For small business owners, the start of a new year is a valuable opportunity to take stock and to plan ahead.

 

And there are many practical efforts SME bosses can make to ensure their businesses are efficient, improving, and profitable over the months to come. Today we talk about how SMEs can get themselves ready for 2018.

 

Joining us in conversation is Minah Jiyana, CEO of Monyaka

 

And Caskey Ndaba, CEO of Group CEO Decorum Capital

Take a fresh look at the products, services, and marketing of your competitors to see what works for them – and where their points of weakness lie.

Do as a customer would do and search online for key phrases that relate to your business. Who comes to the top of search rankings in your area and further away? This may inform your marketing and SEO efforts to get you closer to the top of that list in 2018.

When identifying the competition, consider the larger businesses operating in your field.

Investment in IT can allow even small operators to compete with large entities, so aim high to offer a better, more innovative, and nimble service than bigger rivals.

Review your marketing message and how it is reaching customers – social media, e-shots, and more traditional marketing methods – to see if it is really yielding results.

Gear up for growth

What are your growth expectations for 2018

Improve cash flow

What will you be doing differently this year to improve your cash flow? 

Cash flow forecasting is also essential – annually, monthly, and sometimes even weekly – to predict projected income and expenses. Again, IT packages can undertake this exercise regularly, so SME bosses never face an unwelcome surprise.

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Today we are talking about the impact that technology has on the business of tourism.

There is no doubt that technology plays an important role in tourism and travel. Most of us are now used to booking our airline reservations online, dealing with telephone trees and other cost-saving devices. These technological advances have allowed corporations to save on manpower while at the same time empowering customers to make their own decisions. We have a panel of industry players including:

Mandisa Baqwa-Nzimande, Managing Director of SA Flair Travel, Kagiso Mosue, Corporate Communications Manager of Tourism Business Council of South Africa as well as Bronwyn Feldwick-Davis, Marketing Manager at President Hotel.

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On this show, we are using a business case to exploring the growth and promotion of black businesses in Africa and how they can be subjected to exploitation.

On the show, we have Adetunji Omotola, an Africa Analyst

And James Mpele, Founder and CEO of the Diversity Hub

Some of the questions we are asking are:

- How do we push for a black business agenda in Africa that will promote the profitability

of black businesses in them effectively and meaningfully contributing to the economic

growth of our continent?

- What would you cite as some of the challenges that black-owned businesses face in

doing business within the continent?

- What global challenges are most concerning – where is Africa in the fostering solutions

to these challenges?

- What economic disparities exist in the continent that exploit black business and hinder

them from growing as they should?

- We know that one of the challenges that black owned businesses face is the issue of collaboration and partnerships – we don’t trust one another and we don’t lift one another up. I think black people are the only grouping of people that competes with each other instead of working together. How do we reverse this destructive cycle?

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Machine learning, artificial intelligence, algorithms and other rapid changes in technology are disrupting and creating new industries at unprecedented rates. They’re affecting the types of work we do and altering workplaces. What impact will these changes have on Africa and its youthful population?

Joining Nkuli in studio is Dr Audrey Verhaeghe who is the Chairperson of the SA Innovation Summit and Jon Tullett who is a Research Manager of IT Services at Industrial Development Corporation Africa.

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United State of America in 2015, provided more than $8 billion in assistance to 47 sub-Saharan countries; and USAID maintains 27 regional and bilateral missions in Africa. ... As of March 2014, 20 African countries carried foreign debt of nearly $390 billion.

As much a lot has been said with regards to Africa's dependence on aid money, Foreign Aid is not all doom and gloom. The problem with development and advancement of Africa is deeper than where the money is coming from.

In Rwanda, Foreign Aid represents 30% to 40% of annual budget and Rwanda as a country is one of the fastest growing economies in Central Africa, Rwanda notched up GDP growth of around 8% per year between 2001 and 2014.

The World Bank says Rwanda’s economy is vulnerable to fluctuations in foreign aid – growth fell to 4.7% in 2013 after some donors withheld aid over allegations in a 2012 UN report that the government was backing rebels in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

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One of the keys to any successful business is being able to come up with new ideas to keep operations, products and services fresh. Innovation is the engine that businesses need to survive the economic downturn and stay above the competition. The long-term success of any organisation’s strategy depends on their ability to develop new ideas.

Equally, partnerships could be a key driver of providing the necessary opportunities for businesses to stay afloat. One such partnership that’s working for small businesses in Africa is that of DeBeers and Stanford University.

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We all dream of starting a business of our dreams and some of us are well on our way to

creating the dream, not only for ourselves, but many others that we hope to employ. But once

you start – you then realise that the dream is not as simple as you were hoping it would be.

Before the dream is realized, you find yourself putting out more fires than you were hoping…

Being an entrepreneur myself, I can attest to some of the challenges that we will be citing today.

I find that one of the biggest challenge for me is staying on top of the competition: finding your

niche and setting yourself up above the rest – keeping the client/customer top of mind.

Joining us on the line is Tracey Gilmore, the COO and co-founder of The Clothing Bank and in

studio is Portia, MD of PortiaKel Publishers and Distributors. Portia is also the editor of PortiaKel

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Public-private partnerships (PPPs) are cooperative arrangements between governments and multinational corporations (MNCs) that are created to finance, construct and manage infrastructure projects. PPPs are a means for governments to gain much-needed private sector investment and expertise for economic development. Historically, Africa’s involvement in PPPs has been limited relative to other continents. However, African governments, which are strapped for resources like other public entities, now have a greater need for infrastructure development to support the continent’s population growth and demand for its commodities from emerging countries.

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We all know that land is essential to securing shelter, for agriculture for food security, for mobilising investments and for sustainable management of resources. It only makes sense to include women in decision-making in land policy, and creating programmes that give women the necessary tools to secure land ownership, we address the challenges facing most African countries.

To help us unpack this, we have Tamzin Hudson who is currently the Advocacy Senior Specialist at Habitat for Humanity International.  As well as Eileen Wakesho from Kenya, who is the Women Land Rights Advisor from Oxfam International. Also joining on the line us is Mathabo Makuta, She is a National Director for Habitat for Humanity in Lesotho.

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Today we are talking about mentorship and we are looking at leaving a lasting legacy for African women.

 We often hear when we support the growth and empowerment of women and girls, we raise the quality of life for everyone. This is because when women lead they not only lead businesses, they lead in their community, they fight for their children, and they give voice to issues that are important to our collective future — like education and health care. 

But the elephant in the room is how do we get there when so much is working against women in Africa? How do we get there when older women feel threatened by the energy and innovation from younger women?

 To help me unpack the issue of mentorship in relation to women, I’m joined in studio by Hloni Mphahlele, a Senior Manager in the Healthcare business at Alexander Forbes. Hloni is also the Chairperson of the Alexander Forbes Women’s Forum known as the Alexander Forbes Women in Business.

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