No! Its not a new drug!! But it is Business news, advice and articles for the Young African Entrepreneur. With a strong focus on the digital, online and social media world
Friday, September 18, 2009
Thursday, September 10, 2009
Monday, August 31, 2009
Social Media for NGOs Conference
The annual SANGONeT “ICTs for Civil Society” Conference is the premier ICT event dedicated to the work of the NGO sector in Southern Africa.
The 2009 event will be held in two parts - from 15-16 October 2009 in Johannesburg, and 20-21 October 2009 in Cape Town.
Following the success of the previous four annual SANGONeT conferences, the 2009 event will focus on the relevance of social media tools to the South African NGO sector. Specific attention will be given to three key related issues:
how NGOs are and/or should be using social media tools (e.g. Facebook, Twitter, blogs, etc) in support of their work;
how to strengthen and complement fundraising strategies using social media tools;
how social media tools are used on 'Africa's computer' - the mobile phone.
Social media are tools that allow groups to generate content, engage in peer-to-peer conversations and exchange content. The key features of social media are participation and interaction, connecting people and providing the tools necessary to have a conversation - all important components of NGOs’ day-to-day work.
The SANGONeT conference will interrogate and assess this scenario in the South African context by drawing on the experience of international experts, showcasing innovative projects, and facilitating the transfer of skills.
The conference programme will include an impressive list of local and international speakers which will make this a truly memorable event.
By hosting the event in two cities we hope to attract many NGOs that would otherwise not be able to attend. The two events will convene approximately 300 NGO practitioners, government officials, donors and representatives from the IT and telecommunications industry interested in the use and application of social media in support of the NGO sector.
The programme of the 2009 SANGONeT conference will be strategically informed by the findings of the 2009 “State of ICTs in the South African NGO Sector” research project which we are implementing in conjunction with World Wide Worx.
The winners of the South African NGO Web Awards 2009 will also be announced during the two events.
Friday, August 14, 2009
25 Tips by Entrepreneurs for Entrepreneurs
Ready to leave your job behind and become your own boss? It takes a certain kind of person to make it through the first few years. To help you along, we’ve culled the best tips from our own members - people with years’ of experience in running their own businesses.
1. Don’t work for less than you can afford to, but do offer a discount to customers or clients who sign contracts with you.
2. Find people who will refer jobs to you. If they send you nightmare jobs, make sure they’re balanced out with rewarding (profitable!) ones.
3. Surround yourself with supportive people and don’t be discouraged by anyone. If your idea is good and you’re determined to stick with it through the first few difficult years, your chances of success are great.
4. Be flexible in your thinking. Prepare to change the way you work, the products you use and the services you offer, in order to meet the demands of your customers.
5. Admit your mistakes, correct them and carry on.(For example, if you purchase a piece of equipment that does not meet your expectations, send it back, sell it or exchange it!)
6. Develop a good relationship with your bank manager and creditors. Show a genuine interest in solving problems. Pay as much as you can afford to, to everyone to whom you owe money.
7. Get trained! You’ll be spending a lot of time doing things that have nothing to do with your area of expertise, like bookkeeping, marketing, and IT support!
8. Avoid isolation. Even if you work closely with your clients, you won’t be part of a gang anymore. Develop your own network of entrepreneurs that you see regularly and bounce ideas off. Ideally they’ll allow you to vent your anger and share your successes.
9. Separate your work and personal life. Set your working hours and stick to a strict timetable. When you’re not available to clients, leave a message on your answer machine letting them know when they can expect a reply from you. Let them know how to reach you in an emergency.
10. Plan some ‘thinking time’ into every day. If you pack your diary with back-to-back activities, your business will never grow.
11. Plan time to do something you enjoy at least a few times a week - recharge your batteries!
12. Write a business plan so you’re clear about what you’re doing, and update it every year.
13. Develop an excellent telephone manner and react quickly to any complaints or problems.
14. Confirm orders personally and immediately, especially those you receive on email.
15. Never lose sight of the big picture – look for innovative, little-explored directions in which to take your business.
16. When you find someone cleverer than you, employ them!
17. Solicit advice from people who know, for example, other entrepreneurs and reputable small business advisers – the DTI offers lots of information and support for new businesses.
