From iCommons wiki

Hello and welcome to the SMME TV open business plan wiki.

The business plan that follows is adapted from the text of the plan for Mahala's expansion into SMME TV that was submitted to the Enablis Business Plan Challenge on 31 August 2007.

From here, we look forward to it being chopped, changed, revised, improved, debated, refreshed, and driven to funding and success.

SMME TV, like many good projects in South Africa, is about access. In a country with one of the broadest digital divides in the world, where 1% of people have access to 3 gigs of slow broadband. Hardly the platform for a broad-based TV communications platform.

It doesn't take much to imagine blocks to SMME TV. In the plan, we have tried to account for those we could. Better solutions are welcomed with glee. We are interested in any and all comments and inputs, including money. We are especially eager to find innovative ways to make this network function best across economic boundaries to create a diverse and communicative community.

You can learn more about the initiative, and about Mahala Media, at our website, where you can also register for our Mahala Media Enterprise Development database. You can also access info at www.smme.tv.

You can also find our BLOG here and our iCommons node here.

And please can take our survey about SMME TV if you can spare the time.

Contents 1 SECTION 1: EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 1.1 DEFINITIONS 1.2 THE CHALLENGE 1.3 AN ANSWER 1.4 THE PRODUCT 1.5 THE COMPANY 1.6 THE MARKET 1.7 STRATEGIC PARTNERSHIPS 1.8 TECHNOLOGY PARTNERSHIPS 1.9 REVENUE 1.10 ENTERPRISE DEVELOPMENT 1.10.1 THE CODE 1.10.2 THE REALITY 1.11 OPEN BUSINESS MODEL 1.12 CURRENT STATUS: PROOF OF CONCEPT 1.13 FINANCE REQUIRED 2 SECTION 2. : COMPANY SUMMARY 2.1 BUSINESS DESCRIPTION 2.2 COMPANY OWNERSHIP AND BEE 2.2.1 OWNERSHIP 2.2.2 YOUTH 2.3 MAHALA EXPANSION TO SMME TV 2.4 SMME TV DESCRIPTION 2.4.1 WHAT DOES IT LOOK LIKE? 2.4.2 WHAT DOES IT DO? 2.4.3 WHY DO WE NEED IT? 2.4.4 SMME TV’s USP 2.4.5 SMME TV’s VISION 2.4.6 SMME TV’s MISSION 2.4.7 SMME TV CHANNELS 2.4.8 INTERACTIVITY 2.4.9 SMME PROFILES: 2.4.10 KEY OBJECTIVES 2.4.11 KEYS TO SUCCESS 2.4.12 “COMPETITORS” 2.5 PRODUCT COSTS AND REVENUES 2.5.1 TOTAL COST 2.5.2 REVENUE STREAMS 2.5.3 REVIEW OF COSTS AND REVENUES 2.5.4 PRICING COMPARISON 3 SECTION 3. : STRATEGY AND IMPLEMENTATION SUMMARY 3.1 OVERVIEW 3.2 SWOT ANALYSIS 3.2.1 Strengths 3.2.2 Weaknesses 3.2.3 Opportunities 3.2.4 Threats 3.3 SOLUTIONS 3.3.1 To address key weaknesses 3.3.2 To maintain key strengths 3.3.3 To tackle opportunities 3.3.4 To address key threats 3.4 IMPLEMENTATION PLAN 4 SECTION 4. : MARKETING PLAN 4.1 OVERVIEW 4.2 INDIRECT MARKET RESEARCH – THE MACRO ENVIRONMENT 4.2.1 EDUCATION 4.2.2 FINANCE 4.2.3 TELECOMMUNICATIONS 4.3 DIRECT MARKET RESEARCH – THE MICRO ENVIRONMENT 4.4 PROMOTION STRATEGY 4.4.1 ADVERTISING 4.4.2 PERSONAL SELLING 4.4.3 SALES PROMOTION 4.4.4 PUBLIC RELATIONS 4.5 SALES FORECASTS 5 SECTION 5. : STRUCTURE AND MANAGEMENT 5.1 PERSONNEL PLAN – FIRST PHASE 6 SECTION 6. : TECHNOLOGY IN OUR BUSINESS 6.1 OVERVIEW 6.2 ADVISORS 6.3 SCHOLARSHIP 6.4 INNOVATION 6.5 OPEN BUSINESS

SECTION 1: EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

DEFINITIONS

SMME = small, medium, and/or micro enterprise TV = "far sight": any telecommunication system for broadcasting and receiving moving pictures and sound over a distance SMME TV = small business empowerment through audiovisual media

THE CHALLENGE

South Africa has plenty of organisations, regulations, and government departments designed to empower small, medium, and micro enterprises (SMMEs). There are workshops,seminars, incubators, conferences, trainings. Corporations sponsor exhbitions and open public Enterprise Development and procurement databases.

