Rival Pioneers

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Hi Rival Pioneers community members

Just a very quick note to tell you about one of the small businesses that one of our newer members are involved in.

www.champetre.co.za

These guys have a conference venue, day spa and wedding venue and they’d like to engage our community and introduce their offering.

The venue is situated in Modderfontein. Just had a quick look at their website and it looks very nice! It looks like they also do candlelight dinners in their garden on a Friday night so gentlemen if you are planning to spoil somebody then maybe make a reservation.

Go check out their website and give them a try!

While some people may be fortunate enough to have the savvy to raise funding from banks, venture capitalists and angel investors most start-up entrepreneurs are going to have to do it the hard-way: Bootstrapping.

This involves you taking the ultimate leap of faith including raiding savings, credit cards, access bonds etc just to get your business off the ground.

It involves ducking and diving and cutting back on all of your vices in the slim hope that you will get the business off the ground. In a nutshell – it is one of the most terrifying and exhilirating experiences any entrepreneur will go through.

With that in mind Rival Pioneers is putting together an industry event entitled “The Bitch of Bootstrapping”. We will be bringing in a couple of speakers from different backgrounds to talk about their experiences in bootstrapping their businesses and some of the lessons they have learnt.

Details of the event are below:

When: 10 March 2010

Where: Old Mutual auditorium. Sandton offices

Time: 6 for 6:30pm. Presentations will run for about 1 hour and then there will be some time to network afterwards.

Cost: R125 per person (Price includes a drink before and after the presentation and 25% of the money raised will be donated to Adriaan Pienaars Rockstar Foundation provides full academic bursaries to exceptionally bright young girls from impoverished and disadvantaged communities in Cape Town.)

To RSVP for the event – please e-mail marc@rival.co.za.

A big part of the idea behind Rival Pioneers is to also provide a platform for people to network and exchange ideas so don’t run off after the presentations. Make an effort to meet new people, exchange business cards, talk about your businesses and aspirations.

Look forward to seeing lots of you there!

Banking details for payment:

Rival Industrial cc
Standard Bank, Fourways Crossing
Branch Code: 9953
Acc: 422148636

Hi guys

Wow! Blink and you miss it. January 2010 is gone and we are 9 days through February already.

There is very mixed economic data out there and still a lot of uncertainty but I have been struck by how positively a lot of South African business owners have responded in late 2009 and early 2010. While people are still nervous about committing to major projects and spend, there appears to be a bit of an underpin developing now that the shock and awe of last year has worn off.

Before I get on to all the happy-clappy stuff about some of the exciting projects that some of our members have become involved in, I’d like to throw out two ideas to our community and get some feedback.

1. We are thinking about putting together a JHB networking session at the end of February which includes a presentation on “The bitch of boot-strapping your SME”. Does it hold any appeal for any of the community members?

2. Without hi-jacking the Silicon Cape initiative there are a number of people in Johannesburg / Gauteng who want to feel like they are “part” of the whole movement. We were contemplating co-ordinating a networking function combining the “Tweet-Up” concept and try and convince one of the big-wigs from Silicon Cape to come in and say a few words. Anyway I’ve pitched the idea to Justin Stanford so will advise if I get any feedback.

On to the positives and some of the projects our members are involved.

A) Brent Graham – found of the Good For The Game sports preview website – is back with a new initiative called Sportspicks.co.za (www.sportspicks.co.za) – some nice cash prizes to kick it off so go and check them out!

B) Don’t forget the AD:Dynamo (www.addynamo.com) online marketing / blogging session on the 17th of February in Cape Town. They’ve still got a few places available so come and say hello. Justin Hartmann, Sean Riley and myself are all speaking on monetising your online offering

C) One of the members has launched a new out-sourced administration business primarily involved in the insurance broking industry. For SME’s she is also helping to try and sort out the endless amount of paperwork that your business can generate.

D) On my front we’ve gone live with the new ManufacturingHub.co.za design which has seen a pleasant rise in traffic. We’ve also done quite a lot of work in the back-end of Ferronews.com and are in the process of switching into a more researched driven offering. There are also some promising looking changes coming on our blogging platform Bundublog.com.

Keep us up to date with any of the new projects you might become involved in. Drop me a line on 082-561-1585 or e-mail me on marc@rival.co.za.

Kind regards,
Marc Ashton

Here is some more positive news for South African entrepreneurs looking for support in getting their ideas off the ground:

Established early-stage growth companies are due to receive a funding boost following news that Aurik Investment Holdings (Pty) Ltd has secured access to a R100 million funding pool.

Aimed at early-stage businesses and focused but not limited to the energy, clean technology, telecommunications, healthcare, manufacturing and agriculture sectors. Funding may be provided in a mix of debt and equity and is available from a minimum of R5 million to a maximum of R10 million per investment.

“This fund is dedicated to early-stage businesses and includes both funding and direct commercial support as part of the deal. South Africa’s bright future depends on reversing the unfortunate situation where we see too few people becoming entrepreneurs and too many entrepreneurs failing,” said Pavlo Phitidis, CEO of Aurik Investment Holdings.

