Diaspora Matters

The prices of eggs have shot up from $3.3 per crate in March 2016 to almost $5 in March 2017. Guess who is smiling all the way to the bank? So we reproduce the article that we first posted in March 2016 and lets see whether it makes any sense at all.

Enjoy your day

So yesterday I found myself 70 kilos from Harare…Munemo was in Beatrice!

Purpose of my journey was simple–wanted to tour a Poultry project being carried out by one of my friends. Aaaaah fabulous stuff…My friend started the project in March 2014. He borrowed $20k as initial capital to fund the project.

He used the capital to buy 1000 layers at $12 each. (Pretty expensive, $12,000 on birds alone?)The remainder of the capital was used to construct a Poultry Run that accommodates 1000 layers, also sunk a borehole n purchased poultry feed n vaccines.

Payback Period
In 2014 eggs were being sold at $4.5 per crate & my friend managed to sell all eggs resulting in him raising and returning back the capital of $19,000 in 7 months!!!

Fast forward to 2016
At first he bought point of lay chickens @ $12 per bird..very expensive arrangement. Not a sustainable arrangement. This sort of capital is definitely not easy to access…he decided to raise own chicks to cut on costs. The experiment worked, only 7 chicks died from a batch of 2040 ( 40 ma extras given by the seller)

So what did I witness yesterday? Dear forumites, I witnessed a successful project where my friend has 2000 birds producing 60 crates per day. The selling price is not good at all…now pegged @ $3,3.(Profit per bird?Eeeh did not carry out a detailed cost analysis…promise to do next time). However its important for you to know tht a layer that has reached a point of lay stage is expected to continue laying for a period of 18 months. An egg per day…

He is currently phasing out the first batch of 1000 layers.

Management
He does not need to actively manage the project…he rarely goes to the project. Infact he only goes when there is a red flag…the red flag of chickens producing eggs less than 60 crates per day. If its consistent for a number of days then he has to investigate 3 issues namely:
1.Are eggs being stolen?
2.Disease outbreak?
3.Faulty feed?

The few times he has had to investigate were prompted by faulty feed.

So once set up the project does not require a lot of management time. He visits the project once every 2 months. He however ensures that he gets daily updates of production matters such as how many crates produced-feed used etc

Labour costs
He has 3 full time employees, 2 part time guards.

Water
For this type of project one needs plenty of water. My friend did sunk a borehole(kwete tsime lol)…from the photos  you can see the water tanks and pipés.

Market
Initially he used to sell his eggs to schools-churches-tuckshops and neighbours. He realised that this was not an efficient way of selling eggs with chasing up debtors going to be costly.

Mbare the Egg Market Hub
He started selling his eggs at Mbare and has never looked back!!! He delivers his eggs at Mbare on a weekly basis getting paid for his sales the following day after delivery. Current egg prices range from $3-$3,3. Mbare is now the marketing hub of eggs even the big 3 Poultry Companies now offload thousands of crates on a weekly basis at Mbare. Mbare is now the nerve centre of Eggs in Zim…eggs are transported from Mbare to areas as far as Victoria falls or Nyanga!!

His current plans
Phase out the initial offlayers(1000 birds) n replace them with road runners. Also continue with the new batch of 2000 birds.

So where does our nation stand in terms of innovation? How many innovations have been made by Zimbabweans in the last 10 years? Its difficult to answer this question because there is little coverage on innovation. I believe there is a lot happening, I do sometimes watch our local television station especially on the Sunday Edition-they do try their best to showcase innovations from across the country but they are mostly small scale innovations which are hardly commercialised. The story usually ends with a television interview and we never hear about it again.

Innovation and Researches go hand in hand, countries that invest heavily on Research and Development are on top of the pole when it comes to innovation. So how do we fare in terms of R&D? Perhaps we can look at our supreme research institution in Zimbabwe-The Scientific and Industrial Research and Development Centre (SIRDC). One can visit their site to learn more about their work. They are doing a fabulous job although there is need for more funding and exports of products produced.

So in the business sector who is doing researches? We have a number of researches by ZIMTRADE www.zimtrade.co.zw. They recently released a market survey of opportunities in the Democratic Republic of Congo-excellent stuff from ZIMTRADE. ZEPARU (Zimbabwe Economic Policy Analysis and Research Unit) www.zeparu.co.zw. The organisation produces a lot of useful reports that are useful for business and Policy Makers.

How about SME Sector Researches? We seem to have a gap in terms of researches that specifically target the SME sector, researches that seek to transform Magaba-Siyaso. Yes researches are coming here and there but they are not enough-there is room for more. ZBIN will therefore be filling the gap in the coming months-we hope to cover detailed researches targeting the needs of small to medium scale business owners, Diaspora Community needs and innovation as a key driver of business success.

ZBIN is driven by innovation and thefore hope to provide a lot of resources for the benefit of our members. We will complement the work that is already being done by a host of other research institutes.

