SA Institutions that provide funding for entreprenuers

The following is a short list of institutions that offer funding for entrepreneurs. It is not comprehensive. Government is in the process of restructuring and streamlining its funding programmes and is moving them from the Departments in which they are lodged to the Department of Economic Development. It is hoped that the process will result in easier, simpler and speedier access to funds from Government.

1.         Business Partners Limited

Business Partners is an investment company for small and medium enterprises. The company invests between R250 000 and R15 million in SMEs across all sectors, with the exception of farming, on-lending and non-profit organisations.
Investment financing is offered for businesses at all stages of development, including start-ups, expansions, outright purchases, management buy-outs, management buy-ins, franchises, tenders and contracts. The company also manages a number of specialist funds, which provide investment financing for defined-profile entrepreneurs.
Business Partners also has a range of support services for the entrepreneur. This includes property management consultants, mentors who are allocated according to the company's needs and access to other expertise need to ensure the success of a business.
Contact:
E-mail:                          enquiries@businesspartners.co.za
Web:                            www.businesspartners.co.za
Tel: Cape Town:            021 464 3600
Durban:                 031 240 7700
Johannesburg:       011 470 3111

2.         Commercial Banks

The commercial banks have specialist SME divisions, providing finance for qualifying entrepreneurs. Visit the banks’ websites to find out about their products and services, and their criteria to obtain finance.
ABSA Bank:                  www.absa.co.za
First National Bank:       www.fnb.co.za
Nedbank:                      www.nedbank.co.za
Standard Bank:             www.standardbank.co.za

3.         Khula Enterprise Finance

Khula Enterprise Finance Limited is an agency of the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) established in 1996 to facilitate access to finance for SMMEs. It is one of the funds being transferred to the Department of Economic Development. Khula provides assistance through various delivery channels. These include commercial banks, retail financial intermediaries (RFIs) and micro credit outlets (MCOs).
Contact details for some of the Khula products are not available. Where this is the case, the following contact details can be used:
Contact:
E-Mail:                          helpline@khula.org.za
Web:                            www.khula.org.za
Tel:                               (012) 394 5560/5900
Toll free:                       0800 118815

4) Small Business Growth Trust Fund

This non-sector specific fund is a partnership between Khula and Fabvest Investment Holdings (FABCOS). It provides:

 

• Finance start-ups, expansions, bridging finance and asset based finance to qualifying SMEs
• Qualifying SMEs with the necessary infrastructural support and resources
• Fosters entrepreneurship within the SME sector and
• Reaches out to SMEs in priority provinces of South Africa
• Migrates Black businesses from the informal sector to formal sector

Loans range between R10 000 and R3million per portfolio entity with a repayment period not exceeding 5 years.

Contact Details

Tel: (011) 421 2939
Cell: 082 901 2813
Email: info@sisonkefund.co.za

• Izibulo SME Fund

The Izibulo SME Fund is a partnership between Khula and Metropolitan Life Limited and The Median Fund (Pty) Ltd. Its purpose is to:

• Provide early-stage funding to SMEs (improve access to finance);
• Provide SMEs with necessary infrastructural support and resources;
• Foster entrepreneurship for men and women in the SME sector;
• Reach out to SMEs in far-flung areas of South Africa;
• Encourage meaningful economic participation of historically disadvantaged South Africans;
• Invest in equity and debt, loans, loans convertible into shares (ordinary or preference shares);
• Purchase shares (ordinary or preference shares);
• Purchase debentures or convertible debentures (convertible into ordinary or preference shares);
• Purchase warrants, options and other securities of, or relating to portfolio companies;
• Provide consulting services, skills facilitation and development to portfolio companies;
• Provide working capital, expansion capital, the purchase of capital assets, refinancing of existing debt obligations;

Excluded investments include buy-back/purchase of shares from a third party in the portfolio company.

