Networking Main Event: Establishing a winning brand (19-10-11)

Hello, my name is Donna-Ray Campbell and I write the 'Event Update' column on behalf of Stimulus for the Entrepreneurial Report.


The Stimulus 'Networking Main Event' is a monthly event where we strive to collaborate with corporate's and member businesses to provide solutions that are 'SME friendly' for our members. These solutions are aimed to catalyze the growth of our member businesses by providing services for them that would otherwise be unattainable or just beyond their financial or capability reach.

In our October Main Event were looked at Establishing a Winning Brand. A business, be it service delivery or sale of goods,  needs to be easily identifiable and differentiated from its competitors. It also needs to be clear what that business does, how and why. To achieve this one has to build a solid brand therefore a brand strategy is essential. We had our "brand strategy guru", The African Knight, Musekiwa Samuriwo address the group on developing a brand strategy.

He began his presentation with questions one should ask themselves when establishing  their brand, for example; 

Do you have a clear understanding or view of how your industry may be different ten years into the future?

Are you seeing further than your competitors?

To what extent is your brand influencing the new rules of competition within your industry?

Such questions provoke ones mind to think strategically about their brand and the "domino effect" that occurs enabling an entrepreneur to develop a winning brand.

He also touched on how you would  be able to extend your brand, he asked if as entrepreneurs in the 21st Century if we are thinking globally and acting locally. Or if we are thinking locally and acting globally? Better still are we thinking glo-cally? 

When we have carried out this analysis we can then strategically focus our brands not only on our target market but on growing that market. He touched on co-branding and closed on brand and corporate strategy, removing the disconnect. 

*Mr Samuriwo is writing an eight part series on brand development for the Entrepreneurial Report which is posted weekly on a Wednesday. 

We then had our Online brand development partner Mr Simbirirai Maramba from Enchant Creative address us. He gave us an introduction to developing 'Your Brand Online'. He informed us of the importance of having an online business presence and the figures spoke volumes: Facebook has 3 billion users, Twitter has 200 million users and linked in has 70 million users worldwide. Now these are figures worth looking at particularly as Facebook has now confirmed that there are 900 000 Zimbabweans living in Zimbabwe who are on  Facebook. Of those 500 000 access the internet via a mobile device. These figures show the potential for growth of a business by utilising social media and other online tools for brand development. 

What are you doing in your organisation to capture the attention of the potential 900 000 consumers online? OR possibly the 900 000 people that you could tell about your business online and they could in turn tell their friends and family, neighbours and village headmen? The internet could become a pivotal link in your marketing strategy if you learn how to use it effectively as a brand development tool. All in all the event was an eye opener for most of the participants and both presentations certainly gave me a lot to think about in my own business brand strategy development plan.

See images of the event below:                                                                               

Networking at its best!Stimulus members meeting and greeting each other

Miss Nyangulu welcoming new faces to Stimulus!

Group activities ensure sharing of idea's !

Strategic thinking!members were challenged to come up with answers for the  above mentioned questions

This session had a lot of member participation  and involvement!

Rudo Nyangulu deep in conversation!

Musekiwa Samuriwo explaining strategic thinking

Myself and Mr Simbirai Maramba demanding the crowds attention!

Mr Maramba in action!

As always i bring light moments to the events and keep people relaxed.

Branding - An Introduction by Musekiwa Samuriwo

Miss Rudo Nyangulu
CEO Stimulus Group

Musekiwa Samuriwo dubbed , 'The Afrikan Knight' is an inspired visionary when it comes to the realm of entrepreneurship. He is the author behind The Shark and the Japanese Fisherman and the Entrepreneurs Intel which are both rich resources of information for entrepreneurs. It is my pleasure to introduce him to our community as the first independant contributor to the Entruprenurial Report. Though Mr Samuriwo is very much an all rounder, he is starting his residence with us talking about the one place all business visions start from; 

The Brand.