The challenge for SMMEs today is not a lack of opportunity, but the ability to access and get a grip on the variety of opportunities that exist. An entrepreneur would have to work full-time just registering for the various databases. And then when would she find time to research the opportunities in the first place, and identify the right ones?

Organisations and companies have come forth, whose core mission is to help SMMEs find their way in this maze. Enterprise SA, Empower SA, Biz Network, SA Business Hub, Women United in Business, and many many others, all aim to make the entrepreneur's life easier with networkability and information.

However:

- Entrepreneurs seldom know about all the various avenues of support, guidance, training, AND networking, no matter how hard they try while keeping their company afloat.

- The agencies supposed to be uniting small business aren't meeting their own mandates.

- Entrepreneurs in rural and township environments are at a disadvantage in accessing opportunities, exposure, and information, compared to people in urban centres.

- And much more that leaves entrepreneurs in South Africa disempowered, irrelevant, and isolated.

AN ANSWER

Imagine one place you could go to get all the information, opportunity, and exposure you could dream of as a South African small, medium, or micro enterprise (SMME) – not by wading through texts or making email contacts, but by watching and enaging with videos in stereo sound and millions of colors. Television about, for, and by South African small business.

Imagine you become a member of this one database and access dozens of corporate Enterprise Development databases at the same time.

Imagine that through working together and partnerships, by accessing one site, you'll access dozens of entrepreneurial networks.

Imagine that through this one network, you can promote your business to corporations and SMME customers, on video.

You don’t have to imagine it – it’s coming and it’s called SMME TV.

THE PRODUCT

SMME TV is a multi-media publishing enterprise that empowers SMMEs by providing a platform for them to educate, promote, and interact among themselves and with clients, corporates, and customers in South Africa and internationally.

SMME TV will be distributed by all means necessary to reach its users.

SMME TV will be issued at first as a DVD magazine, rich with high-impact video clips ranging across profiles, news, lifestyle, events, opportunities, education, matchmaking, entertainment and other topics, all designed to equip SMMEs with the tools and voice of bigger players.

SMME TV will also be accessible on the Internet via www.smme.tv.

While the internet TV site is more powerful a tool in the long term, given South Africa’s broadband penetration issues the DVD will be more effective to reach far more people now – people who want to be reached, and to reach out.

The DVD will integrate with the website in development to allow interactivity for those with any connection (also via cellphones). The DVD will be issued in a first run of 50,000 copies with the goal for each DVD to reach 3 small businesspeople, for a total audience of 150,000. SMME TV aims to reach 1 million members by 2010.

SMME TV will also be available on plasma screens at varied service providers and outlets (see letters of interest from SEDA Technology incubators and the International Trade Bureau at OR Tambo Airport).

Users will also be able to access SMME TV eventually via cell phones, bluetooth (for example, on university campuses), satellite, and, we hope, even commercial television.

THE COMPANY

Mahala Empowerment Media CC (MEM or ‘the business’) is a 2 year old close corporation whose main work has been to provide multi-media content for business and the NGO sector as well as creating broadcast TV productions. In its business projects, Mahala brings the tools of corporate media to SMMEs via short, high-quality DVD business profiles. Mahala also offers a unique fax to email solution in which revenues are split with the SMME customer.

THE MARKET

- SMMEs: The core market for SMME TV ranges across racial, social, and economic boundaries to a community of entrepreneurs nationwide. We’re not proposing to create this community, it’s being created already by some of our colleagues and partners at Women in Finance and My Genius and Blue Catalyst and even Facebook. There is a mass movement building, of SMMEs supporting the growth of SMMEs. Membership in SMME TV, and therefore access to the platform, will be free for all SMMEs. Mahala currently has several dozen SMME members although these are not officially related yet to SMME TV. There will be no fee for SMMEs to join SMME TV, and DVDs will also be distributed for free via partnerships with various organisations that will take on the cost of delivering the DVDs to their members.

- CORPORATIONS: Corporations seeking enterprise development opportunities form a second vital market and are the source of much of the finance. Corporations can pay to join SMME TV.