One question that is worrisome about researches in Zimbabwe is where are the universities and colleges? A lot of research is going on, ever student who graduates at under graduate or post graduate level has to produce a research. So where are these researches? How about uploading some of the top projects on the website of universities so that the nation can benefit? Take for example the Graduate School of Management at the University of Zimbabwe-a lot of graduates produce a lot of research projects which are important in business, a lot of industry leaders would benefit from these projects. Why not agree with students with winning projects and upload them centrally so that the nation can benefit?

Food for thought for all key stakeholders. For today, i give you the post below on  China and Innovation.

Why China now leads the way in innovation

One of the greatest benefits of being a member of ZBIN is free business promotion. We like to see the success of member projects and one way we do this is through investors linkages. We showcase businesses from our members and invite potential investors to get in touch with them.

We hope to improve investor linkages by having businesses that would have been audited and certified by ZBIN to be fit for investment. Through this initiative, we are hoping to link up local businesses with the Diaspora community. Stringent measures will be in place to ensure that only bonafide companies participate. The programme will be coming in the next few months and our advice to enterpreneurs interested in participating is that you should be a registered company, be tax compliant and owners of the business should have a clean Police Record. Our team will verify before certifying you fit to participate in the programme.

In the meantime we contacted our members inorder to gauge the interest in the programme, the result is awesome as we managed to obtain information from our members which is listed below

Kadoma Mine owned by a group of disabled persons looking for partnership-Contact Number is +263 713 840078

Victor Marochi Mining,,Victor,, Filabusi,,0712304437 app 0774576074

Roscoe Errol Ermas Farming,Errol,Bulawayo,0779610679

Michael Chikohomero Farming in Beatrice name Mike 0775 358 156..

Musenzi BM Manufacturing Bruce in Harare 0771 927 974

Ishmael Sithole Beekeeping, MacJohnson Apiaries, Manicaland, +263773619799.

James Munowenyu James Chiororo Munowenyu Business Consultancy(bias to Construction planning) in Harare email jimi.chiororo@gmail.com cell + 263 772 374 557

Kudas Mpini Kudakwashe, lp gas retailing, +263 773 956 082

Unganai Muzondo retailing;muzondo u; chatswoth;0777196515

Patrack Muyambo IT, Tawanda Patrack Muyambo, Bindura, +263735264703

Farirai Zengeni Farming, Farirai, Mutare, 0773972527

Ishmael Sithole Are you into crop farming? I do offer pollination services and feral swarm removal and relocation services as well. My whatsapp num is +263773619799

Mandishona Achihoro Memzy Memory Mandishona, Events catering, Harare ,WhatsApp Call +263 77 592 7479

Seth Kunaka Seth Kunaka Interest in Mining:+263775213369 Shamva

Nico Minister Mahati solar products ,Nicolae Mahati ,Harare, +263773988353

Beaullah Chirunga Farming Beaulla 0772809558

Tawanda Makwarimba Manufacturing, Tawanda, Bulawayo, +263773478332

Florah Maruve catering and baking. Theresa Maruve. 0772974535

Misheck Mutanda farming misheck bulawayo 0734444573

Archie Kupeta Health and Fitness, Archie, Harare, 0772480803

Job Muhwati Network Marketing, Job Muhwati, Harare, +263777926109

Charles Mudzamba hunting and safari 263772277778

Takunda Lee Kafesu Network Marketing ,Wilson Kafesu Harare
0777945740

Sengisazi Chihaba Mining. Sengisazi Chihaba. Kadoma. 0773640056. 0772562254. 0715605208.See Translation

Elina Shumba Baking, Elina, Harare, 0772332737

Pardon Gambiza Transport Pardon Gambiza +27769944389

Akiyana Musimbo Farming musimbo +263777397394

Brian Kuveya Personal development , Brian kuveya, + 263 775706104

Edmore Kavele Edmore Chemical Manufacturing, South Africa +27739145536

Sharon Gwizo Mining,Sharon,Masvingo,0716145856

Micheal Tafadzwa Mapfumo Mining,TAFADZWA M MAPFUMO KWEKWE 0772502106

Micheal Tafadzwa Mapfumo Manufacturing, TAFADZWA M MAPFUMO KWEKWE +263772502106

Farai Chiboora Panel beating and spraypainring, Albert ,Harare, 0772729921

Chester Makunde Retail chester Makunde 0734223877

Taurai Chalmer Samhere Ict..retailing ..chalmer ..chitungwiza 0772810359

Tapfuma Hebert Education (E.C.D, Primary & Secondary schools), Harare, +263776375799

Tapfuma Hebert We are looking for a very serious investor into our Group of Schools operating Pre School, Junior & Senior Schools in Zimbabwe. Our College is already operating & properly registered with reasonable enrolment increasing every day. Please call/app The Admin +263776375799 for more details.