Mr Samuriwo has been instrumental in developing the Stimulus brand among many others and his expertise will be evident over the next few weeks and months as he shares pearls of wisdom with us that will catapult our businesses to new heights. - Rudo

Musekiwa 'The Afrikan  Knight' Samuriwo

   Future ages will wonder at us as present ages will wonder at us now.

Pericles 460 B.C.

Pericles is commonly regarded is the father of modern day democracy. Hence when he said these words he captured what would endear the world thousands of years later in 2011; the ideology of democracy. His bold proclamation is also a challenge to up and coming entrepreneurs as we consider the prospect of developing lasting brands.    How will your brand be remembered years from now?  Will there be a level of wonder in the future as much as there is a wonder in the present?  IS your business designed to last for a very long time?  These are some of the questions we will seek to answer in the forthcoming parts of this presentation. 

Exercise on the power of observation by Michael Michalko

The mind, through prolonged inspection of a subject, becomes bored with it and will explore alternative ways of perceiving it by decomposing the whole into parts and looking for the interesting parts. In the early steps of this process, the effects of these changes remain below the level of awareness. After a while, you become aware of them.

There are nine people in this picture. Inspect the picture and see how many can you find.

·         If you find 6, you have an ordinary power of observation.

·         Find 7, you have an above average power of observation.

·         Find 8, you are very observant. Congratulate yourself.

F    Find 9, you are extremely observant. You are very intuitive and creative.

·       

Figure 1 Source www.creativethinking.net (c) Michael Michalko

Observation

This is an important attribute and tool in the development and implementation of a brand. Observation will help you recognize different aspects of your business and the marketplace you operate in as a business. Observation will also help you see beyond the superficial and mundane so as to unlock more profound and salient aspects of life, business and possibility.

What is Branding?

Definitions

·         The word brand comes from the old Norse word BRANDR which means “to burn”

·         According to the American Marketing Association a brand is a name, term, sign, symbol or design or a combination of them intended to identify goods and services of one seller from their competition.

In the next section of the presentation we are going to discuss different aspects of creating and managing branding starting with brand identity.  I will leave you with this quote,

“I am the punishment of God...If you had not committed great sins, God would not have sent a punishment like me upon you.” - Genghis Khan.

Genghis Khan was a renowned conqueror known by his enemies, peers and subjects for one thing, destroying all that was in his path. This quote reflects how he wanted to be identified.  

How do you want to be identified?

Musekiwa Samuriwo speaking on Brand Strategy at a Stimulus networking event 

Event Update:SOS Business Surgery-Brand Development(13-10-11)

Hello, my name is Donna-Ray Campbell and I write the 'Event Update' column on behalf of Stimulus for the Entrepreneurial Report.
SOS Business Surgeries are events that we hold monthly that give an opportunity foe entrepreneurs to learn life skills, share experiences and gain information that will allow them to take practical steps to development. At these events one2one sessions can be booked in advance for a closer and private review of your particular business situation.                                                                          


Our SOS Business Surgery of  the month took place at the Freshly 
Ground Cafe, Avondale who have partnered with us as a permanent venue for our SOS Business Surgeries. The event topic was Brand Development. Our speaker was was Mr Musekiwa 'The African Knight' Samuriwo.


MR Samuriwo had so much to share that we will be posting his presentation as a series of articles on the entrepreneurial report in addition to this update. Firstly he discussed observation, he said "It is an important attribute and tool in the development and implementation of a brand". Observation will help you recognize when to attend to different aspects of your business in response to and to entice the marketplace you operate in as a business. Observation will also help you see beyond the superficial and mundane so as to unlock more profound and salient aspects of life, business and possibility". 


We looked at the 5 keys to brand identity which are:
1. Working out your business' productive service core competence skills
2. Determining who your target market is and what they like
3. Understanding and shaping the public perception of your brand
4. Establish your business' core values and forms of communication of said values
5. The perceived quality of and the extent to which you would like to develop your business. 


