South Africa is looking for entrepreneurs
Posted: Saturday, November 05, 2005
by Louw
Keynews
Louw Aucamp - Various South Africans - from Mark Shuttleworth and other individuals to government
I attended the 2005 The Big Idea conference at the Birchmore Hotel in Boksburg on Thursday and Friday after having read about it on the internet.
Registering cost a mere R300 - not even enough to cover the food we were served.
The annual event is hosted by Mark Shuttleworth's Here Be Dragons Ventue capital Fund as well as The Innovation Fund, a governmental non-profit organisation.
The event was well-organised and most of the speakers were really good. These included well-known South African business people like Helmut Hertzog from Business Beat, Kofi Amegashie from StratAfrique, Alan ter Morzhuisen from MBCI, Brian Steinhobel from Steinhobel Design, Gordon Cook from Vega School, Grant Thom from Gold Creative Services and many others.
What have I learned?
A helluva lot! The speakers share their knowledge and experiences with you and do not mind at all to answer questions afterwards one-on-one. We're not talking small-fry here, we're talking about seriously successful entrepreneurs - people who own international companies and mix with South Africa's billionaires.
Perhaps one of the most important things I have learned is that your business plan is actually a managing tool. It is not something you draw up to attract investors and then file in a drawer. A business plan should be constantly updated and used to review your organisation.
The three main points that your business plan should cover, are:
1. Market potential
2. Management and
3. Historic and future cash flow.
Marketing yourself and your staff is vital if you want to convince people of your business model. Look at Sir Richard Branson: he promotes himself successfully and Virgin is one of the top brands in the world today.
Involve the right people communicate efficiently so that everybody in the organisation knows exactly where you are now and where you are going have a clear market concept so that your clients understand exactly what value you can add for them watch your cash flow and overheads...
To try and summarise what I have learned is impossible in an article like this. Suffice to say that I will definately attend next year's The Big Idea again - it is a must for anyone who runs a business or is interested in starting one.
The only critisism I have is that there could be better opportunities to network with other entrepreneurs.
Attendees have to try and figure out who does what amongst themselves. For example, I found that networking opportunities only really opened up at the end of the last day, when we had the opportunity to socialise with other attendees and lecturers.
Sure, you get to wear a card with your name on it, so you can identify each other, but the card does not specify your company or any other details.
A solution might be to provide a system of some kind that supplies delegates with names of people divided into the different sectors, so that one can actively seek fellow delegates that one can possibly do business with.
Nevertheless, it was great and I thoroughly enjoyed it!
Mark Shuttleworth, I thank you and I salute you. Your initiative to sponsor The Big Idea is a noble one and I thak you from the bottom of my heart for the opportunity to have been able to attend it. Thanks also to The Innovation Fund, all the speakers and everybody else who contributed to an event that was the height of my 2005.
It is clear that government and local business is serious about encouraging entrepreneurism in South Africa. There are various new Venture Capitalists available to assist new business.
These include organisations like The Innovation Fund, Blue Catalyst, Bodibeng Technology Incubator and many more.
If you are an entrepreneur or considering to start your own business in South Africa, now is the best time ever to do something about it. The table is prepared for entrepreneurism in South Africa.
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Top-level comments on this article: (1 total)Well written! Nice.
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