Tichaona Pfukwa Phil Farming Tichaona Harare 0773498991

Archie B Mangwende Motor Industry,Turbo Charger Sales and Repairs.Archibald Mangwende,0714887968

Rueben Moyo Mining ,Kwekwe 0772265714

Rueben Moyo Am based in Harare but have interests in Midlands my home area..

Mukomondera Tawanda catering, Fiona, Harare 0783806446

Tracie Mukasa Tracy. Road construction. Harare 0718586506

Jonathan Nago Jonathan Nago Retail outlets Fmcg 0779727012 looking for serious partners investors,

Ruddgunnsound Station Farming,Shadreck, kwekwe,0027784830274

Florah Maruve Cateering. Theresa. Harare. 0772974535

Stanarr WaMeki ICT, Stany, Chinhoyi,0772358397

Carol Joy Dube ICT 0779 888 000

Rege Mataruse cosmetics, , masvingo, 0773753348

Patrack Muyambo ICT, Bindura, Tawanda Patrack Muyambo 0735264703

Sengisazi Chihaba Mining. S. Sengisazi Chihaba. Kwekwe. 0773640056

Mildred Mdlongwa Mildred Mdlongwa , farming Bulawayo ,0715403259

Thoko Nyandoro Retail- roofing timber and pine boards, Thoko , Harare , 0772423383

The list above is just a general guide of members from the forum. We are going to refine the list and ensure we have different clusters. Each member will be asked to develop a detailed business plan which shows potential investors why they  should partner with them.

One of our objectives is to equip our members with opportunity identification skills. A ZBIN member should have a competitive advantage over others when it comes to spotting investment opportunities. Before others realise what is happening, a ZBIN member should have taken up all opportunities!

Let me tell you of this interesting story that happened a few years back. Legend has it that a Nigerian brother visited Harare for the first time. When he was being driven from Harare International Airport, she shocked the cab driver when he started shouting ‘I can see money, I can see money-money, money money’. Our brother from West Africa kept on repeating the money, money much to the bewilderment of the cab driver. The local cab driver initially thought he had collected a mad person because it did not make sense- How does one see invisible money?

So when they reached the Coke Corner, the cab driver who had kept quiet all long driving from the airport,  decided to inquire about this ‘money’ that our brother kept referring to?

Do you want to know his answer? His answer was that the many cars that he saw on the road represented nothing but Money! To him cars meant more business in terms of car parts or service kits! So it is very easy to overlook investment opportunities when you are a resident of a particular area. So we would like our members to think like our brother from West Africa who was seeing ‘money’ which was invisible to the cab driver.

I have already provided you with a post where I talked about having an investment mind-set. You can search the post on our website-brilliant article about having a positive mind-set that helps in identifying opportunities.

New Suburb –New Opportunities

So what do I have to share with you this evening? Well I would like to notify you of a simple way of identifying opportunities in your area-opportunities that are mostly noticed by visitors to an area. The opportunity lies in identifying new residential areas, new developments.

Many people ignore new areas especially when you are not interested in buying residential stands or homes. There is a breed of entrepreneurs who follow new suburbs with the intention of setting up businesses. They will not be interested in buying residential stands nor building homes-their interest is simply in providing business services such as real estate construction, provision of building materials, setting up of tuckshops to sell food and groceries. Some will rush with a view to build creches, setting up car washes or any commercial business.

In 2 week’s time, I hope to cover new suburbs in Harare as a lot is happening in terms of new developments. So take an interest in all new developments in your local area and think about how you can benefit in a commercial sense.

We have a good case study this week from Kodak, a famous American Company that is well known for its photographic films. Kodak was founded by George Eastman and Henry A. Strong on September 4, 1888. During most of the 20th century, Kodak held a dominant position in photographic film. The company’s ubiquity was such that its “Kodak moment” tagline entered the common lexicon to describe a personal event that was demanded to be recorded for posterity. Kodak began to struggle financially in the late 1990s, as a result of the decline in sales of photographic film and its slowness in transitioning to digital technology.

So why have we chosen Kodak? We have chosen it because it provides a classic case of a company that failed to adjust to the fast changing world of digital technology. They had the some of best engineers and other professionals at the time but still failed! Kodak got caught looking backward when it should have been looking forward and taking risks to reinvent the company.

The company had very talented executives along with the best engineers and chemists. But all its smart people focused on Walmart gaining market share with its single-use film camera when wireless operators were enabling consumers to send digital photos over mobile devices, which reinvented what consumers could do and wanted to do with photography. As a result, while Apple was reinventing the mobile phone with multimedia capabilities that matched what was going on in the big picture, the world’s best brand in photography spent billions expanding its investment in an old technology.

We thought that you could also benefit by studying the analysis below. Try and apply this to your company or business, are you in the same boat? Are you adjusting quickly to the changes in the external environment?

By Nitin Pangarkar

“You press the button, we do the rest.”

So went the advertising slogan coined by Kodak in the late 19th century.