This highlighted the necessity of brand development beyond a logo and a strapline as these in isolation are insufficient. We looked at how to select a name for your brand,the possible messages your name is giving consumers about you and the reason for unfavorable responses. We learnt to appreciate the detail that goes into brand development  and that it has to be a strategic plan and it takes time and deliberate effort to build. Finally he covered the importance of a brand development strategy and its signaficance to the development of a business.


Images below were taken courtesy of Fungai Foto: 

Our speaker Mr Musekiwa Samuriwo had  us all captivated!!

We were all given a task to create a brand with two options to ensure we got the message.

                                         

                                    The 'African Knight' in action inspiring the group

       

We had some interactive activities we were tasked to carry out in groups

        

 Finally our CEO Miss Nyangulu gave us a run through of the upcoming events and opportunities Stimulus has to offer!

Don’t Stop Believing By Fungai J. Tichawangana

Fungai  J. Tichawangana
Imagineer-in-Chief of Exist Digital,
CEO of Zimbo Jam (Jam Group, including
DefZee and Jam TV) and
professional photographer & wordsmith.

I can still vividly remember the day I got the papers to say that my first ever company, in partnership with two friends, Venekera Works, had been registered. The company would design websites and offer related services. We were thrilled to bits and in our minds saw ourselves building this amazingly successful firm in a few short months. I remember envisioning the business in a nice office building with a number of gleaming new "beamers" parked outside. At the time we were housed in a garage at a student hostel in Mount Pleasant Drive. 

My business heroes at that time were Bill Gates, Michael Dell, Larry Ellison and Jerry Yang- all American technology tycoons. Surely we could replicate their feats here in Zimbabwe?  - That was in 2001. 

Shortly after that the country started falling apart around us. The Zim dollar lost value at an alarming rate. Companies closed. People lost jobs en masse. A huge exodus of Zimbabweans began as people ran away from the economic and political malaise in search of some form of stability and security beyond our boarders.

I worked harder than I had ever done in my life  before but things never quite balanced. We got thrown out of our first real office for failure to pay rent. We failed to pay salaries on time, over and over again. My main business partner and I hardly ever got paid either yet we persevered.  

We met with some success though along the way and landed some major projects. We build an entertainment portal called itsbho.com which became wildly popular but on the financial side the business was never what we had initially envisaged. We had a high turnover of staff and became a training ground where bigger web development companies looked for staff.

Eventually during 2006 my business partner moved on to other things.  I struggled internally with the thought of closing shop and leaving the country. I was offered  an all expenses paid trip to the UK to go and explore opportunities and to consider studying there but, being the silently stubborn person that I am, refused over and over again. At the same time a company which I would have died to work for when I was a student offered me a job. I said no.

Later in 2006 we got an astounding offer, a stock-exchange listed business, Celsys Limited, was interested in buying Venekera Works. They said that they loved our work and wanted to give us the resources to grow the business. “We’ll take care of all the admin work so that you can focus on the stuff you love.” I discussed this with the Venekera Works board of directors. We thought no, we would not sell the company.

But at the beginning  of 2007 we met again and reconsidered. If we could have that chance to run unbridled in the wind of corporate possibility what could we build? How big could we make this company if we were not always worrying about making payroll? We decided to take a dive. In April 2007, Celsys bought Venekera Works and we moved to their plush offices at Arundel Office Park.

That was the beginning of the biggest business nightmare of my life!

Our visions were totally different. The expectation gap was so huge it boggled the mind how we had come to an agreement in the first place. In December 2007 I left the country for a month  to go to Norway where my wife was studying. When I came back at the beginning of February 2008 I resigned. 

It was the most painful thing to let go of a baby I had nurtured for over 7 years, but those 9 months when the vision did not move forward were so painful that, rather let go, and move on, than go round in circles. 

