ENTREPRENEURS are tomorrow’s trailblazers. Natural leaders, entrepreneurs are the unsung heroes of transformation.

Since government has identified small businesses as the engine room of the country’s economy and the heart of job creation, it is these men and women who have the vision and the passion to take SA forward both economically and socially.

Recently released research on the most influential black executives on the JSE revealed that only 12,5% of the executives in the top 50 companies had entrepreneurial backgrounds.

This means that South African companies — which are only just waking up to the need to diversify their boards beyond race to include gender — have not yet cottoned on to the fact that entrepreneurs may serve them better than non-executives.

It has long been known that mixed groups are better at problem solving than like-minded ones. By having boards that more accurately represent the demographics of the country, companies can optimise their understanding of the economy, better manage risk, recognise opportunities they may otherwise never have identified and so become more competitive.

With the pressure on companies to comply with good corporate governance guidelines and black economic empowerment regulations, it is surprising that companies have been slow to grasp the business case for diversified boards, apart from taking it a step further by including those who work at the coalface of the second economy.

Twelve years into the country's democracy and six years since the first sector charter was signed, overall black representation on the boards of JSE companies remains shocking. The latest Empowerdex research shows that 22,3% of all directors on the JSE are black, while 11,14% are foreigners and 66,6% are white.

More than two-thirds of the 290 companies listed on the main boards of the JSE have appointed at least one black director to their boards, but 87 of these companies, or 33%, still have no black representation at board level at all. Only 21, or 7,2% of the JSE, have boards that are controlled by black people.

Black women represent only 5% of all the directors on the JSE.

Even more staggering is the fact that there are less than 20 black CEOs and only 55 black chairpeople (including non-executive chair positions) on the JSE.

A recent article in the Financial Mail also showed that only two of 22 recent CEO replacements made at JSE companies were black.

With transformation of company boards lagging what should by now be considered basic racial and gender representation, it seems near impossible to expect companies to not only think about appointing black individuals to those positions but also consider broadening the value these new additions bring to the boardroom table.

What makes entrepreneurs valuable as board members is the very fact that entrepreneurship does not originate from the corridors of academia, but is a product of the marketplace.

These pioneering men and women embody wisdom, action and resilience. They craft out niches and build future empires through hard work and with an unflagging desire to succeed.

At the end of the day, entrepreneurship, like any business, is primarily about managing risk while pursuing reward. An entrepreneur’s strongest characteristics are ambition, courage, an eye for opportunities, diligence as well as independent thinking.

Even international leadership gurus agree. American network marketing expert Rene Yarnell says if the corporate executive was the champion of the 20th century, the entrepreneur will be the star of the 21st century.

While yesteryear's executive hero was the stereotypical white-collared worker who steadily ascended the corporate ladder, things have changed. Yarnell believes the rising star is a new entrepreneur, who is not interested in climbing corporate ladders or is satisfied merely with amassing financial wealth.

The new generation has a more conscious vision and tends to be less maverick in its approach to business than previous generations of entrepreneurs. Also, many entrepreneurs are more socially driven than their executive counterparts.

Bridge is research and publications manager, Empowerdex.