It was a motto that opened the door to mass-market consumer photography – a popular culture pioneered by Kodak, but which its recent sorry decline has shown it failed to keep pace with.

The habit of button-pressing is of course more popular then ever – see Facebook, Tumblr, Flickr et al. But for Kodak, recently forced to file for bankruptcy protection, the company’s failure to reinvent itself to the instant gratification realities of the digital era meant there was increasingly little of “the rest” for it to do.

Founded by inventor and philanthropist George Eastman, Kodak’s little yellow film packages became one of the world’s most recognised brands. Indeed for much of the twentieth century Kodak was an American industrial icon – at one point enjoying a similar status as tech giant Apple does today.

Since the turn of the century however, the fortunes of the once mighty photographic firm have plummeted. By early 2012 Kodak’s shares were trading at around 40 cents, down from $40-45 just seven years earlier. The NYSE even went as far as to warn the company that it risked being delisted.

So where did it go wrong?

One common explanation about Kodak’s demise is that it missed the digital revolution – or simply that the ubiquity of digital cameras made photographic film redundant while Kodak bosses buried their heads in the sand. While that explanation has some merits, it is far from the full picture. In fact Kodak was a pioneer in the development of digital cameras, producing the first prototype megapixel digital camera in 1975.

Presented to sceptical Kodak executives, the bulky device was powered by no less than 16 batteries and took a full 23 seconds to record a single image, using a cassette tape as the equivalent of today’s memory card. (You can see a picture of the camera on this Kodak blog, the title of which is a story in itself: “We had no idea”)

Even when digital cameras reached the consumer market in the mid- to late-1990s, some of Kodak’s early models vied with models from Olympus and Sony for top-selling spots.  In fact, the early cameras made by Canon, the current global leader in digital cameras, lagged well behind those of Kodak in terms of consumer acceptance as well as critical reviews.

Kodak didn’t lack technical expertise either and, even today, has considerable intellectual property in the digital imaging space with its thousands of patents worth several billion dollars.  Why then is Kodak struggling to survive despite a strong start in the promising – and still rapidly growing – arena of digital imaging?

Bridging the gap

In my recent book High Performance Companies: Successful Strategies from the World’s Top Achievers I suggest that successful innovators must be able to integrate (as in combine) external and internal knowledge.  An excellent example of this is the case of Fanuc, the Japanese maker of machine tool controls.

Based near the foot of Japan’s iconic Mount Fuji, Fanuc used to make mechanical and hydraulic controls in the 1970s. But after the first oil shock in 1973, operating costs of those controls became prohibitive because they consumed a lot of oil.

In response, Fanuc began a huge effort to shift to computer controls.  It overcame gaps in its own knowledge by partnering with diverse sources including the University of Tokyo, its customers, end-users and sometimes even existing as well as potential competitors, such as GE and Siemens which had their own aspirations in this industry.

The external knowledge from these partnerships was combined with a number of other elements including its own internal knowledge, some bold strategic bets (being the first to use an Intel microprocessor in a dusty, dirty and hot factory environment) and a far-sighted leadership which had the vision of global leadership.

Not only did Fanuc manage to successfully adopt new electronic technology, it also became a dominant leader. Indeed a recent Bloomberg article recently called it “The Microsoft of machine tools” – a company whose products effectively run the world’s factories.

Kodak’s failure to adapt to the new technology stands in stark contrast to Fanuc’s case because Kodak had greater resources in terms of its brand reputation, its finances and its technological prowess in digital imaging. Kodak’s failure lay in its strongly inward focus.

Although it was a pioneer in the technical aspects of digital imaging, it lacked skills in areas such as lens making and manufacturing (making efficient and reliable electronic devices) to successfully commercialise products based on its innovations in digital imaging.

Critical integration

While  Kodak did make efforts to outsource its camera manufacturing (and thus fill some gaps in expertise), the outsourcing arrangement did not achieve the integration of external knowledge with Kodak’s own internal knowledge that was so critical to continued innovation. As a result, Kodak remained stuck in the lower end of the digital camera spectrum and could never compete in the high end of the spectrum, which is where the bulk of the profits are.

That all begs the question: Why did Kodak fail to achieve the integration of external and internal knowledge?  After all, Kodak was for decades a greatly admired company which owned an iconic brand.  It had mastered all aspects of the film business including R&D, manufacturing, marketing and worldwide distribution.

The answer lies in the quality of management. Unlike Fanuc which had the towering figure of Dr Inaba, a key scientist in his field of robotics and numerical controls; in its effort to provide the visions needed to adapt to the new technologies and then lead the world market, Kodak went through a number of CEOs – it is on its fourth CEO since 1990.

The short tenure of each CEO made working towards a distant goal of industry leadership in the fast evolving technology of digital imaging rather difficult.