- INTERNATIONAL: Both large and small businesses looking to find partners and products in South Africa will be well-served by SMME TV.

- ACROSS LANGUAGES AND CULTURES: By using a translation technology like dotSUB, we can offer the possibility of translation of clips into mutiple languages via the web. We will pursue strategic partnerships with educational and translation organisations and encourage viewers to help translate the various videos (entirely possible via dotSUB technology) to allow for most clips to be translated into multiple South African and foreign languages at no cost to the project, while maximizing participation of the user.

- MEMBERSHIP: SMME TV aims to reach 1 million members by 2010.

- FUTURE GROWTH MARKET: Eventually we would like the network to extend up Africa and see the opportunity to export the model to other developing economies - a worldwide network of independent SMME TVs would be powerful.

STRATEGIC PARTNERSHIPS

SMME TV will pursue a vigorous strategy of partnerships with other organisations designed to empower SMMEs. Partnerships are in place so far with

Women in Finance (read letter from WIF)

Tswelopele Initiative of the Black IT Forum (read letter from BITF)

Blue Catalyst

Africagrowth SMME Conference and Awards

TECHNOLOGY PARTNERSHIPS

There are massive digital divide issues in South Africa, and massive projects in place to address them. SMME TV will work closely with the delivery means of its content, through partnerships with e-schools and community center projects, technology innovators, etc., in order to make sure SMME TV is available to as many people as possible, across technological boundaries.

REVENUE

Revenue is based largely on a patronage model in which corporates or other organisations pay to brand a channel. Corporates and organisations can also become members for a fee and in order to gain access to the service. Additional revenue for SMME TV will come from content creation, advertising, affiliate marketing, branded content, and a share in e-commerce.

ENTERPRISE DEVELOPMENT

THE CODE

SMME TV will function partly by leveraging enterprise development mandates under code 600 of BBBEE, providing an effective outlet for the 15% of the scorecard mandated for corporations to develop small business. Mechanisms will be included in the system to gain feedback on the actual impact of SMME TV in terms of facilitating enterprise development. Short (5 to 10 second) branding of companies doing enterprise development via Mahala ("patrons") will be imbedded upon entering and/or exiting each splash page as well as at the beginning and/or end of each clip and will not be opt-in; that is, the viewer will not be able to proceed without viewing the branding of the patron. Longer messages from patrons will be accessible via opt-in click-throughs.

Read Code 600, Enterprise Development.

THE REALITY

Many corporations would like to be effective in their spend, but can’t figure out how. Many SMMEs we've shared our concept with feel we are putting too much faith in enterprise development funds working and should find a commercial model supported by SMMEs. We believe very strongly that would be the best case, to have support from outside the sector be a bonus rather than the core. We are seeking and developing alternative business models supported from among the membership. Distributed ownership among thousands of SMMEs, for example, would be one powerful way for the channel to be run, as in a "Community Television" model, for SMMEs from across the country and across the spectrum.

OPEN BUSINESS MODEL

Mahala intends to investigate open business models and to work toward using Creative Commons licences. iCommons is providing support to Open Source this business plan on an iCommons node and wiki. Please visit us there. And so, please note – nothing in this business plan is true, or written in stone. We may not have even written it.

CURRENT STATUS: PROOF OF CONCEPT

We have created a proof of concept DVD for SMME TV, viewable on request. We will soon have it uploaded to a secure web POC. The proof of concept contains clips created in collaboration with or submitted by OUTSurance, SEDA, Softstart Business and Technology Incubator, Blue Catalyst, the Innovation Hub, Raizcorp, the DTI, Black IT Forum, the 2010 World Cup LOC, Africagrowth SMME Awards, and others.

FINANCE REQUIRED

R500,000 first phase. R1 million second phase. R3.5 million third phase.

Mahala intends to launch SMME TV in three stages of finance. For the first phase, 500,000 Rand is needed. This will cover personnel, equipment, and other costs for creating the first DVD run. The next stage of finance will need 1 million rand. This mostly will go to aggressive development of the IPTV site. If a funder were to put in the full R1.5 million now, the website could be developed more quickly. R3.5 million will take us through the full first year including launching the full SMME TV IPTV platform.

This business plan focusses on the case for the first finance, 500,000 Rand to create the first DVD.

SECTION 2. : COMPANY SUMMARY

BUSINESS DESCRIPTION

- REGISTRATION AND ADDRESS: MEM was registered in 2005 as a close corporation and the business is located at Suite 14A, 44 Stanley Avenue, Milpark, Johannesburg.