Identity Development Fund (IDF)

This non sector – specific fund is a partnership between Khula and Identity Development Fund (Pty) Ltd (IDF). Its objectives are to:

• Create long-term growth from profitable portfolio investments in SMEs
• Promote BEE (black women and youth)
• Provide both debt and or equity funding (50%/50%)

Repayment periods range between 3-5 years for start-up/early stage companies of R250 000 to R3million, emerging /MBO and expansion of R3million to R7.5million and R7.5million to R30million for community projects.

Contact Details

Tel:                   (011) 351 2900
Fax:                  (011) 351 8900

Enablis Acceleration Fund

The Enablis Acceleration Fund is a partnership between Enablis Financial Corporation SA (Pty) Ltd and Khula Enterprise Finance Limited. It is currently capitalised at R50m. Its purpose is to:

• Improve access to early-stage funding to SMEs
• Reach out to SMEs in remote/rural provinces
• Create new sustainable jobs.

It offers equity and or debt instruments over loan periods that do not exceed 60 months.

 

Eligibility:

• South African SMEs that are accredited by Enablis Entrepreneurial Network
• Black owned and women entrepreneurs for start-ups and/or expansion of the business.
• SMEs involved in all sectors - ICT, transport, tourism, agriculture and services industry.
• SMEs that need working capital and or asset finance.

Khula-Akwandze Fund

The Khula-Akwandze Fund (KAF) is a joint venture between Khula Enterprise Finance Ltd (Khula) and Akwandze Agricultural Finance (Pty) Ltd (Akwandze). Its purpose is to provide agricultural development loans to small and medium scale sugarcane growers and contractors within the sugarcane production value chain in the Nkomazi region of the Mpumalanga Province. The Fund is managed by Akwandze.

The following loan instruments are offered to meet financing requirements:

• Crop establishment/re-establishment
• Ratoon management (crop maintenance)
• Purchase and installation of above ground irrigation equipment
• Installation of fixed irrigation infrastructure
• Electricity supply
• Contractor bridging loans and
• Right-to-occupy (RTO) rental bridging loans.

Eligibility

The beneficiary must be a registered Mpumalanga sugarcane grower with the South African Sugar Association;

• Have a Cane Delivery Agreement (CDA) with Tsb Sugar
• Have authority to occupy the land they are farming (freehold, leasehold, right-to-occupy)
• Be a citizen of the Republic of South Africa
• Be black owned (>50% black owned) or black empowered (>25% black owned)
• Be viable and creditworthy, or
• A registered contractor with Tsb Sugar that provides services to growers (e.g. cane cutting and cane haulage).

In addition, the beneficiary must be:

• A citizen of the Republic of South Africa
• Black owned (>50% black owned) or black empowered (>25% black owned) and
• Viable and creditworthy.

 

Loan Size

Depending on the type of agricultural activity being financed, the maximum loan limits for the different loan instruments range from R1,300 to R15,500 per hectare.

 

Contact Details:

Akwandze Agricultural Finance (Pty) Ltd Tsb Sugar Mill, Mhlati Farm Malelane, 1320
Tel: Malelane - 013 791 1396 / Komatipoort - 013 723 4247
Fax:Malelane - 013 791 1175

Anglo-Khula Mining Fund

Anglo-Khula Mining Fund is a joint venture between Anglo American plc and Khula Enterprise Finance to provide financial assistance to junior mining projects.

Product

Equity and or debt instrument with individual investments between R1m and R20m per project

• Equity stake will not exceed 49% of the issued share capital of the investee company.

Who qualifies?

• The owners of the investee company must be involved on a permanent basis, in the day-to-day management and operations of the investee company
• The owners of the investee company must contribute to the investee company from their own resources to ensure commitment and risk sharing
• The investee company shall comply with all necessary legal requirements as well as Anglo American’s standards and procedures regarding environmental and safety policies
• Deal flow of the investee company should emanate primarily from contracts between the investee company and Anglo and its subsidiaries.