18. Don’t enter a business or a venture that you know nothing about. You’ll be running to catch up for the rest of your business life.
19. Have an existing, loyal customer base and start locally.
20. Be aware that you will get through any initial investment quickly, so ensure you are covered financially until at least the end of the second year.
21. Focus on a specific goal and work at it until it’s achieved
22. Never worry about how to get things done when you are first developing your idea. Money and resources will come together once you have set your goals and begun to work at them.
23. Make quality in every aspect of your business your primary focus and aim. If it isn’t, you will eventually go out of business.
24. Use the Internet. Use email. Build a website (if you aren’t familiar with websites, try HTML for Dummies), send out email newsletters, buy online banner advertisements and register your site with all the major search engines.
25. Delegate. You might have to hire a good PA, lawyer, or marketing professional to ensure you’ll be profitable in the future.
source: ivillage.co.uk
Thursday, August 13, 2009
Friday, June 26, 2009
Article from This Is Africa. "The Digital Generation"
Mr Mucheru, head of Google East Africa, is spearheading the company’s drive into Africa’s growing software markets. Google is one of the world’s most recognised brands, synonymous with the bleeding edge of the internet economy. Its market capitalisation stands at more than $100bn and its sprawling headquarters in Palo Alto, California, has been both lauded and derided for its unconventional working practices.
Regardless of – or perhaps due to – its peculiarities, Google has continually proven itself devastatingly effective at both anticipating and shaping future trends in the internet economy. However, it seems strange that it sees the future here, in a small but airy office overlooking Nairobi’s well-heeled commercial district of Westlands.
There are still, Mr Mucheru concedes, those within Google who do not yet understand exactly what his operation does. Dubbed a “deployment office”, it combines a mixture of functions, from development and sales to some that are less well defined. This, he says, is a necessity, given the current state of the marketplace. “Traditionally, Google has either opened a sales office, so a place where the primary objective is dollars, or an engineering office, where the primary objective is engineering. You’ve had that happen all throughout the world,” he says.
East Africa is not yet well connected. In fact, much of the continent lacks penetration of fibreoptic cables, keeping the availability of access low and the cost to the consumer high. For Google, which essentially thrives as a gateway to content and makes its revenues through targeted advertisements placed alongside search results, access is vital. Even so, Google sees in the continent’s huge population of under-25s an enormous opportunity. Like many others, he points to the rapid uptake of mobile phones and associated applications as an indicator of consumer demand for technology.
“If you look at the mobile [industry], and how it has grown, it grew like that,” Mr Mucheru says, snapping his fingers. “The take-up is very fast. Technology comes in waves, and if you’re not prepared – if you’re not ready at the beginning of the wave – then you’ll have a big task to climb to the top, if you want to ride it.
“So that, combined with the mission of the company – which is to organise all of the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful – it makes sense to have an office in sub-Saharan Africa, but you can’t then have an office that looks at revenues. You can’t then have an office that’s looking at engineering talent. Not because there’s no talent, but we don’t have an abundance of either,” he explains. In true Californian style, Google Kenya is waiting for a wave. It is a wave that has been building in developed markets for the past few years, changing the economics of technology and having broadly felt – if sometimes shallow – social effects.
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
A Note From One Better Africa
Our society has put great emphasis in the youth succeeding against all odds, especially in the time of economic growth in South Africa specifically. Much emphasis has been put in entrepreneurial strides for the emerging youth of South Africa. Structures have been placed to financially aid small business and growing businesses, but it seems little of these funds have been allocated to empowering those that are to follow.
The few that have gained from these structures, such as the Umsobomvu Youth Fund, are but a fraction of those that have little or no proper education in the country, and Africa as a whole. Much more emphasis needs to be placed on creating awareness of these great gaps between those that have and those that have no opportunity to even be educated adequately. The past regimes of apartheid and other regimes through out Africa focused on marginalising racially. The current ‘regime’ has knowingly or not, marginalised people through social classing. If the most needy can be given opportunities to be educated, fed, housed and provided with adequate health facilities, the playing fields will certainly be levelled. Poverty will almost certainly be a thing of the past, and the economic gains speak for themselves. The more South Africa and Africa at large produce skilled men and women, the greater the chance of economic growth and foreign investment, the results of a ripple effect created by giving all the opportunity to learn and grow, to be healthy and live a humane quality of life. And the best place to begin as at the beginning literally. Giving the millions of orphaned children and underprivileged youths the chance to be educated, the chance to choose their own path, and to not have it determined by poverty and circumstances.
