We welcome the new Cape Chamber President

EM Solutions welcomes the incoming Cape Chamber of Commerce President Mr Geoffrey Jacobs who takes over the reins from Janine Myburgh.

Geoff holds a Master degree in Business management and currently focuses his business efforts on Human Resources with over 22 years of experience.  As a former school principal, he also brings a deep understanding of the education system.

The new Deputy President is Jacque Moolman, a Swiss-trained hotelier and current GM of the Tsogo Sun Waterfront hotel in Cape Town.

Also voted in by the Board is Stephane Rogovsky, CEO of R-Squared Digital SA, who will join me Bruce Wade to head up the Innovation and Digital Portfolio Committee at the Chamber.

We look forward to working with the new leadership and helping develop a solid and positive impact in the business sector well into the future.

A big thanks must be extended to Janine for her awesome and impactful 5 years as President of the chamber. We have seen her personality impact every aspect of the business sector in Cape Town and across the globe. She leaves big shoes to fill and a legacy that will remain for many years to come.

By |2019-03-12T11:01:28+02:00March 12th, 2019|Uncategorized|0 Comments

Business Sprint 2018 – Branding

This week we unpacked some of the issues around our company branding from Purpose to Slogan and everything in between. Too often these things are just ignored or passed over for other more important items on our busy agendas as business owners.

Take a few minutes to watch this video and make some notes on what may need some attention for your brand before the end of 2018.

 

By |2018-11-09T09:29:39+02:00November 9th, 2018|Entrepreneurship, Year-end planning|1 Comment

Business Sprint 2018 – Staff

As a part of our final sprint for 2018, we are looking at 10 key areas of your business that could give you that added advantage in the final push before Christmas.

Last week we looked at staffing issues and we reviewed 7 R’s related to how we deal with staff. Here is a short summary:

1. Respect – always show respect to your staff by greeting them, listening to them and saying thank you at the end of each day.

2. Refine – Constant training and education is key to refining staff to fit into your changing business and to become effective for your vision.

3. Rejoice – learn to celebrate both success and failure and always learn from both.

4. Reward – Paying your staff and rewarding them with gratitude is key to retention and the longevity of your business.

5. Repair – always fix what is broke. Learning to understand your staff’s home, emotional and physical situations are key to helping to offer support and solutions to fix what may be wrong.

6. Renew – Change is constant, but often we stagnate in our own companies. Mix things up a bit and renew things in the office. You will see the results.

7. Rest – Take time off. Give staff leave and time off for their resting and rejuvenating. The investment in rest will be well rewarded.

This week we big our focus on Marketing and Branding as we unpack some interesting facts on what you can do this week to improve your market penetration and retention.

Join us on Wednesday at 12:00 Noon: https://zoom.us/j/723567165

By |2018-10-29T12:44:45+02:00October 29th, 2018|Year-end planning|0 Comments

Rules for Prototyping

A recent article on Techco by Tishin Donkersley gives us some simple rule to know when developing your idea from ideation to prototype stage. Here is what she had to say:

  1. Have a Purpose and a Plan
  2. It doesn’t have to be perfect
  3. It’ll take longer than you think
  4. The design will change
  5. Quality = Cost
  6. Find a Mentor

We fully agree with each of these and encourage our innovation clients to come prepared for failure, iteration and a journey of exploration of both themselves and their product.

To read the full article: http://go.conceptdesign.co.za/what-you-need-to-know#https://tech.co/6-tips-prototyping-idea-scratch-2017-11

By |2018-09-17T10:47:49+02:00September 17th, 2018|Uncategorized|0 Comments

Dreams come true in BotRivier for Portia

 

In the small village of BotRivier just off the N2 on your way to Hermanus, you can find the Botrivier Hotel, a fuel station and a hand full of shops. Other than these and a few outlying wine farms, there is not much else to write about. Until now.

 

Portia is a resident of the informal sector of the town. She and her husband Joe live in an informal home with other members of their family. Parked outside their home is a caravan that they paid R5000 for with the plans to open a business and serve food to the local community and at functions around the town.

Portia started attending business courses offered through the local municipality and SEDA offices. She built up enough money to buy a laptop and printer that she uses to plan her business ideas and keep track of her emails.

Then through an initiative with the Kliphuewel-Dassiefontien Wind Energy Facility who sponsored a programme that we got involved with, this started to become real for Portia.

Her business now registered as Joe’s Braai Place started to gain shape and momentum. A number of planning meetings and site inspections gave rise to the approval of some money to buy equipment and stock. Last week I felt like Father Christmas delivering a carload of items that will help Portia launch her business and start making money.

Portia has been equipped with not only the stock and kitchen tools but enough business tools to give her the jump start she needs to develop a sustainable business in the community.

We are still looking for partners who will continue to work alongside her after the contract expires at the end of the year to assist Portia in the financial accountability and supply chain issues she will face.

What a privilege and honour to be involved with her to help realise her dreams.

By |2018-09-03T16:21:48+02:00September 3rd, 2018|Uncategorized|0 Comments

August Spotlight: Welmien Foster

Welmien is one of our smartest clients with one of the biggest hearts we know. She has a degree in microbiology and is fascinated by anything that can only be seen under a microscope especially if it is infectious and dangerous to human health.