Early-stage businesses face the twin challenges of securing adequate funding and quality commercial support that Aurik hopes to help them overcome. According to Phitidis, “Typically, early-stage businesses are too young to qualify for venture capital and cannot afford consulting-based commercial support. This “skill and equity gap” has proven to be the death knell of many an entrepreneurial dream.

Phitidis added that combining angel funding and business acceleration addresses the major risks typically faced by early stage businesses and boosts the likelihood of entrepreneurial success.

As a Business Accelerator, Aurik partners with entrepreneurs to accelerate the growth of early-stage businesses by providing a combined package of back-office support, business acceleration and angel funding, all before the venture capital stage. Business Acceleration is a new concept in South Africa and is better known in the USA and Europe. Since inception, Aurik has worked with 22 early-stage businesses and enjoyed successful acceleration outcomes.

The funding pool’s target is entrepreneurs running businesses not younger than two years and the entrepreneurs must have at least three years additional experience within their industries. Certain minimum turnover requirements apply while funding is conditional upon the conclusion of a back office support agreement, amongst other conditions.

On the structure of the funding pool, Phitidis explained that the fund is a draw down fund meaning the money is drawn down upon investment committee approval after the conclusion of a successful due diligence process.

Established in 2003, Aurik Investment Holdings is a Business Accelerator that interacts with influential private and public policy makers in order to create a socioeconomic environment conducive to accelerating the growth of early-stage businesses. Aurik partners with entrepreneurs of early-stage businesses to reduce risk and increase focus and direction to develop the business into an asset of value. By providing hands-on business support, back-office support and angel funding all before the venture capital stage, Aurik rapidly develops early-stage entrepreneurs into goal-directed business leaders able to successfully grow and manage their own businesses.

More details about the acceleration application process is available at www.aurik.co.za

When you read the  news it is easy to get discouraged by all the bad stuff you see around you. Jobs being lost all over the show, businesses folding, bad economic data. Pick up a newspaper or hit the business websites and its far easier to find a failure story than it is to find a success story.

In fact – there is so much bad news out there that you might as well give up before you start right? I suppose you could – or you can step up to the plate, grit your teeth and MAYBE get through it.

Unfortunately this is often easier said than done and sometimes it takes a couple of role models to show the way. Today there were two entrepreneurs who I thought served as a bit of an inspiration when times were tough.

The first one was Sean Riley over at AD:Dynamo who has just dropped me a mail. Sean’s that crazy guy down in Cape Town who is apparently (depending on who you listen to) trying to take on Google with his own Pay-Per-Click network. Gasp – nobody could do that. It’s just not part of the world order. Maybe he won’t succeed but at least he has tried and there is news that this start-up company has developed some world-first technology. Well done Sean – a good inspiration to other entrepreneurs just to get out there, take a chance and create. Nice!

The second is from Travelstart entrepreneur Stephan Ekbergh who (contrary to some media reports) has not sold his business for billions. The real story is that he sold his Nordic ops and not quite for billions. But the point is he has created something that can be turned into something that can be sold down the line. He’s shown guts and determination and ultimately lives the entrepreneurs dream. Read his last blog post - I thought it made for an intriguing read.

The point I am trying to make is that you can look around you and see all the bad news – or you can look around you and see opportunities. You can see the world as a place of creation and innovation – or you can get sucked into the bad news and never be prepared to take that leap.

The choice is yours but I think these two guys have set the example that in the middle of this global recession there are still opportunities – it’s just a case of opening your eyes to see them.

Regards,

Marc Ashton

Rival Pioneers – Check out our Facebook group and join so we can send you further communication.

Hi guys

Compliments of the season to everybody – wishing you a successful and entrepreneurial 2010.

Before I tell you about some of the initiatives we are involved in I have to direct you to a blog post I did recently.

http://badentrepreneur.bundublog.com/2009/12/20/a-small-business-lesson-from-lolly-jackson/ – Teasers boss Lolly Jackson took the time to respond to my humble little blog post…

… goes to show that if you throw something out there often enough, the universe eventually throws something back to you.

Anyway on to more serious matters. I’ve been pleasantly surprised by the number of entrepreneurial enquiries that have been brought through my inbox over the course of November and December.

Some of the projects our members are involved in include:

1. A South African entrepreneurs confidence index (ECI) which kicks off in January – more info to follow – but essentially Rival will be polling South African entrepreneurs and small business owners to identify threats, opportunities and general economic confidence. We are hoping to turn this into an established economic indicator for business owners and professionals

2. An established sports initiative which is looking to raise funding to expand its profile and operations

3. An internet radio project (PS I am looking for a presenter because while I may have a face for radio, I’m not totally sure I have the best voice for it) – so feel free to forward on this message to people you think might be interested

4. A small medical practice which opens this month

5. Expansion of an asset (vehicle) financing business

6. A specialist venture capital industry publication

If any of these projects jump out at you and you feel like becoming involved please feel free to drop me a mail on marc@rival.co.za.

Ditto if you have other projects on the go which you would like to throw out to the universe to see what kind of support you can drum up.

I have also been asked to speak at the AD:DYNAMO bloggers conference in February – if you are running a blog or online publishing initiative then maybe touch base with the AD:DYNAMO team to find out further details about this conference in Cape Town as it might provide some valuable insight.