Along with education, health is a massive area of concern in South Africa and Africa. With the number of HIV/AIDS infections struggling to go down year after year. However, there are countries such as Uganda that have managed to reduce the number of infections dramatically. Such cases should be used for research and implementation in countries such as South Africa, were the HIV/AIDS infection rates and deaths are the highest in the world. And the number of children orphaned as a result of their parents dying from the disease increasing daily.
Awareness. Africans are not aware of the state of their own continent. We as Africans are not aware of conditions that our neighbours live in. We do not tell our own stories, instead our stories are told by people and structures from abroad. We have not found a way of sharing information in this age of information. Information is without a doubt one of the most important tools in learning, in gaining knowledge and using knowledge to better the conditions our continent finds itself. A method of sharing such information widely and freely needs to be found and implemented at any cost. The stories of our lives, our struggles, concerns and solutions need to be freely aired without fear or judgement.
Monday, June 22, 2009
Thursday, June 4, 2009
Monday, June 1, 2009
Cheaper Broadband for South Africa
"The effect is likely to be felt immediately," said Seacom CEO, Brian Herlihy.
Most of South Africa's international bandwidth is trafficked along the SAT3 fibre-optic cable to which Telkom and, since April 2008, Neotel, have exclusive access. This new available bandwidth will remove the duopoly, increase competition, improve the quality of broadband and drive market prices lower.
"The cable will enable a whole lot of people to have access to the internet, especially at grass-roots level, and this will then have an enormous impact on the macro-economy," said director of Digital Bridges, Kate Elphick.
All those previously disenfranchised by poor infrastructure will now be able to connect to the internet and develop themselves as entrepreneurs. Also, access to information will be readily available and government services could be delivered with ease using the internet, said Elphick.
Seacom's 1.2 terabits per second (Tb/s) cable capacity far outweighs Telkom's current 30 gigabits per second (Gb/s) capacity. Even if Telkom were to upgrade its system it would only reach 320 Gb/s, said Arthur Goldstuck, MD of technology research firm World Wide Worx.
With the introduction of Seacom's fibre-optic cabling system, broadband would no longer be a scarce resource but rather a valuable commodity.
Dial-up 'to die away'
Even if broadband prices don't drop immediately, it is likely that data caps will increase, giving consumers more for their money while dial-up systems slowly die away, said Goldstruck.
The laying of fibre-optic cables has already begun in the Red Sea with another group of ships en route to South Africa to begin laying cables in two weeks.
By the middle of February a third set of ships will begin laying cables in India, while a fourth starts laying cables in the Mediterranean Sea in March, said Herlihy.
The cables will run from these three points towards Yemen, with the final joining of the cables, known as splicing, taking place in Yemen around mid-May.
"Seacom is real, the time schedule is real and we have a strong head start on new projects," said Herlihy.
Various cable stations in Asia, Europe and the East Africa have been completed. Station construction in Kenya will be completed by the end of January, Tanzanian stations will be finished by the end of February and South African stations are set to be ready by March 15.
The hiring of operational staff brought the cable system one step closer to completion. International experts advised Seacom to hire a large third national party workforce to run the system, but Seacom had other plans.
"We had resisted this advice and were determined to hire local employees," said Herlihy, "I am very pleased, overwhelmed, with the applications we received and we have hired almost all of our employees out of local markets."
Friday, May 29, 2009
Wednesday, May 27, 2009
Social Media in Africa (1)
The point of this series is to highlight African contributions to social media and, in turn, reveal how social media is changing Africa.
Part One of this series looks at social media contributions from Africans, Part Two looks at mobile and connectivity innovations and Part Three looks at how local Governments, NGOs and nonprofits are being affected. If you like this series of articles, I cover these topics daily at the African social media news blog Appfrica.net, as does Erik Hersman at WhiteAfrican.com and Ismail Dhorat at StartupAfrica.com.