- USP: MEM’s unique selling proposition is its knowledge of both the business and media worlds, and thus its ability to come at top quality from both artistic and business acumen.

- MISSION: MEM's mission is empowerment through popular media. For MEM, the key to empowerment is accessibility and thus the business stresses this aspect in the content of its work as well as in its staffing policies. MEM prioritises elements of training, skills transfer, and working with youth into its projects.

- ACHIEVEMENTS: Mahala's first project as a company was the six-part circus-based reality series, The Ringmaster, for SABC2 in collaboration with Ochre Moving Pictures. In 2006, Mahala focused on NGO work, producing two half-hour documentaries for the Fondation Espace Afrique and created the launch video for the Mazisi Kunene Foundation, as well as running the launch documentation. 2007 will see the release of Mahala's first feature documentary, Durban Poison, an international co-production slated to broadcast on SABC2. We also were awarded a 13 part drama series by SABC1 and await the contract like many of our friends.

- REVENUE STREAMS IN PLACE: - Multimedia business profiles and other projects to market and promote SMMEs, as well as facilitation of productions for other companies and internal production work are all currently bringing money, as well as Money from Mahala Fax.

The 2 MINUTE SMME DVD PROFILE is an important pre-existing product of Mahala Media, as it leads the way toward SMME TV. Each 2 minute video profile, crafted specifically according to the aesthetics, and image of a company, will deliver the required information in a style and impact that shows the company to be cutting-edge and unique.

COSTINGS: - Medium (R50 000) – the highest impact, to rival corporate production. This profile includes an original soundtrack - music composed solely for and owned by a company. It features unique animations, including a high-impact logo animation that can be used separably. This price includes a 4-5 minutes additional version.

- Small (R30 000) – effective and hip, this profile will contain licensed library music in place of original music, minimal animations, and no longer version.

- Micro (R10 000) – gets the job done. No music, no voiceover, just two great, creative and unique minutes of expressing a company, including a simple logo animation.

- REVENUE STREAMS PENDING: Selling tickets in areas not serviced. Increased business to the above revenue streams due to SMME TV. Multimedia business plans. Partnering in the revitalization of Homeless Talk newspaper.

COMPANY OWNERSHIP AND BEE

OWNERSHIP

Mahala is a 65% black-youth-owned and 30% black-woman–youth owned company with three principal members:

- Mpho Lebogo (35% owner, 33 yrs) is MEM’s Financial and New Business Manager. He is an award-winning entrepreneur with years of experience in banking and has started several other businesses. National Business Initiative awarded him a mentorship in 2002/3, and Khula Enterprises did the same in 2005. His other organisation, the Lobolo Institute, won a 2004 Proudly South African Homegrown Award as a "Company to Watch" from the Proudly South African Campaign, and he has been featured in local and international media for his entrepreneurial interests. He has mentored especially women entering business.

- Senele Nkosi (30% owner, 30 yrs) is Mahala’s Operations Manager. Before joining Mahala, Senele worked as a freelance Producer and Production Manager on projects including the Encounters Documentary Film Festival, Africa Rising (a 13x48' documentary series), for SABC, Multichoice, the BBC, the Transport SETA, and other corporate and government clients. Her first job at Mahala was producing the pilot of Culture, for which she directed her first music video. Senele served as Executive Officer of the Black Women's Network in Durban.

- Michael Lee (35% owner, 39 yrs) is the Creative Manager. He has over a dozen years of experience as a producer, director, writer, editor, and cameraman on three continents. He has lectured on documentary at AFDA and editing at WITS. He lived for seven years in Prague, where he co-founded Trafika, a briefly famous international literary review. He will receive his MFA in Creative Writing from the New School in 2008.

YOUTH

Mahala has one employee and one intern, both taken on as trainees. Thabiso Mafane is an aspiring young writer who moved up from being an intern in April 2007, now works as a Researcher and Production Assistant, and has learned more than he ever would have imagined about business. Sindiswe Msomi is visiting us from Durban University of Technology until December but we hope to keep her.

MAHALA EXPANSION TO SMME TV

MAHALA’s INVESTMENT: Mahala as a company has spent approximately R70,000 on creating the proof of concept. In addition to that, the directors have worked without pay for months on the project, investing huge deposits of sweat equity. Mahala intends to recoup these initial investments in a way that is not disruptive to the growth of SMME TV.

EQUITY INVESTMENT: Mahala is looking to bring equity investment partners into the project. This would help expedite the creation of the website and other distribution channels, and will also help SMME TV find a life of its own eventually. We have been approached in this regard by several interested parties.