Khula Credit Indemnity Scheme

The scheme provides access to finance to people who wish to start or expand small to medium sized businesses but do not have sufficient collateral / security to support facilities provided by participating banks. The scheme covers facilities from R10 000 to R3 million.
Who qualifies?

• Owner-managed businesses - the owner should be involved in the day-to-day running of the business on a full-time basis
• Business activity must be situated in the Republic of South Africa
• Business must be conducted with a profit motive and be economically viable
• The borrower must be able to repay the bank facility
• Individual or person holding a controlling interest must be a citizen of the Republic of South Africa
• Borrower with proven and sufficient entrepreneurship, knowledge, skills and experience directly related to the nature of the business
• The entrepreneur must provide own contribution towards a start-up or expansion of the business

Access is via any of the following retail financial intermediaries:

• Nedbank Ltd
• ABSA Bank Ltd
• First National Bank Ltd
• Standard Bank of South Africa Ltd
• Khula Regional Offices for assistance with a business plan development and/or advice on which institution supports the scheme. The financial institution will assess the business plan and facilities application in terms of its lending criteria.

Non-Bank Retail Financial Intermediaries
Non-bank Retail Financial Intermediaries are independent organisations or companies, which are lent money by Khula on a wholesale basis to on-lend to SMEs. Since RFIs are obligated to repay Khula, they use their own lending criteria to on-lend Khula`s funding. However, each RFI has to contribute towards the achievement of Khula`s developmental impact objectives, such as providing funding to SMEs which are black owned, women owned and from rural areas. Khula restricts its RFIs to on-lending a minimum of R10 000 and a maximum of R3 million per SME.

 

Purpose of RFIs

• To provide a funding alternative to SMEs, who would otherwise not be able to obtain funding from the commercial banks;
• To provide financing solutions to SMEs operating in niche markets, where traditional financial products would otherwise not be able to meet the financial requirements; and
• To provide Khula with a vehicle to facilitate access to finance to previously non-bankable SMEs operating in rural areas.

Geographic Spread of Existing RFIs
Khula currently has a network of non-bank RFIs represented in Gauteng, Kwa Zulu-Natal, Eastern Cape, Western Cape, Free State, Limpopo and Mpumalanga. Although there are RFI branches in Gauteng, Kwa Zulu-Natal and the Western Cape, priority is given to provinces other than the three latter provinces.
Contact:
E-Mail:              helpline@khula.org.za
Web:                www.khula.org.za
Tel:                   (012) 394 5560/5900
Toll free:           0800 118815

5.         Communities Fund and Small Business Hub Programme and Small Business Hub network

The programme supports small and medium enterprises, facilitating entrepreneurial opportunities and the subsequent creation of jobs in communities located in the vicinity of Anglo American Mines.
Purpose
The fund assists entrepreneurs with seed and working capital through loan finance of up to R1 million per project at preferential interest rates. Beneficiaries must operate in Anglo’s business unit areas and comply with the black economic empowerment (BEE) criteria set by the Mining Charter.
The Communities Fund works hand in glove with a network of 13 Small Business Hubs which are staffed and financed by Anglo’s platinum, coal, iron ore and diamond businesses and are located in their respective areas of operation.
While the fund assists micro enterprises with seed and working capital, the hubs extend a guiding hand to entrepreneurs at walk-in centres.
These hubs offer practical support to emerging business owners and aspiring entrepreneurs in the form of business plan assistance and management training and coaching. The hubs also offer telecommunications, internet, printing and meeting facilities while giving entrepreneurs advice on the day-to-day running of their businesses.
The Communities Fund provides loan funding of up to R1 million per project. Businesses applying for finance must operate within 50 kilometres or within the labour sending area of an Anglo American mining operation serviced by a hub. The entrepreneur must be a member of the local community.
Contact:
SBH Team                                Lizette Moll                   Fax:      086 656 4713
National representative:             Henry Snyman               Tel:       083 527 2123
www.smallbusinesshub.co.za