Things aren't perfect; the continent still suffers from disproportionate amounts of poverty, the vast majority of people remain without reliable electricity and the spread of AIDS claimed about 1.6 million African lives in 2006. Historically, that's all the world has known about Africa - but the facts are changing and other aspects of the continent deserve attention. For one, Africans are embracing the web and all things associated.
The Web Community in Africa
Technology unconferences and Barcamps have sprung up all over the continent, everywhere from Kenya to Nairobi to Madagascar to Uganda and Senegal. Although terrestrial broadband infrastructure is still a problem, VSat has provided internet connectivity in areas that don't even have electricity. There were a number of protests from the continent when Twitter shut down it's international services.
It's no wonder, then, that a number of companies, investors and entrepreneurs have taken a second look at the continent. Google especially seems to have taken an interest in supporting the burgeoning tech renaissance in Africa. They recently agreed to facilitate Barcamp Africa at their world headquarters at GooglePlex in Mountain View, CA, U.S.A. Beyond that, they've launched a blog to document their operations in sub-Saharan Africa and a complimentary forum.
African Social Media Leaders
The three biggest success stories of independent social media projects taking off in Africa are Afrigator (a South African aggregator of African blogs and news), Zoopy (a YouTube/Flickr like service also out of South Africa) and Ushahidi (an SMS crisis reporting and mapping engine from Kenya). All three have drawn international attention which resulted in a major investment for Zoopy and Afrigator's acquisition (ReadWriteWeb's coverage). Meanwhile Ushahidi has successfully raised several rounds of funding after winning the Net2 Mashup Compeition prize of $25,000.
Afrigator
Afrigator defines itself as "a social media aggregator and directory built especially for African digital citizens who publish and consume content on the web." They made a big splash in the social media space when Marshall Kirkpatrick reviewed their site here on ReadWriteWeb last year. Afrigator adopted the XFN microformat standard very early on allowing their users to use their blog rolls to import friends. Afrigator makes heavy use of a proprietary filter based on an algorithm that uses page rank, incoming links and the site's overall traffic to determine what's "hot". Afrigator was created by Justin Hartman, Stii Pretorius, Mike Stopforth and Mark Forrester.
Zoopy.com
Zoopy is a South African social media tool created by Jason Elk that allows users to upload videos, podcasts, and pictures and share them on the web. Although, it can be used by anyone, it targets the niche local market of South Africa. Zoopy also uses XFN to import friends from the aforementioned Afrigator. Zoopy recently attended the Web 2.0 Expo 2008 in New York where they showcased their platform.
Ushahidi
Ushahidi, which means "testimony" in Swahili, was built in the aftermath of the Kenyan 2008 elections. When violence erupted, Erik Hersman, Ory Okolloh, Daudi Were, Segeni Ng'ethe and Juliana Chebet used their collective talents to create Ushahidi, a web app that maps SMS reports of violence by location. Ushahidi relies heavily upon GoogleMaps, which it uses for mapping reports of incidents. It's built on the Zend framework for PHP and uses a number of different protocols for SMS, GPRS and mapping data.
African Social Application Round-Up
Although these three standout applications are the most well-known home grown social media projects from Africans, there are an increasing number of social media websites coming from the continent. Here's a round-up of several. If something gets overlooked, please add it as a comment along with a description.
I've deliberately only included applications that I know were created by people from Africa. In Part Three I'll list social applications created by foreigners and nonprofit groups.
* Muti.co.za (a Digg-like South African news site)
* Sokwanele.com (an SMS/mapping application similar to Ushahidi)
* Amatomou (a South African news and social media aggregator)
* BlogSpirit (a Ugandan blog aggregator based on the open source Gregarious)
* Mzalendo (portal for tracking the actions of Kenya's Parliament)
John Chow Interview
Could you describe what you do and how you earn your living John?
Officially, my title is Founder and CEO of TTZ Media Inc. However, I’m best know as the guy who makes money online by telling people how much money I make online. I earn my living by creating websites that help solve a problem.
You are living the life so many desire, The Internet Lifestyle! Can you tell me what the internet lifestyle means you to and how its changed your life?
