You can’t go very far in the local blogosphere without stumbling across a conversation on the lack of funds for web entrepreneurs, lack of online innovation, lack of skills etc.

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I have been trying to come to grips with this problem for some time, but to not much avail. The simple fact is that South Africa lacks angel investors to seed an entrepreneur’s idea, and there is little incentive for a strong angel network to establish itself.

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Part of the problem is that few people, especially the “youngsters”, have both the technical and the business skills to take an online project forward, successfully. They can develop a “killer app”, but have no idea how to take it to market. Sometimes, they’re not even sure if there is a market.

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I was discussing these issues with Dr. Jill Sawers who is the Manager of Entrepreneurship at the Innovation Hub, and she has now spearheaded an exciting initiative to bridge some of these gaps.

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The Maxum Incubator, together with University of Pretoria and IdeaBank (my company) are organising the fist pre-incubation offering for young online entrepreneurs.

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All successful applicants will receive:
•    Free plug and play shared office space for a 3 months (a R500 deposit, telephone costs and  consumables will be for your own account)
•    Attending Izazi entrepreneur forums (opportunity to network with like-minded entrepreneurs)
•    Exposure to experienced business mentors and Maxum management team who will guide you in the process of deciding what is necessary to convert your proposed business concept/prototype into a real, viable business opportunity
•    An opportunity at the end of your pre-incubation period to decide whether your business idea has the potential for making money and become part of the Maxum Business Incubator programme
•    If your business opportunity is good enough, you will be introduced to venture capitalists who may be interested in investing in your business

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Basically, it is a foot in the door of a very connected Hub. You will work on your idea while utilising Maxxum’s office space and bandwith, and you will work together with MBA graduates to fine tune your business plan and prototype.

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Once you have a the foundations in place, you wil be introduced to the venture capitalists who have been identified specifically for their interest in funding online start up businesses.

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It is an ideal opportunity for someone in the Pretoria vicinity to become ingrained in both the tech and business spheres at the same time. Plus, the Innovation Hub is a great place to work (my office is across the road, so I am there often) and the energy and vibe are invigorating!

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If you are working on an online venture, if you need some guidance, help or will be needing funding to take your product to market, I strongly suggest you review this opportunity.

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Five simple application steps:
1.    Prepare a 5 slide PowerPoint concept, or a five point document, that outlines your proposition and illustrates commitment to the business enterprise (see accompanying example) and forward this, together with “Assessment of potential ICT Entrepreneurs” form,  to gsetumo@theinnovationhub.com. The business idea must demonstrate technological innovation in at least one of The Innovation Hub’s focus areas: ICT, biosciences, electronics, advanced manufacturing and materials, or energy and the sustainable environment.
2.     As an IT start-up or “Techie with an idea” you will present to a group of MBA students who, if they see an opportunity of building a business around your idea, will engage in a discussion with you over a glass of wine/beer/cool drink after your presentation.
3.    If you agree that this is a business opportunity, you will put together a business proposal and submit this to Maxum for entry into the pre-incubation programme.
4.    If the plan looks viable, you will present to the Selection Advisory Panel who will discuss  the feasibility of your concept.
5.    Should your application be successful you will be invited to pre-incubate your business idea and locate your business in Maxum’s pre-incubation premises at The Innovation Hub in Pretoria. And….if your business proposal is good enough, you will be linked up with Venture Capitalist who may consider investing in your business.

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Important dates to remember:

• 1 September 2008:    Deadline for receipt of applications to be submitted to Maxum

• 8 October 2008:      Successful applicants invited to prepare presentation forBusiness Beat Function

• 21 October 2008:    Business Beat function at The Innovation Hub, Pretoria

• 17 November 2008:    Deadline for receipt of proposals for Maxum’s pre-incubation                programme

• 26 November 2008:    Presentation of selected proposals to Maxum’s Selection Panel

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For more information contact Patricia Dlamini, Manager: Maxum: (012) 844 0084, pdlamini@theinnovationhub.com or visit www.maxum.co.za

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Or you can give me a shout at eved@ideabank.co.za.

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Example of presentation

“If we don’t believe in free expression for people we despise, we don’t believe in it at all.”

Paarl Web, a subsidiary of Naspers, printed R3 million worth of party propaganda for Mugabe after Caxton declined the deal. Business Day reported the story, and now there is some uproar about this.