6.         Industrial Development Corporation - (IDC)

The Industrial Development Corporation of South Africa Ltd (IDC) is a self-financing, national Development Finance Institution that promotes economic growth and industrial development in South Africa.
6.1        IDC Gro-E Scheme:      The IDC is investing R10-billion over the next five years through its Gro-E Scheme. It offers financial support to start-up businesses, including funding for buildings, equipment and working capital. It also funds companies wanting to expand provided that they show an ability to create jobs and operate in sectors supported by the IDC which include:

• Green industries, which include renewable energy, energy efficiency, pollution mitigation, waste management and recycling, and biofuels
• Agricultural value chain, including agro-processing
• Manufacturing, focusing on advanced manufacturing; automotive, components, medium and heavy commercial vehicles manufacturing; clothing textiles, footwear and leather, forestry, paper and pulp, and furniture; metals fabrication, capital and transport equipment; pharmaceuticals; plastics and chemicals
• Mining value chain, including downstream mineral beneficiation, mining and mining technologies
• Tourism and high-level services, which includes business process services and tourism
• Media and motion pictures, which has to do with media pictures production, the media value chain of broadcasting (radio and television), media expansion including new media, music value chain, and film production and animation and
• The knowledge economy, to do with health care, information and communications technology and biotechnology.

Criteria: 

• Start-up businesses, including funding for buildings, machinery and working capital;
• Existing businesses for expansionary purposes;
• Businesses that demonstrate economic merit and have prospects of acceptable profitability to be able to service their obligation;
• For the duration of the funding period, businesses whose maximum cost per job does not exceed R500 000 relative to the total funding required;
• Broad-based Black Economic Empowerment certification from an accredited verification agency, where applicable; and
• Businesses operating or expanding in South Africa.

Loans are given at prime less 3% with a minimum of R1-million and a maximum of R1-billion per project.
Contact:
Email:                           callcentre@idc.co.za.
Website:                       www.idc.co.za.
Call Centre:                   0860 693 888

7) South African Investment Network

This is an online platform that connects entrepreneurs seeking business funding with “angel” investors looking for investment. They maintain that they have access to R83 billion to invest. They connect global and local investors and entrepreneurs.
Contact:
Website:     www.investmentnetwork.co.za.
Sasfin Private Equity
Sasfin provides private equity funding for entrepreneurs. It is a versatile form of funding that allows enterprises of any size to unlock their potential without burdening them with excessive debt. Sasfin Private Equity invests its own capital in the client’s business and also provides support and guidance to grow the value of the companies in which they invest in the form of strategic insight and, where necessary, operational, financial and governance input.
Contact:
Email:                                      msegal@sasfin.com
Web:                                        www.sasfin.com.  
Tel:                                           011 445 8001.

8.         The International Tourism Marketing Assistance Scheme (ITMAS)

ITMAS provides partial compensation to businesses for certain costs incurred for activities aimed at promoting tourism to South Africa. It assists South African companies to market their tourism products in foreign countries by way of brochures, manuals, multimedia presentations, computer-based marketing information or any other international marketing materials. Reimbursement is provided for the design, compilation, production, printing, reprinting and distribution of material to market the products internationally. Assistance will only be provided for materials that were specifically produced to market tourism products in foreign countries.
Contact:
Department of Tourism to register as participants in the scheme.
Email:                                                    callcentre@tourism.gov.za
Switch Board Number:                       012 444 6000
Switch Board Fax:                              012 444 7000

 

Physical Address:
17 Trevena Road
Tourism House
Sunnyside
Pretoria
0001
Postal Address
Private Bag X424
Pretoria
0001

9. African Contractors Finance Corporation (Pty) Ltd

A Miscellaneous Business Credit Institution
42 Bath Avenue
Johannesburg,
Gauteng 2196
South Africa