SMME INVESTMENT: In addition to a core equity partner(s), SMME TV intends to offer ownership shares to the first 50 SMMEs who invest 30,000 Rand in the project. This will likely come in the second phase, and hopefully also through enterprise development monies.

SMME TV DESCRIPTION

WHAT DOES IT LOOK LIKE?

Each clip in SMME TV will run for 1-3 minutes with rare exceptions. Each channel will be heavily populated with choices. Here is a draft mockup of the logo and the interface.

WHAT DOES IT DO?

Networks, uploads, plays video. Keeps entrepreneurs up to speed with what’s going on in the rapidly accelerating world of South African small business. Lets them be there even if they’re far away. Helps facilitate enterprise development matchups. Pools everything SMMEs want to know about it in one place – along with the SMMEs and the corporates they want to find.

WHY DO WE NEED IT?

We don’t, if we don’t want to continually strive to know more and work smarter to create successful small businesses.

SMME TV’s USP

is its position as the first content creation, aggregation, and interaction service exclusively for small, medium, and micro business anywhere in the world, and MEM expects it to remain the only such site in South Africa – and the world - for quite some time.

SMME TV’s VISION

is to build a reliable, engaging, and efficient service that empowers the South African economy, and is replicable to later be applied to other African and international economies, especially in the developing world.

SMME TV’s MISSION

is to help make the SMME sector in South Africa fluid, communicative, successful, vibrant, and powerful. Our niche in this movement is to ensure this revolution of SMME empowerment reaches the second economy and to bring SMMEs around the nation into conversation via media and technology.

SMME TV CHANNELS

planned so far are as follows:

    NEWS
    What news is relevant to YOUR business? What are you missing that matters?

    PROFILES
    SMMEs of South Africa, in full color and stereo sound.

    OPPORTUNITIES
    Competitions, grants, tenders, incubation, databases, and 2010-related business - don't miss out.

    EVENTS
    Conferences, workshops, awards ceremonies, networking. If you missed it in the real world, check here.

    ENTERTAINMENT
    Reality, comedy, music, theatre, art – a world of culture that’s all small business.

    LIFESTYLES
    Small is sexy…right? The life and times of SMMEs, success and failure stories of real entrepreneurs.

    INNOVATION
   ...the succession of many innovations grows the whole economy. - (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Innovation "Innovation"), Wikipedia.

    EDUCATION
    Business plan writing, marketing tips, learning skills – business mind in a box.

    0 to 600
    Live enterprise development matchmaking, sector by sector, in studio.

    WOMEN IN FINANCE
    Promoting women within business, supporting the creation and growth of SMMEs.

    YOUR CHANNEL HERE?
    Corporates and other entities have the option to create and brand their own channel.

INTERACTIVITY

SMME TV DVD will allow those who have internet connectivity but not broadband to access the videos locally while still participating in the web community, to further information, and most of the utility of the Internet site itself.

SMME PROFILES:

A KEY DRIVER of SMME TV is the SMME Profiles channel, in which SMMEs can invite potential customer and investors to see and hear the people, places, and products at the core of the business. These profiles will be organized by sector, allowing easy reference.

KEY OBJECTIVES

- To reach 150,000 people with our first DVD magazine.

- To grow the SMME TV DVD user-base to 1 million by 2010.

- To develop the Internet site and build other delivery avenues.

- Operating expenses must be contained to budgeted levels (as per attached budgets).

- The brand value must be established quickly and expanded steadily - specifically over the first year - to achieve profitability.

KEYS TO SUCCESS

- SMME TV must ensure that it provides excellent customer service.

- The first year's revenues must exceed R3.3 million to ensure breakeven.

- Three points to be developed simultaneously: community, content, and patrons. Most efficient work comes in engaging with partners who provide numbers and quality in all three areas.

“COMPETITORS”

- Other SMMEs and support organisations: Closest competitors for SMME TV in the South African market that MEM has identified are Blue Catalyst, Enterprise Support, BizNetwork, SA Business Hub, My Genius as well as some others. All of these do some of what SMME TV does, and SMME TV does some of what they do – that’s why it makes sense to work together. Mahala has in fact been in discussions with all of them at some level about some type of partnership. The only partnership officialized so far among these is with Blue Catalyst. Mahala and SMME TV are both patrons of Blue Catalyst and we are working to provide extra benefits for Blue Catalyst members. There has been discussion of creating a separate BC (Innovation) channel.