We are, admittedly, dealing with a tough scenario here. I assume there are very few Mugabe supporters amongst Thought Leader readers, so it might be tempting to create our own, isolated, rules for how Freedom of Expression should be interpreted.

The written word is a strong communicator. It can be heated, biased, derogatory, inflammatory and inaccurate. But it also allows for reflection, thought, and personal introspection. It invites discussion, argument and calls for an opinion, informed or otherwise. Above all, it is passive and should be encouraged as a primary source of opinion making, especially in a country as volatile as Zimbabwe.

If publishers take away Mugabe’s right to publish pamphlets on the eve of his election, they are taking away Zimbabwe’s right to a fair and due process.

For starters, it is not the publishers’, or our right to do so. Had South Africa issued nation wide sanctions against Zimbabwe, the scenario would be different, and we would be obligated to follow our country’s stance.

[To read more, please visit Thought Leader where this post originally appeared. Some good comments there too!]

I am reading a new book, Superclass, that talks about the nature of the most powerful people on earth (there are about 6,000 of these individual super-powers), and how they affect history. Although I have just started the book, it is already obvious that power is most often aided by money or political position.

Unless you are a superb sportsperson.

Poland (my home country) and Germany played their first match of UEFA2008 on Monday. Poland lost 0 — 2, which is in line with tradition since they haven’t ever, apparently, beaten Germany (except in the world wars, and with a lot of help!).

What made this match interesting for me, though, was that the two goals for the German side were actually scored by a Pole. He has been living in Germany since the age of two, but he has a Polish surname (Podanski), and speaks the language.

So in theory, had his family not decided to emigrate, and if he was playing for Poland, the score of the match could have gone the other way. (Of course, I will concede that it is highly possible that the training he received while playing for Germany was superior to the training he would have received if he had stayed in Poland, and therefore he might not have been such a good player without his German background.)
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You can read the rest of this post on Thought Leader, where it originally appeared.

The greatest resource possessed by a nation is the imagination of its people

It is no secret that South Africa has high levels of unemployment, severe poverty and lack of adequate education. These shortcomings are even more evident in our rural areas. And yet, and maybe because of the extra burden of hardships that those who live outside our main hubs have to bear, they have proven themselves to be incredibly creative, passionate and dedicated to their self-honed craft.

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But that, unfortunately, is where their skills end. To be able to market themselves as a destination, or to sell their goods through retailers on the domestic or international market would take resources to which most rural crafters just do not have access. Their unfamiliarity with the business environment, and limited ability to communicate professionally with distant target markets hampers their chance of maintaining a decent living from the proceeds of their work.

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That is unfortunate. Craft has low entry requirements in terms of capital and skill, since it draws on the cultural heritage of the people. Most crafters are women. Craft is the only feasible option to introduce themselves to the economy. They support large families, both immediate and distant. They are good, sometimes even brilliant, at what they create with their hands and the raw materials at their disposals. Their goods would have place of pride in the homes of the relatively wealthy foreigners who are so into the “green sustainability” trend that has taken the world by storm. The crafters, with their skill, are fully equipped to provide the first part of the “produce - sell - sustain” equation.

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Now we have to figure out how to do the rest.

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Luckily, we do not have to start from scratch. There are strong initiatives that aim to bridge the gap. There are government sponsored programs that introduce business training, and help market the crafters to tourists. There are organizations set up by individuals who run non profit projects to uplift the disadvantaged. And markets are springing up in urban hubs that sell the wares to both South Africans and the tourists who visit our country.

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Monkeybiz Bead Project is a case in point. It sells R5 million worth of beaded crafts to the international market each year. Founded as a non-profit in 2000, the initiative now allows 450 crafters to sustain themselves and their family, doing what they do best. The reason it works is because it had a great start from the three founders who identified a collective talent in a community, and matched it to a demand in the overseas market. Now, each crafter is essentially self employed: she makes beaded crafts that are unique, and sells them to the non-profit. The goods are then distributed internationally through a well honed network, and the profits are driven back to the community, which is affected by HIV.

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On my bookshelf I have a gem of a book, Due-South which is an Eskom sponsored “Travel Guide to South African Craft Sites”. Throughout its 400-odd beautifully laid out pages, it introduces the reader to the direct sources of the most creative, original and simply beautiful craft work the country has to offer. Designed as a travel guide, the book encourages both tourists and locals to get into their car and explore the country, and support the talent.