Living the dot com lifestyle is like living the dream. The dot com lifestyle is about more than making a lot of money. There are many thing you can do to make a lot of money. The dot com lifestyle is about time freedom and location freedom. Most people who make a lot of money have very little time to enjoy it. In addition to that, they’re tied down to one place.
With the Internet, I have time, money and location freedom. I can be anywhere in the world and as long as I have access to the Net, I can make money. Right now, I am in Shanghai for a month long Asia trip. Just because I went away doesn’t mean paycheck stops. Try doing that with a job. :)
What advice would you give to a new blogger trying to drive traffic to their website? Could you share an example of the effects?
The most effective free way is to guest blog for an A-list blogger. Find the biggest blog in your niche and send them a guest post. If it gets accepted, you’re get some nice targeted traffic as well as bump in your brand because of the power of association.
I understand that you run three large websites, JohnChow, The Tech Zone and TTZ Media. How do you manage to run three really large websites and still have time for family and fun?
With the exception of John Chow dot Com, the other sites pretty much run themselves. TTZ Media is fully automated. The only thing I do is approve new affiliates and set up the mass PayPal payment every month. I have staff to run The TechZone. I spend an average of two hours per day running the John Chow dot Com blog.
The key is to automate and deligate. Too many try to do everthing themselves. If you do that, you’re falling into a trap. You think Bill Gates can run Microsoft all by himself? The sooner you can let go and get others to help you, the better off you’ll be.
When you first started blogging did you model yourself on anyone? How did you learn how to be a “Problogger” and do so well with your first blog?
I got into blogging for fun. I never intended for the blog to make money or to become a problogger. My blog grew because I applied what I learn from running high traffic websites to blogging. The marketing methods used to promote a regualar content site works with a blog as well. John Chow dot Com was my first blog but it wasn’t my first site. Experience counts.
Month after month you have been earning over $30,000 from your personal blog which is crazy! If someone is new to blogging and are looking to make money from blogging, what advice / tips would you offer?
Treat your blog like a real business. Because of the low barrier of entry, most people don’t take their blogging seriously because they don’t have much to lose if they fail. I mean, you can start a blog for zero dollars. However, a blog can make serious money if you take it serioulsy. Ask yourself this questions. If your blog cost $100,000 to start, would you be running it the way you’re running it now?
Don’t be afarid to test new revenue channels and models. Advertising is just one of many ways a blog can earn money. Never put all your eggs in one basket. Try to run as many revenue channels as possible while still preserving the user experience.
Capture ever lead that comes to your blog. If you don’t have a mailing list, get one now. Down the road, your list will not only be a huge source of traffic, but income as well.
Working less and making more money sounds like a good deal to me, have you got any tips for getting more done in less time?
Think passive income. Over the last year, I haven’t raised my ad prices and I haven’t added any new ad spots. Yet the income of the blog keeps going up. This is because a big chunk of the blog’s income comes from affiliate programs that offer passive income. For example, if I refer a new publisher to Market Leverage, the will give me 5% of whatever the publisher makes. Over the years, I’ve referred thousands of publishers to different ad networks that pay me a percentate of revenue. The reason my blog income keeps increasing is because I’m still getting paid for stuff I did years ago.
The really nice thing about going after passive income is it requires no extra time commintment. You do the work once and get paid forever. It’s also not dependent on the blog. If my blog were to go down today, I would lose my advertising income but the passive income will keep coming in.
What advice would you give to people just starting out with an online business?
Just like with making money by blogging, treat your online business like a real business and take it seriously. An online business has so much greater protentail than any normal business but it cost so much less to start. It’s a real some that most people associate high start up cost with seriousness.
If you could go back in a time machine to the time when you were just getting started, what advice would you give yourself regarding making money online?
Don’t do it all by yourself. You’re just buying yourself another job if you do that.
What is the best advice you have ever been given?
If you can make something for a little less than your competition, and sell it for a little more, then you’re doing OK.
Thanks very much for the interview, Have you any plans (personal or business) that you can share with us about your future plans / goals / lifetime goals?
My short term goal is keep growing the business. Mid term, I want to set up a schoolarship to provide post secondary education to deserving students. Long term, I want to set up my own foundation to fund causes that I believe in.
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