Very often, when CEOs change, they bring new priorities and the pursuit of a distant goal can be easily ‘misplaced’ in these reshuffles, or, worse yet, the goals themselves may be changed.  Kodak also went through numerous restructurings which were traumatic for the employees and sometimes also taking it into unfamiliar and hypercompetitive markets such as printers, again diluting its focus.

The key stumbling block was its inability to convert its technical expertise into tangible products that could be sold profitably

Complacency also played its part. Kodak is based in Rochester, New York, where it was the largest employer and has a towering influence. It has helped many local causes – in fact of one of the premier music schools in the world (the Eastman School of Music at the University of Rochester) bears the name of Kodak’s founder.

Possibly, in its efforts to continue to be good to the local community, Kodak let its costs get out of control.  Like many corporate peers such as GM, legacy costs (funding generous retirement packages) became a huge burden, especially when revenues started to decline.

So what lessons do Kodak’s problems hold for others?

From my perspective, the key stumbling block was its inability to convert its technical expertise into tangible products that could be sold profitably (in other words a sustainable business model). Kodak had several gaps in its expertise to design a complete business model but lacked the clarity of vision or the continuity of leadership to acquire the resources in a systematic fashion, let alone integrate them with its considerable internal knowledge of digital imaging.

Other companies facing similar technological discontinuities would do well to remember the critical role of integration of internal and external knowledge to achieve innovation, which would, in turn, improve their chances of successful adaptation.

Strive Masiyiwa calls internet the ‘most  valuable real estate in the world’. He says the internet is more valuable than land. He goes on to say ‘Every entrepreneur needs to “see” the Internet as “valuable real estate,” in much the same way you would see a piece of land for building something like a hotel’

So this afternoon we continue with websites reviews and do tackle the marketing and promotion side of websites. Our first question is ‘Have you seen our  new improved ZBIN website? It looks much better doesn’t it? I give credit to SKT Website Design, a Harare based Web Design Company operated by a small team of brilliant youngsters with offices in Southerton.

My background is Finance and Risk Management and had never designed a website before. So when i developed our initial ZBIN website, I turned to Youtube for assistance and took several hours studying how to develop a website. After 6 hours of studying, trial and error, I did it…I produced the fastest growing business website in Zimbabwe and the region!

The quality was not the best but I had used my innovation to create a site that attracted 20,000 hits in the first month of operation. I had made history, a finance person with little website development experience ndini uyo zvatoita! Website yombobuda yakapidiguka, kana kuti mamwe maposts ombotiza lol

There is something special though that happened during the development of the website, I developed an attachment to it. The stress, the curiosity, the pain, the headaches and finally the joy of having the site up and running is indescribable. This is the greatest advantage of developing your own site versus having one developed for you.

My own researches of why most websites fail is due to the fact that there is no attachment during production and also the fact that website development is being done by IT Professionals only. They are very good at what they do but in developing most exclude the key users of the website-Finance, Marketing and Management- as a result a website produced is owned by IT and yet most forget that these guys are strictly technical in the field of Information Technology. This is why you often find websites with no new updates-in most cases users would have forgotten the website passwords or run out of ideas on what to put on the site.

So after developing a standard website I approached SKT for support. I knew the site was not the best ( it is still work in progress). I did spend half a day to talking to these brilliant youngsters. They showed me a couple of websites that they did, files of work that they have in progress. We discussed about my vision for the group, what I had done to date and what is missing. A great partnership was born on the day because we would like to develop a formidable team that works on website development and maintenance. They bring strong technical IT knowledge and skills and I bring the business side of website including E-commerce. During our partnership, we will try and fill the void that exist in the field-the absence of the business side to website issues.

Website Marketing Plan

One of the most important factor in a website is traffic! Getting traffic to your site is the difficult part especially when you are new. Getting 5 views on your site is not an easy process –the site owner has to work hard in marketing the site and also ensuring that visitors do come back again.

Google provides free analytics which show the number of people visiting your site. The analytics also come in graph form and a number of extra features. Apart from number of site visitors there is also data on how much time are they spending on the site, what are they doing? Are they returning? Are you turning them into business?

So anyone can get a site and prices range from $150 to $600 for small businesses and this depends on the number of features you would like your site to have-some may want to have an online store or databases of customers, this may need extra costs. Its therefore important to discuss what you need when you need a website. ZBIN will provide you with an important checklist for new business people interested in setting a site for the first time…a checklist will be important so that you do not end up getting a website that does not provide you with enough value or return on investment.

Marketing Plan for your website

A website without a marketing plan is as useful as a free phone  number that no one knows about.