The other thing which sounds like a lot of fun – I have been asked to do a workshop for entrepreneurs in the music industry at some stage in January. To try and coincide with this I am doing a new blog post for Scott Cundills Majestic Interactive site, “Entrepreneurship lessons from Jay-Z” which is a bit of fun.

Will send the link when it goes up.

Happy hunting entrepreneurs.
Regards,
Marc Ashton
082-561-1585
marc@rival.co.za
http://rivalpioneers.bundublog.com/

Hi guys

One of our members is seeking some short-term financing for a vehicle leasing business.

Minimum financing lot size – R100k.

On R300k they are paying prime plus 4% – repayable with bullet payment in 3-months or 6 months up to 500k at prime +4% bullet repayment.

This is neither an offer, solicitation or recommendation from me – it is public service announcement to try and assist our community. If you would like further information please e-mail me (marc@rival.co.za) or contact me on 082-561-1585 and I will put you in contact with the entrepreneur.

Regards,
Marc Ashton

Hi guys

Thanks to those who took the time to join the Rival Pioneers Facebook group.
I’ve got some good news – we’ve got our first Entrepreneurs Focus Group (EFG) lined up for October and its a goodie.

The idea behind the EFGs – which we are aiming to run at least once a month – is to provide a platform for entrepreneurs and innovative thinkers to troubleshoot challenges facing a business, exchange ideas and ultimately build a professional network.

We’re kicking off in October with a start-up financial services business which is affiliated to the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE). We are looking for 20 participants in Johannesburg to spend 3 90-minute sessions discussing strategy and product development for this business.

Dates and venue to be confirmed next week but will be within 20 minutes of Sandton either which way. It will be an evening session – 6pm to 7:30pm.

There are no pre-requisites for signing up for the EFG but we are looking for entrepreneurs who are focused on developing themselves and want to contribute.

If your idea of learning is to sit back and listen to others talk then this is not for you – if you want a funky, informative couple of sessions to test your brain then you’re coming to the right place. Think of it like The Apprentice – only a little classier and you don’t get fired!

We also are aiming to have our electronic learning platform up and running for the participants to be able to exchange ideas beyond the focus group.

Delegates who complete the three sessions will receive:

• An attendance certificate
• Access to e-learning platform
• A fantastic opportunity to network

In the meantime – if you’d like to register your interest for the EFG please drop me an e-mail (marc@rival.co.za) with name, e-mail address and a cellphone number and we’ll confirm venue, dates and times.

If you have a business or business concept that you would like a team to troubleshoot then feel free to drop me a mail as well.

Our blog should be up and running some time next week and I’ll post a link to it but in the interim you can follow us either via the Facebook group or via Twitter: http://twitter.com/rivalpioneers

Cost

Zip, zilch, FREE, Mahala…
… yip that’s right – there is no charge to participate in the group. We want people sharing ideas and we want you telling everyone else about this cool entrepreneurship initiative so that by the end of the year we have a couple hundred young professionals vying for places on one of our EFGs and taking these skills out into the workplace.

Look forward to hearing from you!

Regards,

Marc Ashton

Welcome to Rival Pioneers – a South African focused initiative aimed at the development of entrepreneurial talent and helping the right ideas become long-term sustainable businesses.

The South African government has long held the belief that small to medium sized enterprise would be the only way to tackle rising unemployment in the country – they just forgot a critical aspect – holding the hand of the budding entrepreneur.

Rival Pioneers aims to try and address this issue by providing development resources for entrepreneurs including

- Venture and micro finance
- Mentoring and partnerships including communication, sales, strategy
- Sustainability development
- Strategy development and execution
- SME incubation
- Interactive workshops and forums to develop entrepreneurial talent

Why join the Pioneers network?
Running – or even contemplating running your small business – is scary at the best of times. You’re under-resourced and normally stretched in a dozen different directions.

By joining an initiative such as Pioneers, you get to put your small business idea out there and interact with other aspirant entrepreneurs… heck if your idea is solid enough you might even find some funders willing to back you and a kick-ass team to give you the best chance of getting your idea off the ground.

Perhaps the idea of starting a business is a step too far but you want to be able to interact with people who have been there and done that – then here is the place to do it.

About Rival
The Pioneers initiative has been established to operate alongside the Rival Industrial company which was established in 2005. The company has experience in a number of fields including food, pharmaceutical, education, E-learning, and corporate wellness.

Titles published by the business include:

ManufacturingHub.co.za – www.manufacturinghb.co.za – News for the SA Food, Pharmaceutical, Chemical Manufacturing industries
RemSpecED – www.remspeced.co.za – Remedial & Special Education in South Africa
Bunbublog.com – Free blogging platform for South African bloggers
Ferronews.com - Ferrous metals industry news

What are you waiting for?
Join the Facebook group now and follow our Twitter feed at – http://twitter.com/rivalpioneers – and we will update you as the project develops

If you want to get involved on a more hands-on level or you have a business plan to submit for consideration you can send it to me at marc@rival.co.za

Look forward to hearing from you!