- Corporations: The broadband TV platform business is already overpopulated in many places in the world, but not in South Africa. However, by next year many Internet TV stations should have launched here. This will coincide with an uncapping of bandwidth in the country. There is a huge gap here and no need for competition. In fact, by providing our TV product to air via other services, we can increase revenue through affiliate payments and maximizing end-users. If a bigger player decides to compete with us on this service, we will, as always, be open to partnering with them.

- Our policy will be to seek partnership not competition.

PRODUCT COSTS AND REVENUES

TOTAL COST

of producing a DVD in 50,000 units can be estimated at R620,000

         CONTENT CREATION/AGGREGATION	        R 100,000

         PURCHASE OF EQUIPMENT	                R  80,000

         INTERNAL PERSONNEL COSTS	        R 120,000

         DVD PRODUCTION (50,000 units)	        R 250,000

         OFFICE COSTS			        R  30,000

         WEB DEVELOPMENT		        R  40,000

REVENUE STREAMS

PATRONS: Patronage opportunities will be offered to corporations to fulfill enterprise development, marketing, and/or relationship needs. Patronage can be bought at the level of the overall platform as well as each channel and each clip, at a descending price. Proposed patronage costs are:

         SMME TV PATRON = R100,000
         CHANNEL PATRONS = R20,000 each (x10) = R200,000
         CLIP PATRONS = R2,000 each (x 50) = R100,000

CORPORATE MEMBERSHIP: Corporations who want access to the network online building around the DVD can join the network. SMMEs may join for free. This network will be self-policing, that is, members may report when a corporation has slipped by and posed as a qualifying SMME.

         MEMBERSHIP = R5,000 each (x 20) = R100,000

PROFILES: Mahala can expect to average an input of about R10,000 per high-impact profile.

         PROFILES = R10,000 each (x20) = R200,000

REVIEW OF COSTS AND REVENUES

- DVD REVENUES: R700,000
- DVD COSTS: R 620,000
- DIRECT PROFIT: R80,000
- INDIRECT PROFIT: ?

New delivery means leads to an increased community of users, and branding on other delivery platforms will be costed separately to reflect the number of users reached. So as more platforms are implemented and costed correctly, and the user membership grows, profits rise. The profit will be reinvested into SMME TV, to push the project foward via other delivery means, and can also go to more rapid debt repayments.

PRICING COMPARISON

The rates quoted above are extremely competitive if not painfully cheap for a company to reach the number of targeted viewers with its branded message. For example:

- On Image:ETV it costs an average of about R 10,000 for a 5 seconds ad, with an average audience of about 150,000 people – once.

- Ads on Image:Rhizome, a new media email news service based in the US and reaching about 10,000 subscribers, text and still images only, costs the equivalent of R8500 to run for three months.

- On Image:SABC, an average 30 second commercial costs R40,000 – again, once off.

- Even print is expensive. It’s R16,000 for a full-page ad in Image:An airline magazine, for example. We thus expect our patronage costings and revenues to rise as the community grows and the project proves its viability.

SECTION 3. : STRATEGY AND IMPLEMENTATION SUMMARY

OVERVIEW

Once we have the funding in place, creating the first DVD itself will be relatively simple – we have the experience and have done the proof of concept. So our implementation strategy will focus on aggressive engagement with corporate marketing and Enterprise Development departments. We will be seeking to maximize speed to market of other features of SMME TV beyond the DVD, as outlined elsewhere. The below SWOT analysis is thus made on the basis of the rest of the SMME TV project as much as on the DVD.

SWOT ANALYSIS

Strengths

- MEM is up-and-running and understands the challenges of being an SMME in startup phase.

- MEM and members have a strong mix of skills and experience.

- Partners of MEM will help address any weaknesses in its own structure and experience.

- MEM already has a strong foothold in relationships with the appropriate partners and providers.

- The SMME sector in South Africa is growing rapidly and getting a lot of attention and funding from government and industry.

- Leverages Enterprise Development mandates and funds that are underutilized.

Weaknesses

- A lack of adequate funding now.

- IPTV does not have enough reach in South Africa and won’t for four to five years.

- Lack of technology education among the mass of SMME players.

- Revenue model puts high expense up front.

- Enterprise Development thus far has been poorly utilized and there is some negative perception of the prospects for successful Enterprise Development as laid out in Code 600.

Opportunities

- The business can be first to market with this concept.