It is important to consider  the following factors when developing your website:

1. Websites without traffic offer no business or organisational purpose: Sad but true, the myth is just pure myth. If you build a beautiful website and nobody comes, no matter how useful or artistic the website, it is useless. Think of a website as a new version of the freephone telephone number; just like a freephone number is useless if nobody dials it, so too a website is useless if nobody visits it.
2. Websites don’t get traffic by themselves: If you build it, and do nothing else, they will come. That’s also a myth. Websites don’t generate traffic anymore just because they are good, or useful.
3. Traffic takes marketing: It takes marketing to generate traffic on a website. Successful websites generate traffic by new applications of old-fashioned marketing, including advertising, public relations, and word of mouth. They also generate traffic through new Internet marketing, highlighted by careful management of searcher strategies such as search engine optimisation and CPC (cost per click) advertising on the likes of Google, Espotting and Overture.

Your competitive edge

What is your website’s competitive edge? How are you different from all others? In what way does it stand out? Is there sustainable value that you can maintain and develop over time?

The most classic of the competitive edges are those based on proprietary technology and protected by patents. A patent, an algorithm, even deeply entrenched know-how, can be a solid competitive edge.

Sometimes market share and brand acceptance are just as important. Know-how does not have to be protected by patent to offer a competitive edge. For example, some of these values might lead to competitive edge:

• Quick loading pages–2 seconds vs. 12 seconds, 8 seconds being the average. For example, Buy.com’s average load time is 2-4 seconds. This has certainly been the case with Yahoo!, it consistently loads in a very quick amount of time.
• Fresh content. e.g., major news sites. This is less of a concern to readers of bbc.com where the expectation is that content will be updated on a daily basis.
• Trust. A community where people feel free to post their thoughts and concerns will have a competitive advantage based on trust. New posts and new ideas bring them back to your site. Fool.co.uk, for example, has mastered the art of building a network of users. They have dozens of custom email newsletters, some of which feature the most popular message board posts for that day.

The competitive edge might be different for any given company, even between one company and another in the same industry. You don’t have to have a competitive edge to run a successful business–hard work, integrity, and customer satisfaction can substitute for it–but any edge will certainly give you a head start if you need to bring in new investment. Maybe it’s your customer base, as in the case with Hewlett-Packard’s traditional relationship with engineers and technicians, or maybe it’s image and awareness, such as with Compaq. Maybe your competitive edge is quality control and consistency, like that of IBM.

Features and benefits statements

A good website strategy first identifies a market need, which indicates a target market, and then fills that need. Your strategy usually has to add an element of basic business revenue, considering who will pay how much to have that need filled.

Features and benefits statements are classics of standard marketing. For every product and every service you sell, develop your features and benefits statements.

Conclusion

Most people relax after setting up a site, they get training from website developers and initially run the site but lose interest in the long run. Some lose passwords or simply run out of what to update. This is the reason why most websites are not updated. Our advice is that enterprenuers should view websites as a precious investment that can drive business growth, you should look at your website as a source of competitive advantage over your competitors. We will cover online stores in the next article and how small businesses can take advantage of online stores.

Are you interested in setting up a website? Do you want your existing site to be reviewed or upgraded? If your answer is yes then contact SKT Website Design on +263 772 922 265

One of the ZBIN members has asked me to write about business plans. Defining them and providing a few examples. This should not be a challenge since i have helped a few members from the community in drafting and reviewing them.

I would say a business plan is a simple document where you write down a brief history of your business and what you plan to do in future. I would like to emphasize the word simple here because most people think it is a complicated document which can only be compiled by experts whereas in reality anyone can draft a business plan.

Why draft a Business Plan?

Clarify Direction:  The primary purpose of a business plan is to define what the business is or what it intends to be over time. Clarifying the purpose and direction of your business allows you to understand what needs to be done for forward movement. Clarifying can consist of a simple description of your business and its products or services, or it can specify the exact product lines and services you’ll offer, as well as a detailed description of your ideal customer.

Attract Funding: Perhaps the reason why most people prepare business plans-to seek funding! Businesses evolve and adapt over time, and factoring future growth and direction into the business plan can be an effective way to plan for changes in the market, growing or slowing trends, and new innovations or directions to take as the company grows. Although clarifying direction in the business plan lets you know where you’re starting, future vision allows you to have goals to reach for.

Attract Team members: Business plans can be designed as a sale tool to attract partners, secure supplier accounts and attract executive level employees into the new venture. Business plans can be shared with the executive candidates or desired partners to help convince them of the potential for the business, and persuade them to join the team.

Company Management: A business plan is one solid document which defines who the company is. A business plan conveys the organizational structure of your business, including titles of directors or officers and their individual duties. It also acts as a management tool that can be referred to regularly to ensure the business is on course with meeting goals, sales targets or operational milestones.

What does a Business Plan contain?

They can range in size from a simple few sentences to more than 100 pages with formal sections, a table of contents and a title page. Typical business plans average 15 to 20 pages. Comprehensive business plans have three sections–business concept, marketplace and financial–and these are broken down into seven components that include the overview or summary of the plan, a description of the business, market strategies, competition analysis, design and development, operations and management, and financial information.