Welmien is currently working on a number of new innovative ideas to not only monitor waterborne microbes but be able to identify them and their source before they infect animals and humans. She works as a water analyst doing surveys at hotels, hospitals and other public entities, but her passion is finding that innovative way to be ahead of the curve of infectious diseases and stop them dead in their tracks.

We are always excited to have her in our offices as this is always followed by great conversation, laughter and yet another brilliant idea to add to the product development cycle we are working on. We look forward to the near future when water becomes a safer resource for both urban and rural consumers throughout Africa because of what Welmien has developed.

If you are interested in knowing more about water and those pesky micro bugs, Welmien is available for short talks and water assessments. You can contact her through our offices.

By |2018-08-06T11:36:25+02:00August 7th, 2018|Uncategorized|0 Comments

Government ironing out details for rollout of R2bn SMME and Innovation fund

Due to the complaints by the citizens about banks and financial institution’s refusal to support the SMME’s proposals as they consider them as risky ventures irrespective of the brilliance.
The National Treasury and the Department of Science and Technology have formulated an SMME and Innovation Fund which will be impĺemented during the 3rd quarter, with the disbursements in 2019/2020.
The funds will build on best practices in the sector and will be directed towards innovative and potential start-ups. The fund will lead to the rollout of the EUEP through SMMEs Support Programme for SA(SSPSA). This project will inject R800million into the SMMEs over the next 5years.
The Fund will be announced in September 2018 and will deploy effectively to craft an alternative future for entrepreneurs and SMMEs in SA.

See link

https://www.bee.co.za/single-post/2018/05/20/Government-ironing-out-details-for-rollout-of-R2bn-SMME-and-Innovation-fund

By |2018-05-23T13:11:53+02:00May 23rd, 2018|Uncategorized|0 Comments

VAT continued

Following our blog last week, we see that VAT is set to increase to 15% from the 1st of April 2018 following the Minister of Finance’s budget speech. This will not be a simple task like many would have imagined where one will just change the rate in their accounting package and continue capturing.  It is a complex process that requires much attention, planning and time to execute smoothly.

Companies will have to initially accommodate two VAT rates due to timing and cut-off periods, when were the goods delivered or services rendered and in the case of credit notes that might have to be issued after the 30th of March 2018 for goods or services rendered before the 1st of April 2018.  Some invoices will have the two rates, looking the example of cell phone service providers where subscriptions are charges in advance and call are charged in arrears. The biggest complication will be in April where some companies will have VAT of 14 % on income and expenses and VAT of 15% on income and expenses.

Companies, however, have the option to increase their prices simply because the VAT act allows or keep the prices the same but that would mean absorbing the tax costs hence less income from the same price. Companies can opt not to increase their prices for various reasons some being to maintain business relations or to attract more customers but that does not mean they will be immune to the 1% VAT increase from the authorities.

Despite all these companies will have to be ready to comply with the rules. Making the necessary changes immediately is advised considering the amount of work that is estimated to go into this transition especially for big companies with a lot of transactions. Please consult your accounts for assistance with this.

By |2018-03-20T14:43:03+02:00March 21st, 2018|Uncategorized|0 Comments

The Entrepreneurial Alphabet

Towards the end of 2017, we did a series of Facebook Live videos that covered the letters of the alphabet with a slant to Entrepreneurship. With each letter, we looked at a different aspect of what it takes to become a successful business owner.

We have listed each video below for your viewing. Take time to watch each one and comment on the Facebook Page. For more information on what we have to offer or for new items on our programme this year, please consult our website: www.em-solutions.co.za

A: Attitude – attitude is important for business (watch video)

B: Balance – Balance is critical in finding time to invest in work, self and family time (watch video)

C: Collaboration – team and being able to work together is one key to success.  (watch video)

D: Do + Don’t Do – every successful entrepreneur should know what they are good and do nothing else (watch video)

E: Engage – participate or become involved in. ( watch video)

F: Facts – We need to know the facts about business, your business and others to be a better leader (watch video)

G: Goals – Setting goals needs to be one of the most productive tools any entrepreneur uses in order to drive the business forward.  (watch video)

H: Health – being healthy mentally and physically, leads to a healthy business (watch video)

I: Integrity – not a value, but the way values are applied (watch video)

J: Jail – Don’t be caught in your emotional jail. (watch video)

K: Kick Ass –be extremely good or impressive, excellent. (watch video)

L: Love – love what you do and do nothing else (watch video)

M: Money is one of the purposes of your business (watch video)

N: No – No, the positive answer (watch video)

O: Opportunity – always be on the lookout for new opportunities (watch video)

P: Problem – Defining a problem is the beginning of a successful business  (watch video)

Q: Quality – not just for a good wine, quality needs to be a part of your values (watch video)

R: Rest – Take time to rest, relax and rejuvenate on a regular cycle to be ready for any new opportunities (watch video)

S: Strategy – every successful business has a working strategy developed by management.  (watch video)

T: Team – team is about us and what we can do for the whole together (watch video)

U: Understand – seek first to understand before trying to be understood: stop and listen (watch video)

V: Validate – check, check and recheck everything: we call it validation (watch video)

W: Win-Win – always strive for a win-win or no deal scenario in business. It is an investment attitude (watch video)

Y: Yolo – You only live once – lit it with confidence and courage(watch video)

Z: Zero – is where we end up after all our lives plans and activities – but what type of legacy are you building to leave behind (watch video)

 

By |2018-01-08T12:53:31+02:00January 8th, 2018|Uncategorized|0 Comments
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