Tel:      011 256 9400

10.        Business Finance Promotion Agency (BFPA)

The BFPA has several products.
10.1      Impact Bridging Financing
Funding is provided for emerging and established contractors in the form of bridging finance and performance guarantees for businesses in the construction industry.
10.2      Khula Emerging Contractors Fund.
Financnce is aimed at departrmetn of Public works and other government contracts associated with infrastrucuture development.
10.3      Smart Choice Order financing
This scheme does not require collateral and payments are ceded to the Business Finance Promotion Agency
10.4      BFPA Classic Loan
Term loans up to R150 000 over a maximum period of 3 years offered
10.5      Flexi Payroll Based Loan
Personal loans based on payroll deductions and salary advances up to  R5 000

Contact:

Comsec Complex, Grahamstown Road, Sydenham
Port Elizabeth , Eastern Cape
Phone : 041 487 0190
Fax : 041 487 0192
www.bfpa.co.za

 

11.        National Youth Development Agency: National Youth Fund

The fund aims to mainstream and integrate youth development for sustainable livelihoods by initiating, facilitating, implementing, coordinating and monitoring youth development interventions aimed at reducing youth unemployment and promoting social cohesion
Requirements:

• Youth (35 and younger) must hold greater than 50% of the shares in the company;
• Must be a previously disadvantaged South African youth
• The youth must be operationally involved in the business;
• Must demonstrate commitment to the venture;
• The venture must be economically viable.
• The following types of ventures are excluded from funding: Gambling, Tobacco Property development and illegal practices.

Contact:
Call Centre:       Tel:       08600 96884                 Fax:      086 606 6563

12.        The Land and Agricultural Development Bank of South Africa (Land Bank)

The bank is a development finance institution (DFI), wholly owned by Government, whose mandate is to support, promote and facilitate the development and transformation of the agricultural sector. It has a responsibility to support Government’s efforts to increase access to land, provide support for emerging farmers and raise rural incomes.
Products and Services
12.1        Mortgage Loans, including loans to well-established commercial farmers or agri-businesses that own fixed agricultural property and want to buy land, consolidate their debts, and or other purposes linked to agriculture.
12.2      Special Mortgage Bonds for Farmers who were previously denied the right to buy land and/or who

• Have the potential to become successful farmers
• Own land in towns or cities can get Special Mortgage Bonds
• Are historically disadvantaged and are first time buyers of agricultural land

12.3      Medium Term Loans in the form of cash credit accounts. Clients’ financing are aligned with and according to their agricultural needs.
12.4      Installment Sale Finance which provides an option for farmers who want to buy movable farming assets and equipment.
12.5      Installment Sale Finance (Livestock)which offers clients an opportunity to purchase large breeding livestock (e.g. bulls, cows).
12.6      Establishment Loan for  perennial crops, typically for establishing sugar cane plantations, citrus and deciduous fruit orchards, timber plantations and vineyards for table and wine grapes.
12.7      Short term (seasonal) loans which are tailored to meet important financing needs in the agricultural production cycle including the provision of advances for crop intakes, production requirements, production credit and other related services that includes the handling, manufacturing, packing, processing, storage, transport and marketing of agricultural products.
Contact:               
Email: info@landbank.co.za
Tel:       012 686 0500
If you need a more detailed database with not only a list of conatcts but an ecourse of how to raise capital and all the necessary investor ready business documents, click here

Author : Valentine Masina www.bizplanafrika.blogspot.com
Please like and share if you have enjoyed this article.

 

Looking for investors in South Africa

Looking for Investors in South Africa

Looking for investors for most South African Entrepreneurs seems like a mammoth task. And we are not here to tell you the exact opposite… rather offer you a proven and easier solution to your need.

Remember if you can’t raise capital… its game over!

• You can’t start your business.
  
• You can’t run your business.
  
• You can’t grow your business.

