need to ask what kind of business community we are building.

We have invested enormous energy in creating businesses, programmes, policies and institutions. But perhaps we have not spent enough time defining how we want to conduct business with one another.

Culture appears in ordinary moments. It appears when entrepreneurs consider collaboration rather than isolation. It appears when experienced professionals share knowledge or make meaningful introductions. It appears when someone receives criticism and when commitments are honoured – or ignored.

None of these behaviours defines an entire community. But repeated behaviours tell us what we have normalised.

Self-reflection is not self-hatred. It is a prerequisite for improvement.

What Culture Have We Created in South African Business?

This is where the question becomes uncomfortable.

I have encountered remarkable generosity, ingenuity and entrepreneurial determination in South Africa. I have also encountered behaviours that leave me questioning the culture we are creating.

Too many people do not return calls or messages. Meetings happen, commitments are made, and follow-through disappears. Collaborations are transactional. Opportunities are guarded rather than shared. Constructive criticism is interpreted as disrespect.

Again, these observations are not a judgement about an entire community. They are observations that deserve reflection. The question is not whether these behaviours exist. They clearly do. The harder question is whether we tolerate them, excuse them or eventually accept them as normal.

That matters because business runs on trust.

Capital matters. Technology matters. Skills matter. Policy matters. But without trust, accountability and professional conduct, every relationship becomes harder and every transaction becomes more expensive.

Perhaps we have focused so heavily on creating economic opportunity that we have not spent enough time discussing how we should conduct ourselves once opportunity arrives.

Why Specifically to Black African Business

I want to be particularly clear about why I am asking this question. I am not suggesting that Black Africans lack a business culture. Every community develops patterns, expectations and behaviours around doing business.

My concern is whether we have been intentional enough about defining the culture we want.

There are exceptional Black entrepreneurs, executives, professionals and business leaders. There are businesses demonstrating world-class innovation, discipline, resilience and commercial excellence.

But individual excellence does not automatically create a healthy collective culture.

That distinction matters.

We should ask ourselves:

Can we trust one another enough to collaborate?
Can successful professionals open meaningful doors for emerging entrepreneurs?
Can we compete without undermining one another?
Can we give criticism without taking it personally?
Can we receive criticism without becoming defensive?
Can our success create opportunities beyond ourselves?

These are business questions, not racial judgements.

And they matter because our economic challenges are too significant for us to avoid uncomfortable conversations.

Pockets of Excellence Don't Answer the Bigger Question

There is no shortage of excellence within Black African business. We have entrepreneurs building serious companies, professionals leading major organisations and innovators solving difficult problems. But pockets of excellence do not necessarily create a strong business culture.

A culture becomes powerful when good behaviour becomes common behaviour. We should therefore ask whether individual success is strengthening the ecosystem around it.

Are successful businesses developing other businesses? Are experienced professionals sharing knowledge? Are entrepreneurs collaborating where collaboration creates greater value?

Individual success and collective progress are not the same thing.

We need both. We should celebrate excellence while asking whether that excellence is becoming contagious.

Perhaps We Need a New Conversation About Business Citizenship

Maybe the answer begins with a concept we rarely discuss: business citizenship. Being a business owner, executive or professional is not only about what we achieve for ourselves. It is also about how we participate in the economic ecosystem around us.

Business citizenship asks:

Do I honour my commitments?
Do I treat smaller businesses with respect?
Do I share knowledge when it could genuinely help?
Do I create opportunities where I can?
Do I collaborate without abandoning healthy competition?
Do I leave the people around me stronger?

This is not charity. It is recognising that stronger business ecosystems create stronger businesses. And stronger businesses build healthier economies.

Imagine professionals helping communities and entrepreneurs navigate CSI, procurement, access markets, understand corporate requirements or develop the capabilities needed to compete.

Imagine entrepreneurs collaborating rather than constantly operating in isolation. Imagine business leaders treating professional conduct as seriously as financial performance.

That would begin changing culture.

The Question WE Should Sit With

I do not have a definitive answer to the question I started with.

What is our business culture?

Perhaps that is precisely the point. We need more people willing to ask the question before rushing to defend the answer. We should examine what we reward, what we tolerate, how we build together and what we teach ourselves now and the next generation of entrepreneurs and professionals.

We should learn from other communities without turning that learning into shame or comparison. Most importantly, we should recognise that culture is created through repeated choices.

If we want a different economic future, different behaviours must become normal. Perhaps our next chapter should not simply be about creating more businesses. Perhaps it should be about creating a better way of doing business with one another.

That is the conversation I believe we need to start having.

What Is Our Business Culture? An Uncomfortable Question for South Africa's African Business Community