I would in simple terms say a business plan should answer the question, who are you and why should i be interested in you? For potential funders the question is why should we fund you? So clearly illustrate a business plan allow me to provide you with an example below of

Below I have quickly drafted a Business Plan Outline to help our members to appreciate what a business plan is. In this plan you would like to tell a potential funder who you are as a company, who the owners are, why you exist, your competitive edge, your management team. This is pretty straightforward.

You would like to analyse the environment that you work in. For instance in the current environment in Zimbabwe you may like to refer to the Economic Outlook and impact on your company and the industry that you operate in.

Proposed Investment Description should be fairy straight forward, what do you intend to invest in? How much and is it going to be a profitable venture? Can you back it up with financial calculations? You may need a finance expert to do some Capital Budget calculations but for the purposes of illustration here, we are doing it ourselves. You will also need to describe the industry that you work in, the level of competition and your strategy for survival and competing.

Finances, this can be a small headache for Non- Finance Professionals but guess what? The good news is that there are a lot of templates where you can simply plug in figures and produce results. I have a friend who is an IT Manager whom I failed to help in drafting and reviewing his Business Plan, he produced a simple cashflow statement in excel which was accepted by a bank who gave him a loan.

So this is just an introduction to Business Plans which I drafted with the intention to demystify business plans. It is not rocket science, you too can draft one if you take time to learn more about them. I will provide you with examples of detailed business plans and also checklists to use when reviewing business plans.

If you are drafting one with the intention of applying for funding remember this golden rule…Is it a profitable venture? This is the bottom line and a business plan will simply help in backing a profitable venture.

Enjoy and see you tomorrow at the ZBIN Poultry meeting at 3:00pm

The good news for art and music lovers is that the Harare International Festive of Arts is back! Some will be looking at enjoying themselves at the festival by checking out artists from the continent, a few will however be looking at the festival with different lenses-business!

ZBIN is therefore looking at the few folks who are interested in the business side brought about by the festival which draws thousands of followers. If you are a follower of HIFA, you may have seen that a few people from the event and they include the following:

1. Vendors selling food and drinks inside the HIFA venue

2. Hotels and lodges

3. Transport providers such as taxi cabs

The list can expand if one takes time to study who really attends this event as a lot of tourists visit Zimbabwe for the event. So what does a ZBIN need to do for now? Nothing complicated, just go to HIFA website www.hifa.co.zw and make inquiries. You may also need to be aware of all upcoming major events in your local area and find out how you can benefit.

We have been reviewing the Zimbabwe Agenda for Sustainable Socio-Economic Transformation (Zim Asset) looking for many areas such as the Small to Medium Enterprise Enterprises (SMEs)as well as the Diaspora issues. Iam happy that there is coverage of the SME sector, disappointed to some extent by the ommission of the Diaspora. There is no Diaspora acknowledgement as an important sector that contributes to the economic development of the country. Perhaps this is an oversight that would be redressed in future government policies.

Today we wanted to highlight success stories from India where there is a Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs. The vision of the Ministry is detailed below:

‘India’s engagement with its diaspora is symbiotic, the strands of both sides of the relationship are equally important to create a resilient and robust bond. To engage with the diaspora in a sustainable and mutually rewarding manner across the economic, social and cultural space is at the heart of the policy of the Ministry. To create conditions, partnerships and institutions that will best enable India to connect with its diaspora comprehensively is central to all our programs and activities. As a new India seeks to become a global player of significance, the time has come for a strong and sustained engagement between India and overseas Indians. The time has also come for overseas Indians to benefit from the exciting opportunities that India provides.’ Government of India, Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs.

How did they come up with the above mentioned vision? We can look at the Report to the Prime Minister of  India below:

The Diaspora is very special to India. Residing in distant lands, its members have succeeded spectacularly in their chosen professions by dint of their single-minded dedication and hard work. What is more, they have retained their emotional, cultural and spiritual links with the country of their origin. This strikes a reciprocal chord in the hearts of people of India. It is to nurture this symbiotic relationship to mutual advantage that the Government of India, following the express directions of the Prime Minister, had established a High Level Committee under the chairmanship of Dr. L.M Singhvi, MP, with the mandate to make an in-depth study of the problems and difficulties, the hopes and expectations of the overseas Indian communities. Given the great diversity and global spread of the Indian Diaspora, it was a mammoth task. The Committee completed it within the timeframe set for it, with the active cooperation of NRIs and PIOs and submitted the Report to the Prime Minister on 8th January, 2002.

  The Diaspora is very special to India. Residing in distant lands, its members have succeeded spectacularly in their chosen professions by dint of their single-minded dedication and hard work. What is more, they have retained their emotional, cultural and spiritual links with the country of their origin. This strikes a reciprocal chord in the hearts of people of India. It is to nurture this symbiotic relationship to mutual advantage that the Government of India, following the express directions of the Prime Minister, had established a High Level Committee under the chairmanship of Dr. L.M Singhvi, MP, with the mandate to make an in-depth study of the problems and difficulties, the hopes and expectations of the overseas Indian communities. Given the great diversity and global spread of the Indian Diaspora, it was a mammoth task. The Committee completed it within the timeframe set for it, with the active cooperation of NRIs and PIOs and submitted the Report to the Prime Minister on 8th January, 2002.