Brilliant Foundations has already made your work much lighter by compiling a comprehensive list of investors located in South Africa who are looking for sound business investment opportunities. Most of our investors, don’t give away their contact information easily mainly because of three reasons:

1. To protect their identity from clone sites and associations.
2. To protect themselves from fraudulent business opportunities
   
3. Avoid influx of poorly written business plans and business proposals.
   

Needless to say, remember investors are real people, with real contacts and people with a busy life like everyone else. Now imagine yourself having a phone that rang continuously from unsolicited callers and an email inbox full of some coax stories of some fraudulent opportunists. Honestly that wouldn’t be fair at all to say the least. Investors choose to do business in a professional, ethical and sound manner.

Now, in your search for investors, you should remember that they are steps to follow to make your company or project to be investor ready. What is the first step to approaching a potential investor? You need a business plan and other due dilligence documents like the private placement memorandum which go hand in hand with the business plan in most cases.

Now we won’t talk about business plans in this section but as you go along I want you to read this information with that requirement in thought. I suppose you have already finished it before you look any further.

The South African business community is one that is diverse and I can repeatedly say rich in diversity. A detailed analysis of the Absa SME Index shows how the community has evolved over time from independence in 1994. Business opportunities are surfacing from different angles of the economy every single day. With the upgrading of infrastructure to world class standards, South Africa has become an investment destination for both local and international investors.

Government backed loans from banks and social initiatives are limited in capacity. Innovative entrepreneurs are not intimidated by such facts. They look for alternative ways to raise money to fund their businesses. The rising of a new group of such alternatives has given birth to Angel Investment groups and Venture Capital Firms in South Africa.

These have gathered experience in different industries across the economy and are ready to invest in different projects and companies. They are not some easy cash cows and not an alternative for “chancers”… excuse the word.

They typically invest anything from R100 000 to R10 Million in the companies they choose to invest in as you can find out from our highly resourceful BFI Investor Database.

Don’t let your dream die with negative media speculation about Business Funding in South Africa. We can provide you with the solution today… learn more about our funding sources in South Africa as you click here…

Top 10 South African Entrepreneurs of all time

Africa has become a sound and profitable investment destiny for many investors in the past decade because of its vast natural resources but... oh and its vast innovation. Think Paypal, think Tesla Motors... and the list goes on. South Africa shares its own piece of the African innovation pie and here are the top 10 entrepreneurs that we consider to be the greatest of our time in South Africa.

Elon Musk
Now living in America, Musk started his foray into business by teaching himself how to program computers and selling computer games. When he started living in America, Musk created PayPal (formerly X.com) which was bought by eBay.com. Now, Musk has moved onto space travel with SpaceX, solar electric company SolarCity and electric car company Tesla.

Mark Shuttleworth
Famous for being the first African in space, Mark Shuttleworth has achieved similar sky-high success with his businesses. He first founded Thawte in 1995 which specialises in digital certification and Internet security, which was sold to VeriSign. Later, he founded Canonical Ltd which provides leadership for the Ubuntu system. He has dual citizenship in the UK and South Africa.

Patrice Motsepe
Sowetan-born Patrice Motsepe is a South African magnate and founder and executive chairperson of African Rainbow Minerals. Motsepe first became a lawyer specialising in business and mining law. He soon founded a mining services venture to clean gold dust from inside mine shafts, implementing a system of worker remuneration that combined a low base salary with a profit-sharing bonus. In 2008, he was declared the 503rd richest person in the world by Forbes.

Anton Rupert
Entrepreneur and conservationist Anton Rupert was the founder of the Rembrandt group. His career lasted over 60 years and created a net worth US$ 2.3-billion (R21.4-billion). With an initial investment of £10 (R142) and together with two fellow investors, he started manufacturing cigarettes in his garage, which he eventually built into the tobacco and industrial conglomerate Rembrandt Group, overseeing its transition to the industrial and luxury branded goods sectors, with Rembrandt eventually splitting into Remgro (an investment company) and Richemont (a Swiss-based luxury goods group).

