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/