ZBIN is the second biggest community in Zimbabwe and our key strength is in networking and free business information and resources sharing. We actively encourage our community to network for business success through meetings, business tours and workshops. Networking is also happening especially on our WhatsApp platform where more than 5,000 members interact daily sharing business ideas and tips. We have also lined up a number of business meetings and tours which should benefit members and also be a good platform for networking.

 The best example of networking in Zimbabwe has to be the case of Mutumwa Mawere who became the richest black Zimbabwean in 1995 when he acquired Shabanie and Mashaba Mine (SMM). How much did he pay for the acquisition? He did not pay a penny, just got the business empire through effective networking!

There is a downward side to networking which people need to be aware-A lot of fraudsters take advantage of networking, you develop trust with a stranger and before long you would have been convinced to part with money in a get rich quick scheme and losing all of your investment.

 So there are a lot of benefits that comes from networking and your favourite business forum will be providing you with various platforms for networking. In 2017 we hope to have several networking events in Sandton, Capetown, Bulawayo and Harare. As per ZBIN Policy, no fees will be required to attend these events. This coming Saturday we have our first ZBIN meeting which will look at solving the Poultry Marketing headache. We will look at various options available to the forum in terms of finding markets for our poultry farmers, one possible solution is the formation of one central company that sells poultry on behalf of members.

More on networking to come, you can refer to our Scorecard for reference of what is to come in 2017. For now we would like our members to appreciate the History of Networking-how it all started. Information below comes from www.changingminds.org

Long ago

Long ago, there was no need for networking as we now understand it. People lived in stable communities where their social position and role did not change very much over a lifetime. They would know at most around 150 people (which is known as ‘Dunbar’s number‘).

Actually ‘long ago’ is not really that long ago. Up to the 18th century, there was a largely agrarian society with a much smaller trade sector than we know now and although it benefited some to build a wide network, for most people it was an unknown concept.

The industrial revolution

With the rise of the industrial revolution in the 18th and 19th centuries came the need for businesses to collaborate and trust a wider range of people and other businesses. It was not enough to develop a few partners and customers then work with them for the rest of your life, as often happened with simple artisans and craftspeople.

In business, risk sharing and resource pooling became more common as a way of ‘expanding the pie’ and making more profit for everyone involved.

Expanding overseas trade needed people to take the longer view and trust others more. Investors had to trust sea captains. Manufacturers had to trust their suppliers. And business partners needed to trust one another in order to reduce transaction cost and so increase competitive advantage. Business also led to a huge increase in insurance, starting with maritime protection and moving on to other business interests. To insure a person you need to trust them and insurance agents can safely give lower premiums to those they trust.

In late eighteenth-century Britain, business people created capital and credit networks. The consequent increase in trust and decrease in transaction cost led to credit expansion and various collective forms of economic diversification, as well as an increasing use of the joint-stock form of business organization.

Kinship ties were extended by social, religious, political, and cultural connections which led to the development of a common values system among business people who formed the new and extended middle class. Business became a way of life and common rules reduced conflict and eased the many transactions. People lived more transparent and open lives with their charitable works, cultural patronage, civic ceremonies, and voluntary subscription societies, which again helped develop trust.

Developing networks

As information costs change, so also does the institutional structure of the economy and so the whole way that businesses worked and interacted evolved to a system where both collaboration and competition could effectively coexist. As mentioned, trust is central to collaboration and business where you may be trusting large sums of money with other people.

The way a person developed trust was by how they (and in business then it was mostly men) act. A great deal was placed upon general conduct including personal integrity, keeping promises, paying debts and having a general sense of solidity and respectability. What clubs and institutions you belonged to made a further difference as they gave additional strong indication of your underlying values and concern. The codes of how one dressed and treated others were not written but became widely understood.

These factors became even more important than political or religious affiliation as the rules of doing business grew, including working well with others and building an effective and worthwhile network of associates. In this way the industrial revolution also became a social revolution that spawned networking far and wide as a way of working.

These days

These days, the interconnectedness of the industrial revolution has intensified into the knowledge economy, where jobs are increasingly mobile and flexible.

In all this, who you know is still hugely important and can be important than what you know and many jobs come through contacts (your author, for example, has changed jobs quite a few times but has not applied through an advert for over 25 years).

And the internet has facilitated networking to a new and frenetic level, where people tweet and post many times per day. With cell phones and social networking we can have endless ‘friends’, though Dunbar’s number still constrains the number of people we can realistically know.

There is now a ‘Millennial Generation’ who have known nothing but being permanently connected and how they will continue to live their lives and the impact of this connectedness has yet to be played out.