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Here are some typical quotes from the book:

• Hlamarisa Bvuma Beads: Hlamarisa is a renowed Tsonga beader and together with her four grandchildren she works to revive the style and technique used by traditional Tsonga beaders.
• Emma Gule at Rheola’s Country Collection: Emma is a multi-talented, self-taught beader who produces beautiful items from beads and copper wire. She uses her skills in design and colour to create attractive crocheted jewellery, accessories, Christmas decorations and bags.

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So we are not ignorant to the need of helping our local crafters. But, of course, we can do more. For starters, we can work on the perception of what “African Craft” really is. It is not limited, as some might think, the displays of wooden masks and beaded doilies as exhibited in front of the Zoo. To draw attention to the fact that the products produced in South Africa are far more diverse than that, it has been suggested that they be sorted into five categories: home ware and décor; garden and outdoor; jewellery and fashion accessories; craft and folk art (usually culturally specific) and souvenirs. Suddenly, the marketing scope seems filled with many more possibilities.

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In 2001, government introduced the idea of setting up a “Craft Trading House” that would provide a one stop opportunity for buyers to view the South African craft products, and to manage the ordering and finance aspects of the trade. Although this has not yet been established, in principle it sounds like an ideal opportunity to bridge the gap between the products and the markets.

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My money, however, is on the entrepreneurial spirit of those who can act as middle men between the crafters and the markets. Nothing, it seems, is a bigger motivator than money, and I am hoping that individuals who have the right connections, good business ethics and business acumen, will be able to utilize them for the benefit of all. The biggest obstacle, after all, is that most goods that are produced in rural areas will never receive the worthy audience that they deserve. Anyone who can bridge that gap manually can be forgiven for taking a profit out of the process. Altruism is great, but we need to pump exposure, even if for a price.

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And the potential is great. Africa, as a continent, exports only 0.4% of the world’s $424.4 billion creative products! (According to the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (Unctad), 2005). And we probably have the richest collective skill level and cultural heritage to drive the exports. As the director of Inter-region Economic Network, James Shikwati said: “The creative economy can serve as the most strategic launching pad of competitiveness because culture is unique with a given people”.

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I have, I must admit, a somewhat biased opinion on the matter. Although my day is spent bridging the gap between the offline and online world for corporates and start ups, my family, starting with my father as a founder, has owned an art focused business for over 25 years. It is therefore a natural progression for me to try and bridge the offline and online world in the craft / art market too. After all, there are plenty of potential customers who might never visit our country, but who would love to own a bit of African culture and heritage. And wouldn’t it be wonderful if there could be an e-commerce enabled website that offered the small crafter, living in the middle of a remote farm, the opportunity to sell her goods to people with whom she could never otherwise interact? There isn’t one yet, but I’m working on it ;-)

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We might not have the solutions to all the challenges faced by the craft industry in South Africa, but we should know this: It is worth our while to give it our full support, not only because it adds economic growth, creates an uplifted and cohesive community and is a natural stepping stone to further skill acquisition, but because it represents and preserves our country’s rich cultural heritage.

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This post is a chapter of the SA Blook: A Piece of Significance, an online book
written by a diverse group of writers with strong views of our country and the reality we find ourselves living in. The other chapters in the Blook are here:

Introduction
1 . The new South Africa - is it real?
2 . Is SA rich or poor?
3 . What the world thinks of South Africa and what our global opportunities are
4 . The importance of each individual’s contribution collectively
5 . SA Inc and the business of doing business in SA
6 . The beauty and grandeur that surrounds us
7 . The importance of technology in SA’s global emergence
8 . Building brand South Africa
9 . Making the most of SA’s creative talents and abilities
10 . Innovate for a better South Africa
11 . The role of the younger generation in SA, and what we need to do to support them
12 . Connecting South Africa - Communities that transcend technology
13 . We are African - the role of collaboration in South Africa’s growth

The more time I spend playing online, the more innovations just blow me away. But this one takes the cake.

It’s called “telepresence”, and in this video it was used to create a 3D virtual, live, image of a presenter, who could not physically attend a conference, but presented anyway. His image was projected onto the stage, and since it was happening in real time (think teleconferencing, but on steroids) the “virtual” presenter (who was actually in India at the time) was able to speak and interact with a colleague (his boss) who was “really” on the stage.