- The market is growing quickly and there is rapidly increasing acceptance of technologies and capabilities.

- Enterprise Development spending has been unsuccessful in attaining its goals but must.

- Additional revenue streams in the form of ecommerce, Affiliate Marketing, and innovative advertising.

- The more delivery means, the larger the audience, the greater the patronage revenues for the same content.

- The rural and township market is radically under-serviced.

Threats

- Someone else getting first to market.

- The industry is growing extremely fast and there may be other new entrants to the market even after us.

- Running out of capital before revenues kick in.

- A failure of corporations and government to adopt SMME TV as a viable Enterprise Development scheme.

SOLUTIONS

To address key weaknesses

- The business seeks to raise appropriate financing to fund SMME TV up front.

- The business will work closely with technology developments expanding the reach of broadband in South Africa and will meanwhile explore other revenue streams.

- The business will provide programming that educates viewers about the technology.

To maintain key strengths

- The partners of MEM will take the lead in this project and make it their top priority, ensuring low operating costs by utilising the skills, capacity and office infrastructure of the top dogs.

- SMME TV will leverage the contacts and skills of MEM and its members.

- MEM intends using experienced technical and industry partners to ensure that the operational and transactional side of SMME TV is user-friendly, safe, robust and efficient from inception.

To tackle opportunities

- MEM will continue to push SMME TV to market as rapidly as possible.

- SMME TV will be based on efficient use of technology and will use the growth in acceptance and understanding of mobile technologies to establish and grow sales.

- SMME TV will be in aggressive communication with corporations needing to find effective results from their Enterprise Development spend.

- SMME TV will cultivate relationships with government agencies and NGOs whose mandate is to promote Enterprise Development.

- SMME TV will work closely with initiatives designed to reach the rural and township user.

To address key threats

- SMME TV intends firmly establishing its brand and first-mover advantage through an extensive and quick rollout plan.

- We will lobby agencies and organisations to ensure the project is used and accessed. We are already in the process of such discussions with both SEDA and the DTI.

- Opening the business plan to the community may, among other things, help determine alternate means of success if enterprise development monies prove slow to access.

IMPLEMENTATION PLAN

This chart shows our implementation projections for the next six months.

SECTION 4. : MARKETING PLAN

OVERVIEW

The primary focus for SMME TV’s marketing strategy will be viral and community-based. “Word-of-mouth” marketing strategy will be implemented via partnerships and the Internet. Communicating clearly and unashamedly about what is so, SMME TV will market itself most effectively by amplifying other SMMEs’ voices. Creating a cultural phenomenon is key – the aim, after all, is nothing less than an infusion of a spirit of abundance into the SMME sector in South Africa.

INDIRECT MARKET RESEARCH – THE MACRO ENVIRONMENT

EDUCATION

The right to education is enshrined in South Africa’s Bill of Rights also for adults.

In South Africa, education gets an unusually big slice of the budgetary pie - about 20% of the budget.

South Africa has a vibrant higher education sector, with more than a million students enrolled in universities, technikons and colleges.

A report in the Sunday Times of July 30, 2007 indicates that the Ministry of Education has decided to focus on business and science education more than other areas.

Business education needs are growing rapidly for both young and adult learners.

FINANCE

South Africa has one of the world's most unequal divisions of wealth.

The DTI points out that such inequality can have a profound effect on political stability.

South Africa's policy of BEE is a growth strategy that aims to realise the country's full economic potential.

At the same time, South Africa currently possesses arguably the most sophisticated financial services industry on the African continent.

Reforms are supposed to improve the lives of previously disadvantaged people, yet nationwide, fewer than half of South Africans have ever banked.

A big chunk of this low-income part of the population thirsts to be trained with skills and given resources with which to work their way up into the middle class.

TELECOMMUNICATIONS

South Africa has by far the most developed telecoms infrastructure on the African continent with 40% of the total fixed lines installed in Africa.

Yet its vast potential is way underutilized in re higher technologies - penetration of broadband in South Africa is currently only 1%, compared to about 30% in the US and more than 60% in South Korea, never mind being behind even other African countries like Nigeria and Ivory Coast.

Many projects have been put in place to help radically accelerate access to broadband.

The incredible growth in cell phone penetration here in recent years is testament to the amazingly rapid spread of technology when it’s really empowering – 5000% growth in Africa overall in five years, according to Stephen Yeo, chief executive of the Centre for Economic Policy Research.

Now more than 70% of South Africans have a cell phone.

More than 85% of small businesses run by black people in SA rely solely on mobile phones for telecommunications.