Tokyo Sexwale
Tokyo Sexwale founded Mvelaphanda Holdings (mvelaphanda is the Venda word for “progress”), a company of which he is still executive chairman.  His main interest is oil and diamond mining and he has operations across Africa and Russia. On top of this, Sexwale was the host to the South African version of The Apprentice.

Sol Kerzner
The son of Jewish Russian immigrants, Sol Kerzner’s family started a hotel chain. After Kerzner graduated as a chartered accountant, he took over the running of the group and went on to create the most successful hotel group in South Africa, Sun International. He is now the founder, chairman and CEO of Kerzner International and his career spans more than 45 years in the resort industry. Highlights of his career include; Sun City, Mohegan Sun casino in America and the Atlantis Resort in the Bahamas.

Raymond Ackerman
After being fired from Checkers, Raymond Ackerman bought and started the retail chain Pick n Pay. Under Ackerman’s leadership, Pick n Pay has grown from four stores in Cape Town to one of the largest retail chains in Africa, which has a turnover of R37-billion. He stepped down from his directorship in 2010.

Cyril Ramaphosa
As well as being an important political negotiator in previous years and currently the ANC deputy president, Cyril Ramaphosa has been very successful in business. He also founded the investment holding company, Shanduka Group. He is the chairperson of Bidvest Group Limited and MTN and holds a number of non-executive directorships.

Herman Mashaba
A true rags-to-riches story, Herman Mashaba created the cosmetics brand Black Like Me. He started by selling his products from the boot of his car, and it mushroomed into the multimillion Rand enterprise it is today. Recently, he has also started operations in the UK.

Ronnie Apteker
Apteker was the founder of the first Internet service provider, Internet Solutions. Other than running and investing in online businesses, he produces films, most notably, Material. He was named South Africa's top businessman in 2004/2005.

For more posts please check out www.brilliantfoundations.co.za


Source : http://www.brilliantfoundations.co.za/latest/top-ten-sa-entrepreneurs.php

Innovative Products by Guy Kawasaki

This is a lesson that I learnt from Guy Kawasaki (former chief apple evangelist) regarding great and innovative products. I wondered how he came about this concept but after reading his public profile, I then saw that he had truly amassed quite a lot of experience in innovation. As you might already be aware, apple is by far regarded as “the world’s most innovative company”… Think iPad, iPod, iPhone and the list goes on.

So if we have to know about great products and innovative ones… they would be best to ask.
Guy Kawasaki taught me these four principles of a great product. Lest go straight into them… Great products are Dice… which stands for Deep, Intelligent, Complete, and Elegant

Deep
It’s kind of informal but you have probably heard people saying something is deep. Deep here means that the product has many useful features. See at face value you might see one trait but as you sit down and study it, you see how the inventor or designer had many thoughts put into it. Lest just take an iPod for instance… if you were there during the hype of this product around 2006, you would agree that apple had a deep product. Mobile music was the hype and the iPod just played right into the market. It has so many features such that you could use it easily and conveniently.

Intelligent
Great products are intelligent… That means someone must have been “thinking” when he designed them.  Someone took away the pain of the consumer and solved that customer’s problem. Intelligence shows an exception that was put into the product. It carries the basic and complete logic behind innovation. So put your time into thinking if you ever desire to design an innovative product. The engineers of apple as we read, were coming up with new ideas that influenced the invention of the iPhone. Their then CEO, Steve Jobs, would reject different designs until they came up with what they assumed to be the ideal one. See…? It wasn’t one day’s work but a lot went into it. So that is the second trait of great or innovative products.

Complete
Great products are complete. In other words nothing is lacking in them. They come with user manuals, after sales support and such things. It, makes a customer look no further when buying such a product. They feel, they have a complete product. Imagine buying a car without wheels? No matter how nice the car may be, but that missing component is very important regardless of how little it seems. Now when designing a product for the market think from the consumer’s stand point. How convenient will it be for my potential customers to use this product?