Itsbho.com and a number of other portals we had built died under Celsys. These include onebusiness.co.zw, websites.co.zw.

I started toying around with some new online projects www.law.co.zw, www.zimbablog.com, www.zireport.com, www.fungaijames.com and others.

Sometime around June 2008, in my study at home, I started working on a new web portal. The working title was ‘The Zimbabwe Jam’. By September it was ‘The Zimbo Jam’. I registered the  domain and intensified work on the project. On November 4, after pulling a few all nighters in the preceding nights, www.zimbojam.com went live.

I left the country for three months in 2009 to be with my wife again and while there, took advantage of the bandwidth to upload new large sections of the site. When I came back in August 2009 I started building the content on the portal.

I covered as many events as I could, often photographing events up to late at night and then rushing home, which was also the office, to write the articles and then upload them along with the pictures. Because of the immediacy of the stories, use of social media and mailing lists the readership of the site grew really fast. But that is all the subject of another article.

Today the site hits 3 million page views on many months, has over 5 500 fans on Facebook and over 100 000 unique visitors. It’s now eleven years since I began this journey and still the things I expected to happen in 11 months have not yet happened - but they will.

The team of young enthusiastic people who I work with amaze me with their commitment and drive to make this project work. I am constantly inspired by them to push harder and further.

When I am out there taking photos at an event, there is a tingling in my blood that says you were born to do this, to capture the life around you, to document the days of your time here on earth, to tell the story of your people to as many people as possible including those who will come after you.

When I am playing around with images and text and html and the various software that makes it possible to do the work I do, I feel a sense of gratification that compels me time after time to leap into the days and attack them head on.

In March this year my new business partner, best friend of ten years and wife of three, Shingie, passed away. For months after that I walked around in an abyss of grief where nothing mattered, and I wanted to pack everything up and go away. I would sit at my desk staring blankly at the screen for hours on end, totally unmotivated. I would go off on long walks just to be away from people and things. I was convinced I needed to shut everything down and walk away... 

But one morning I came into the office and the team was busy getting on with things, doing their best to keep the ship afloat in my absence and I thought, “Gees, I can’t close shop, it would be so unfair on these guys and on the support that Shingie gave to this project if I walk away now...”

And so Aripano Infinity and its flagship project, Zimbo Jam, went on. 

I decided to make sure that the things I had promised Shingie would come true, that the list of things-to-do we had written down would be completed and tried to throw myself into work again, without much luck...Until July 11, 2011 NoViolet Bulawayo won the Caine Prize. That’s what did it! For the first time in months I was really excited about something. For the first time in months I wrote an article from scratch and then shared it on the Zimbo Jam Facebook page once, twice then a third time.

That one event reminded me why we must make Zimbo Jam and its related projects work. When one Zimbabwean is involved in a successful endeavour, it sparks a chain reaction of so many other things that we cannot even begin to count or understand. If we do our job of sharing those stories well, we will hopefully inspire other Zimbabweans around the world to rise up and continue to believe that they can do it too... That they are talented and that their talent has a purpose and they can make something meaningful out of their lives that could even outlive them.

I believed, as a kid that I would do something awesome with my life. I’m not a kid anymore, on the outside. I should be bitter that I have not achieved all those things I wanted to, but I am not even close to that. I am thankful that I have been given the opportunity to do what I do and more importantly what I love to do. I still believe with every ounce of me that I will do something absolutely awesome with my life.

And eleven years later, one step at a time, the journey goes on...I remain optimistic and full of ideas... my focus forever trained on the vision…

Event Update:Speed Networking Event -Your Brand In Relation To Ethics,Professionalism and Business Etiquette (03-10-11)

                         
Hello, my name is Donna-Ray Campbell and I write the 'Event Update' column on behalf of Stimulus for the Entrepreneurial Report.