It’s easy to see the parallel with broadband and the massive leap that is soon to start happening.

DIRECT MARKET RESEARCH – THE MICRO ENVIRONMENT

To be clear we understand the needs of SMMEs, Mahala underwent an informal poll of its members and My Genius members. From a self-selected sampling of 30 small business owners from across sectors, we learned the following:

- “SMME TV will be useful to grow my business”

1/3 “strongly agree”, the average answer was “agree”, and 0 respondents disagree with this statement.

- My preferred delivery mechanism.

Internet was the overwhelming favorite. DVD was second, with 78% of respondents ranking DVD in their top 3 of preferred delivery. Cell phones also scored high. Satellite, perhaps surprisingly was least popular.

- Why I like the project.

The most common answers were: accessibility to good markets, quick information, and traffic to my business. One wrote simply, “Everything” – which made us smile.

- My greatest concern about the project. 

The most common answers were: cost, internet speed and accessibility to the unempowered, will it reach my target market?

- Enterprise Development?

All respondents either said they had bad experiences, no experience, or had no idea what we were talking about, or felt it does not apply to them. “When it comes to delivery,” one wrote, “all have proven to be talk shops… Most of the programs around are imported from overseas… Innovation is sidelined.”

Overall, we were pleased to find that most of the concerns raised by respondents were due to the limited information they had about the project and have already been accounted for in the plan.

PROMOTION STRATEGY

Mahala intends to spend almost no money on promotions, as follows:

ADVERTISING

SMME TV will get its advertising reach via partnerships, barter, social networks, and viral marketing. As an example, Mahala had a quarter-page ad in the August 2007 issue of the 1Time In Flight magazine at no charge, via Afribarter, who have told us it is likely we can insert SMME TV DVDs into the airline magazines as well as Maverick and other appropriate local publications.

PERSONAL SELLING

This is the most effective method in the short term. The partners are by now well-versed at selling profiles to SMMEs, snow to Innuit, and pitching to panels.

SALES PROMOTION

Again mainly via partnerships, such as the one with Blue Catalyst in which BC members get a discount for 2 minute profiles. Also bulk discounts possible for Enterprise Development deals.

PUBLIC RELATIONS

With SMME TV, it means strong CUSTOMER relations, and OUTREACH to ensure people know about the service via partnerships.

SALES FORECASTS

Image:Sales Forecast:Revenue projections here.

SECTION 5. : STRUCTURE AND MANAGEMENT

PERSONNEL PLAN – FIRST PHASE

The founders will serve in the three most key positions until such time in future that it is appropriate to replace them. Thabiso will also be employed by the project. Only one other new employee is needed, a cutting-edge technology developer.

SECTION 6. : TECHNOLOGY IN OUR BUSINESS

OVERVIEW

Note that this section was a mandated part of the Enablis business plan competition, to summarize the technology portions of this plan. In summary, technology is all over this project. From the production process itself to the means of communication, transmission, and receipt, this project is all about the technology, which is its challenge in a country with the technology potentials and challenges of South Africa. As such, the below will serve mainly to summarize the technology points that have already been raised in this plan.

ADVISORS

Paul Jacobson, South Africa’s only new media law specialist, has agreed to advise and represent us as we proceed. We have also started talking to organisations and individuals about advising us to stay on the cutting edge of the technology and we will be formalizing and building this list. As mentioned earlier, we are working closely with the Black IT Forum and Blue Catalyst, both of who also serve as unofficial technology advisors.

SCHOLARSHIP

We have applied to MDDA to conduct a research project in to how best to expedite broadband penetration in South Africa and are awaiting their response.

INNOVATION

We’re deeply excited about all the initiatives seeking to empower distant areas with broadband, and have been in communication with some of the world’s most innovative hardware and networking solutions using low-voltage computers, solar power, and ordinary power lines to reach out into the previously unconnected areas. We intend to work as closely as possible with these providers to offer service that is relevant to a solid sector of their customers as they come online.

OPEN BUSINESS

We intend to develop the project in line with the open business movement, using blogs and wikis to involve eyes and minds from around the planet. We intend to develop APIs that make the experience easy for the inexperienced user, and to create parallel streams that make it possible for users to interact as much as possible in their own languages.

Financials are not attached.

Please take our SURVEY about SMME TV here if you can spare the time.

Please visit our BLOG.

And our WEBSITE.

And of course our iCommons node.

And tell your friends to check out SMME TV.

Thank you again.