Elegant
Great products are elegant. In this sense we mean that they are neat (well designed). Their overall look, appearance is eye catching in some way. Now as we all know, not everyone is attracted to the same thing but designers also have a target market. You see when designing baby toys, you don’t have adults in mind hey? So it would be charming to the baby not to the adult. In the Thesaurus dictionary the word elegant means pleasing to the eye. Imagine having a Lamborghini engine powered vehicle with very bad exterior design? That already rules out a lot of customers as well.

You can follow Guy Kawasaki on twitter and he has an official Facebook page as well.
Follow www.brilliantfoundations.co.za for more information

Why You Need A Business Plan And Which one suits you best

Business Plans vary in types and sizes. The business plan you write or compile should be according to your target audience. Who are you writing to and what purpose is that business plan going to serve? Companies write business plans for different reasons and these are mainly:

1) To raise capital - Micro and Standard Business Plan

This type of business plan is written with investors in mind. It’s a money affair so your business numbers do matter the most as investors look for opportunities to get good returns on their money. The business plan must clearly state how much is needed and how it is going to be used.
Cash Flow, Business Ratios, Income statements are a very big must and no unrealistic figures would be an added advantage to you. Well it has been often said by potential investors and experienced venture capitalists that the numbers are always wrong... huh... Yes your estimated business numbers are always going to be wrong to say the least.
This is because no one really knows how much a business will possibly make at any given time in the future. It is how you arrive at those estimates based on solid market research that gives credibility to your business numbers. View our Micro or Standard Plan package by clicking here

2) To be used as an internal company strategic plan document - Strategic Business Plan

Most successful companies use business plans to measure their success. It is in the business plan where they write their strategies, time bound milestones or goals and their business concept in blue print. It’s much easier to achieve your goals if you write them down.
Serious entrepreneurs will put all their abilities, projections and ideas in a business plan that they will update from time to time. Say they see in their business plan, they estimated X sales that year but only achieve Y sales (assuming Y is less than X), they will go back to their plan and see why and how they didn’t achieve their target. They will go back to the drawing board and re-strategize to achieve their goals.
On the other hand, unsuccessful entrepreneurs are always firefighting. They only see a problem when it arises and make rational decisions based on what they think or feel that certain day. They don’t develop strategies to combat problems when they arise before hand and that makes the difference between average entrepreneurs and super successful ones. View our Strategic Plan package by clicking here

3) To form partnerships with other companies- Standard Business Plan

Some business plans are written with partnerships in mind. Here an entrepreneur must clearly state what type of partnership they would like to enter into. It could be a company merger or cross marketing platform or anything related to partnerships.
The business concept and strategies similitude are a good starting and base point for a good partnership to exist. Suppose a company that manufactures powdered washing soap A wants to partner with another company that manufactures liquid soap/detergent B... partnership can be formed if the businesses do not directly compete with each other. So a washing soap company might just be in line to release its first liquid soap or detergent to the public.
Partnering with a liquid soap manufacturing company would make it much easier for company A to succeed. This is because of market forces that include barriers to entry already created by other detergent manufacturing companies making it harder for a new company to enter the market and receive a sizable share of the market. View our Standard Business Plan package by clicking here

4) To serve as a marketing plan for a business - Marketing Plan

Business plans do narrow down to marketing plans that can be produced as a standalone document. A stand alone marketing plan is critical to an existing business as it serves as a marketing blueprint to achieve greater results.
Now an entrepreneur will obviously meet a lot of different ideas on what and what not to do to market their business. Now you don’t have to take any and everything that people throw on you. You just have to have a blue print marketing plan that will help you establish solid ways to market your business. This plan includes both offline and online ways to market. It will also help you to track your marketing efforts and bring you the results you want in your business.

Go to www.brilliantfoundations.co.za for expert business plan advice