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