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Category: Small Business

The importance of buying local

The importance of buying local

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We often hear people say we must buy local, or support local business. Is this just a tactic these people use to get us to buy from them instead of their competition?

Sometimes yes, but let’s look at the underlying benefits.

Buying local really means supporting a local small business, and most often, a family-run business. Supporting these businesses means that the profits stays here, and gets spent here as well.

Non-local business are typically big chains with a branch in the area but their head office in a big city somewhere. Their profits are typically sent back to head office, where it is used or pocketed by the shareholders.

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The cowboy brigade will be the death of us

The cowboy brigade will be the death of us

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In our area new small businesses are one of the biggest single threats to survival of other small businesses. We are our own worst enemy.

I have seen the same thing repeat itself over and over again. It works as follows: Someone uses his hard earned talent and experience to set up a small business offering a highly skilled service. Once the idea has proved itself as a successful venture others sit up and take note. Then the copycats pop up and the industry is ruined for those that offer real craftsmanship.

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Is George open for business?

Is George open for business?

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George is open for business. Open as long as it is not a public holiday, the day between the public holiday and the weekend, an actual weekend, too early, too late, or any other time the business owner feels inconveniences him or her.

One place where service to customers still has a significant way to go is our local municipality. Their attitude of entitlement and power does not help to breed trust or engender goodwill. We are all quick to tell horror stories of long queues and useless officials. Unfortunately they are not alone; our town is full of local businesses that operate in the same way, some even complaining just as loudly about the poor service they get from the municipality.

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Small town thinking is like a glass ceiling

Small town thinking is like a glass ceiling

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Small town thinking is like a glass ceiling. It can trap you and stop you from getting those big deals just out of your reach. Getting out of that small town mentality is easier than it sounds.

All it takes is a little bit of faith, and no, I am not talking of the religious kind. I am talking about faith in your fellow business owner.

You would think that living in a small town business owners would be keen to work together, but this is definitely not the case. I have seen countless examples of deals passing us by because a joint venture could not get off the ground or one party pulled out at the last minute.

This fear of commitment is typical of small town thinking. In the big cities companies do joint ventures at the drop of a hat, and generally it is as successful as any other business deal.

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ICT intervention for growth: The Garden Route software factory

ICT intervention for growth: The Garden Route software factory

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The Garden Route is open for business. Serious business, software business.

This is the first in a series of posts identifying and substantiating several ICT projects to stimulate and grow the Garden Route ICT industry.

In a previous post I gave some background as to the startup scene within the Garden Route. The area is full of promise and talent, and serious startups are already operating from the area, with others relocating to take advantage of the superior lifestyle and great infrastructure.

The Garden Route is the ideal place from where to run a software factory. Over R750 million worth of software development work is exported form the Western Cape alone to India and other off-shore destinations. The Garden Route has the skills, capacity and experience to attract a significant number of these currently off-shored projects. The close proximity to Cape Town combined with the skills base and business experience should make the shift from India to the Garden Route and obvious one.

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The Garden Route startup scene

The Garden Route startup scene

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The Garden Route is open for Business!

We are seeing this more and more, as the Garden Route evolves from a sleepy holiday destination into a serious player in the economy, manufacturing everything from aircraft to furniture to electronics, and everything in between.

Combining this with a serious skills base we have a highly credible business destination.

We are fortunate that the Garden Route has it’s own pool of talent, both in the technology sector as well as on the business and mentoring side.

The ICT sector is particularly active, with well over 100 ICT companies operating from George and surrounds alone. These includes a mix of software, hardware, training and consultancy, providing a nice mix any startup would need in order to succeed. Regular industry get togethers like geek breakfasts result in a well connected network of entrepreneurs.

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George Chamber of Business – looking back at 2011

George Chamber of Business – looking back at 2011

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It is my pleasure to present this report to the membership of the George Business Chamber.

The Chamber has enjoyed a very positive term resulting in a growth of membership, an enhanced community profile and services provided for the members. In addition to consolidating its financial position, the organisation has successfully developed its internal capability, providing a strong foundation for continued growth.

Exceeding 300 members was a notable achievement for the Chamber .The growth of the Chamber continues to strengthens our undertaking to be the leading voice of business in the region.
Regular interactions with key people has been, and continues to be, a fundamental necessity.

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Making the case for a Garden Route ICT Incubator

Making the case for a Garden Route ICT Incubator

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The Garden Route has a significant collection of great ICT talent.  The Garden Route IT Consortium has been working at unifying the local industry but, this has had limited success due to the economic difficulty most local ICT startups face in growing a sustainable business in this region.

Now it is time to take it one step further. By creating an ICT incubator we can use economies of scale to help these startups get their products designed and developed for less, get to market easier, etc. Collective design, manufacturing, procurement, marketing, and admin makes great economical sense.

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Rural economic development – is ICT the missing link ?

Rural economic development – is ICT the missing link ?

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It is a well known fact that the rural parts of South Africa is far worse off economically than the more populated city areas. This is especially so today, as the cities are developing at a ever increasing pace, leaving the rural country side further and further behind every day.

How can this ever widening gap be brought back under control?  Why should we even care?  What has this got to do with ICT?

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Do I really need a blog, twitter & facebook? Is a website not enough?

Do I really need a blog, twitter & facebook? Is a website not enough?

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I run web design courses in various shapes and sizes, using mostly Joomla and WordPress as the underlying framework. Students often ask me why they need to go the extra mile. Is a basic website not all they need?

My answer to this question often depends on the sophistication of the audience.

Before I answer this one let me clarify something quickly. I operate in George,  which is in the Garden Route, where the typical web design student is a small business owner that sells to real people within the local area, and not to online customers.

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