October calender of events was opened with our monthly Speed Networking session which was held at The Zimbo Jam offices. Stimulus Speed Networking Events occur on the first Monday of every month.These sessions have two main aims;

1. To introduce the theme for the month to come to allow us as a group to plan ahead

 2. To provide an event where we can actively network, share ideas and find opportunities to do business together.


These sessions typically have one speaker who gives the group a taster of what we can expect to learn as we continue to participate in networking events with Stimulus.


Our speaker for the evening was Ms Linda Longwe a PR specialist. Linda began the evening explaining what a brand is and that the most important brand we should invest in is ourselves! We are all brands in our personal capacity,  that need managing and developing. This is because personal branding is about creating a distinct personality that ensures that you are counted and stay relevant. It is not however about being fake and disingenuous in your business and personal conduct. 


Linda explained that personal branding is more than what you wear, what qualifications you have or who you are related to. It is about consistency and projection of a strong yet not overbearing personality. This is done through having a personal vision and living it out through every aspect of your life right down to how you walk, talk and behave publicly and privately.


Linda also expressed the importance of and encouraged us to establish and develop strategic relationships. She explained how this would assist us in overcoming our weaker areas. Linda was a breathe of fresh air with so much to share on how to improve our personal brands. This session was a brief overview though we were all glued to our seated and did not want her to end.  For this reason she will be back with us running workshops on presentation skills and business etiquette in October and November, I have already booked my place!


The images of the event (below) were provided courtesy of E:thos photography:

M.S Linda Longwe our speaker for the event

Mr Fungai T ichawangama our gracious host for the event,The Zimbojam offices

Linda and I interacting with the audience

In all our sessions we always encourage participation and interaction!

A lighter moment we had many light moments as Linda has a great sense of humor!

Mr Wazara presenting his personal brand 

Vincent and Passion were good sports in helping  Linda  demonstrate professional greetings

Miss Rudo Nyangulu closing our event!

Event Update:SOS Business Surgery-Taxation And Company Registration(29-09-11)

                          
Hello, my name is Donna-Ray Campbell and I write the 'Event Update' column on behalf of Stimulus for the Entrepreneurial Report.
                                                                                                  

SOS Business Surgeries are events that we hold monthly that give an opportunity foe entrepreneurs to learn life skills, share experiences and gain information that will allow them to take practical steps to development. At these events one2one sessions can be booked in advance for a closer and private review of you particular situation.


Our Second SOS Business Surgery this month took place at Freshly Ground Cafe in Avondale where we discussed Taxation and Company Registration.We had Mr McLean and Mr Peter Chitengu from Network Secretarial Services explaining the taxation system of Zimbabwe, He explained how and why a business registers with Zimra (Zimbabwe Revenue Authority).


He shed some light on many worries new businesses have when they start off and enlightened trading businesses on how to efficiently deal with their finances where and the tax implications. Network Secretarial Services will be launching a secretarial package for SME'S  with The Stimulus Group to make book keeping, and taxation advice as well as secretarial and PAYE services, consultations and accounting services at affordable rates. I am looking forward to the benefit of this package for my business.


We then had Rudo Nyangulu from V.S Nyangulu and Associates. She explained the process of registering a company and the options. She explained the costs an SME can expect to incur in registering a company and the time it should take for the process to be complete. 


This was such an empowering surgery as one left with the necessary tools to set up their business from a legal point of view in relation to registration and taxation expectations and why they are important if we are aiming to be established, ethical and professional businesses!!!


See images of the event below courtesy of E:thos photography.

Our surgery got under way with our members introducing each others  business'  

Our first speaker Mr McLean speaking on the importance of secretarial services to a small business 

We then had Mr Peter Chitengu explaining how taxation in Zimbabwe works 

Members were interactive asking questions and raising current problems they are facing  with Taxation.

I questioned many of our members on taxation and got them sharing their experiences

We had group discussions  with our speakers 

Mr Simpson Moyo  of PHP Business Systems sharing on the importance of networking for your business