The virtual image is not projected onto the screen, but onto the stage. You really do think you are looking at a live person. (Well, you are looking at a live person, but he happens to be thousands of miles away).

There are many possible applications to this. The video mentions doctors “visiting” remote patients. But I immediately had another idea: If my deceased father was able to make a virtual “video” of himself (prior to his death, of course!) then I could listen to a message from him after his death, and see it coming “directly from him”. My daughter could “see” her grandfather, whom she now does not remember. The potential is tremendous.

In fact, this is so awesome that I was waiting for a “April Fool’s” kind of spoiler at the end. But no, it seems the Cisco people are really pulling this off. Watch it, it really is amazing.

If you use Twitter, and you are a South African, please add your name to this wiki.

It will give everybody an idea of how big the twitter community is in the country, and will also hopefully allow us to hook up with some twitterers that are slipping through the cracks :-)

Also, once you add your name, please tweet the link to all your followers, so we can cover as much ground as possible.

I did a very informal poll of those who follow me on Twitter (@EveD, btw) and the consensus seems to be that there are less than a thousand South Africans using the service.

But who knows?

Uploaded with plasq’s Skitch!

I was directed to a Nerve.com site showing the 50 most popular advert parodies of all time. I love stuff like this, so was eager to see what made number 1. Well, I don’t know.

For some reason, NBC.com has decided that because of my geographical location, I am not entitled to watch the video. Which would be free to watch if I lived in the US.

This makes no sense, and has thoroughly pissed me off. You cannot play in the social media playground, if you are going to be a bully. We’ll kick you out.

As I have mentioned before, Gino and I are working on a book for a UK publisher, on the topic of Social Media. Actually, that should now be phrased in the past tense.

I had a careful look at the contract, and was horrified to consider the implications of some of the terms:

• We would be lucky to see any money before December NEXT year

• We were obligated to provide the publisher with updated versions for future editions at her request (and we know how often social media topics need updates!)

• Should either one of us die, the estate would not receive royalties for future editions

• Should the publisher successfully sue a copyright infringement case, she would keep all of the proceeds.

Quite a cheek, if you ask me. I kick myself for not reading the contract much more carefully before, but at least now I have a semi ready manuscript to take to market. Since neither Gino nor I expected to make big (or any) bucks out of this, we have decided to do the next best thing: issue the book online!
The original book would be about 60 000 words, which is a bit hefty for an e-book (I think), so we are probably going to split it up into the respective chapters that each of us wrote, and publish two separate books, under our individual names.

We hope to release the books concurrently, and although each of us is now responsible for their own book, we are assisting each other with the editing, the flow and the general tone. May I say that we have drunk far too many coffees during the process!

I am very happy that due to the nature of the book, the online medium seems the ideal space in which to distribute it. But I cannot help but wonder how many authors, who have penned their great masterpieces, have been conned or pushed into a tight corner by one sided contracts. It is my understanding that the book industry is a tough one, and maybe this is a clue as to why.

By the way, none of this has any huge impact on the Social-media-for-South-Africans book that I announced earlier. The format might change slightly, but the book will definitely appear soon on a shelf where all good books are sold ☺

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I have always wanted to work a four day week, and although sometimes I manage to accomplish this, overall what usually happens is quite the opposite and I end up working the weekend too.

But I came across this post from the very, very clever people at Signal37 where they explain quite clearly why working a 4 day week actually works out better for all concerned.

So, from today, on Fridays I don’t work. To clarify, that does not mean that I will not be online. I will probably even check my email. But I will not reply, unless I deem that the world would collapse if I ignored a crisis. And I will probably do a lot of writing, but only if I feel like it. But overall, Friday will be MY day, and to share it with me you have to be invited :-)

It will be an interesting experiment, but a worthwhile one I think. In order for it to be a success, I need to make up the 8 hours in the remaining 32, which translates into making each working hour more productive by working harder and smarter.

Some ways to do that:

• If I don’t keep a schedule, it is possible that I could double my productivity. This is taken from Marc Andreesen’s suggestion to simply not schedule any meetings. At first it sounds insane, but when I think how often I have had to break my work flow to reluctantly go to a meeting, it starts to make sense. Marc’s explains it like this”

When someone emails or calls to say, “Let’s meet on Tuesday at 3″, the appropriate response is: “I’m not keeping a schedule for 2007, so I can’t commit to that, but give me a call on Tuesday at 2:45 and if I’m available, I’ll meet with you.”

• Switch off email during the bulk of the day, so I can focus on task at hand fully. I cannot follow the 4 hour work weeksuggestion of only checking email once a week or so, but I can definitely live with only checking my email at the beginning and end of the day. I’ve heard it is also a good idea to “only touch an email once” ie deal with it immediately. All this will surely help me focus and save me time.

• Ignore the twitter stream I don’t think I am strong enough for this one!

• Stop chit chatting and taking unnecessary 15 minute coffee breaks. I do these to relax, but the whole point now is that I should stay focussed so I can relax properly on Fridays. Of course, I will still coffee, but not while taking a break. Simply sip it while I type.

• Log all time spent on each task for a week, and identify inefficiencies. This will probably be an eye opener.

• Outsource more. This is a big one. I already outsource some of my more mundane tasks to India or somewhere, and this has had a huge boost on time saved. In fact, I think I should write a separate blog post on this, because proper outsourcing can really change your work style, your productivity and - most importantly - your bottom line. However, I want to focus more attention to outsourcing work to companies “down the street”. This way, I can delegate work that I still need to keep a good eye on, without having to hire more staff.

• Make better use of productivity tools and principles, like Remember the Milk, Highrise, Get it Done etc. The learning curve on these is high, I think, but they work for so many people that I should start taking the plunge and making a more formal commitment. On the same note, I need to save time “for the future” by taking time to organize my work space, my filing system (especially delicious bookmarks) and improve my document naming habits.

I have a feeling that once I apply a more disciplined attitude to work, I will realize that not only can I take Friday off, but I can do more in the four day week than I did in the five day one.

I’ve been active online for 14 years now, but it was only about 14 months ago that I really got interested in social media (with thanks to Mike Stopforth and Vince Maher who gave such compelling presentations at that First Tuesday breakfast that sparked my interest.)

I have watched, analyzed and strategised from the sidelines. In the meantime, I have had great pleasure (and some success) in helping SMEs active in the online space to up their game, and reap the benefits. But I was involved in other “real” businesses, and couldn’t really make a full time commitment to play this game myself with full vigor.

Until now. I have handed over the reigns of all other commitments, and I am dedicating myself full time to the online space(yes, I know that in this space full time means 80 hour work weeks). Relatively speaking, it was an easy decision to make. It is where my passion lies, and it is something that I look forward to doing for a long time to come.

What wasn’t so easy was deciding where to focus the effort. I have two ideas for online applications brewing strong in the back of my mind, and I would love to see them come into fruition. But for now, I am going to combine my passion for online space with two other activities that I particularly enjoy: thinking and writing. So, by throwing it all into a mixing bowl I come up with the rather obvious concept of thinking about the online space, and writing down my conclusions. There you go. Full time “Web Strategist” it is :-)

I am going to focus on the educative side of writing. In other words, I am going to prefer to “speak to many”, rather than consult regularly on individual projects. Unfortunately, fun as all this may be, I still need to make a good living out of it, and there are not that many channels that accept web strategy ponderings for a good fee. So guess what? I created some.

I have other projects on the sideline, to which I now have a renewed commitment. The main one is the Thought Leader blog, for which I enjoy writing because of the sophisticated level of the audience it delivers. I will also continue to write for BizCommunity (if they will continue to have me!). I also intent to spend more time on Digital Garage, which I am ashamed to say has been taking a back seat of late.

This blog is going to be like a secret affair from all of the above. It is where I will post stuff that needs to be said (as judged by me), but not in any of the other forums. It will be a diversion. The topics will vary, and the range will be wild. There is a lot that goes on in that mind of mine, and it really, really needs an outlet. Watch this space, I guess.

All of this amounts to A LOT of writing, which I am actually quite happy about. The one thing that that is great about writing is that it can be done from pretty much anywhere there is a power point (as a caveat to recent SA developments, that power point obviously needs to provide power!). I will see where the road will take me.

(Oh, I also own the www.bigbrother3.co.za domain, which is going to come in handy soon when the next Big Borther Africa starts (August). The South African version of Big Brother is apparently also being discussed, so the domain can do double duty. No idea what I am going to do with the domain, but whatever it is it will be a fun exercise in Social Media.)

So, to Eric and all the others who have been asking me what it is exactly that I do … now you know.

Or think you do ;-)