sme businesslink magazine

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1SME BusinessLink February 2011 Contents

Inside SME BusinessLink This

MonthRegulars3. Publishers Comment4. Your Letters5. Guest Comment: Unleashing Greatness! Dont waste your pain,use it6. Whats New and Exciting

Starting a Business7. The Hottest Businesses You Can Start in Zimbabwe Right Now:And You Dont Buckets of Cash to Do It!11. Your ultimate Guide to Starting a Business in Zimbabwe

Part 1- Choosing The Right Legal Entity13. How to write your own bankable business plan- Part1.

Running a Business14. Meet Empretec Zimbabwes Entrepreneur of the Decade17. The SME BusinessLink Interview: Meet the IODZ Entrepreneurof the Year

Finance20. How to Build a Bootstrapping Culture19. Good Recording Keeping is Essential for all Businesses18. Positive Cash Flow Lead to Success

Sales & Marketing27. How to Close a Sale.30. The top ten killers of sales22. Negotiating: How to Negotiate Effectively24. Five Things to Never Say in a Negotiation31. The Secret of Sales Success

Leadership & People Management32. Facing up to the Human Resource Challenges of SMEs33. Turning Around Negative AttitudesFEBRUARY 2011FEBRUARY 2011


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Publishers CommentIts Time to Accelerate

Your Growth!Since the United States dollar (along withother foreign currencies) was officially introduced

in Zimbabwe in 2009, the consumption boom that

entrepreneurs expected has not materialized. A

survey among small and medium business owners

in Harare recently revealed that consumers have

adopted a new frugality, characterized by a

preference for lower-priced products, rather than value.

In such a scenario, the high-performance entrepreneur has to build new

marketing strategies and tactics, because the old methods will not bring

spectacular results in the face of cheap imports from South Africa, China and

other low cost producers.

One solution for the entrepreneur is to explore linkage opportunities with larger

firms. These firms are already buying most of their products from foreign firms

as well as local big companies. Local SMEs products and services are mostly

shunned because they are perceived as of poor quality. Events of the past may

have forced some SMEs to cut-corners, hence the bad image.

Now the way forward is to build a new image of sophisticated, highly efficient

and high quality SMEs. There is no need to wait for someone to do that for you,

you have to take action yourself. SMEs need to work towards attaining

acceptable standard of workmanship. The Standards Association of Zimbabwe

and the International Standards Organization are there to help you. Of course

this needs some investment, in training staff and so on, but that will give you a

big competitive advantage against the ordinary players. The days of business as

usual are gone, one has to differentiate his business and product offering in order

to grow in the new economy.

The subject of business linkages is very important to the growth of SMEs.


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That is why SME Business Link is working on a number of programs that will help

bring together SMEs and large firms for the purpose of transacting mutually

beneficial business relationships. The first program should be announced in the

next month and if you want to seriously grow your business, we advise to you to

keep up with us.

This issue of SME BusinessLink, which is on CD, contains useful tips for

SMEs, success stories, and lots of business opportunities for entrepreneurs. The

next issue is going to carry even more useful stuff and there will be a choice of

print or electronic version, or both. Do not miss it. If you are not on our mailing

list, please join now so as not to miss a thing as we help entrepreneurs

accelerate their growth in 2011.

Join our electronic mailing listIf you own a business or are an entrepreneur or potentialentrepreneur who wants to build a high performance business,join our SME Business Newsletter mailing list and keep up withother high-performance entrepreneurs. Its for free. All you needto do is send an email with the subject line SUBSCRIBE [email protected] and you are in.

Starting a BusinessSME BusinessLink February 2011

The Hottest Businesses You Can Startin Zimbabwe Right Now!And you dont need bucketfuls of cash toimplement these ideasMy name is Mervin and l am an aspiring entrepreneur. I would like to be assisted
mailto:[email protected]:[email protected]


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to come up with small scale business ideas ranging not more than $15,000.00. Iam based in Masvingo. Your assistance in this regard shall be greatlyappreciated.

These are the kind of letters and emails we receive regularly atSME BusinessLink. In this feature article, we are going to look at the

hottest business opportunities in Zimbabwe in 2011. From these, weare sure you will find at least one that you can pursue and developinto a successful business.

One of the things I have learned in dealing with hundreds ofsuccessful entrepreneurs is this: true entrepreneurscan succeed inwhat-ever line of business they venture into. There are threeimportant secrets to success in any venture:

1. Your product or service must meet a real need amongustomers, that is, it must solve customers problems, make lifeeasier, or save them money.

2. There must be a large enough market of people willing to payfor your product or service to make thebusiness viable.

3. You have to take care of the basics of business, like planning,marketing, having the right people,managing your cash flowand satisfying customers needs.

An entrepreneur who managed to make $2 million in just one yearof starting a business recently told an online business journal that hiscompanys success has depended largely on their marketing efforts,including viral pushes on Twitter and Facebook. If you spot a good

business opportunity, plan well and market well, you will most likelysucceed. The key is in differentiating your product and serviceoffering, bringing convenience to customers or saving them time ormoney.

Opportunity No.1: IT SoftwareInformation technology presents a huge business opportunity,

especially as the cost of broadband internet, computers and mobilephones has come down significantly in the past few years. The ideais to develop a software application that gives solutions to people.Because it costs almost nothing to reproduce once developed, areally good application will earn you quite a lot if properly marketed.Popular types of software include entertainment (games, music etc)and business packages.

Zimbabwe has thousands of IT graduates, but most firms continue


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to use imported software like Sage, Pastel, Quickbooks andBankmaster, paying high user fees. Tech-savvy entrepreneurs canmake a killing in this growing sector, and they dont have to be limitedto the Zimbabwean market, but to Africa and the rest of the world..

Opportunity No.2: Mobile Applications and GamesThe latest mobile phones, such as the iPhone, are quickly

becoming mainstream in Zimbabwe. This presents a big opportunityfor tech-savvy entrepreneurs to create applications and games forthese devices. Most Zimbabweans who want to legally downloadmusic on the internet cannot do so. Why not solve this problem forthem? Below is how one entrepreneur did it, an interview whichappeared in INC Magazine.

The successful IT soloist- How Steven Woolley did it

A one hit wonder took this man from living on a modest PhD studentstipend to financial security in less than one year. Steve Woolley wasgifted a laptop from his parents and an iPod Touch from his in-lawsand it changed his life forever.Q. Steve, when you started your software development companydid you have a plan in place, or did you just wing it?A. I had no plan at all, seriously, just an idea, that friends said peoplewould pay for. Id never even considered selling software and mybusiness consisted of selling a few LPs on Ebay. I came up with theidea to create a desktop software program that I call ooTunes, and abit later, the iPhone app. The iPhone app is where I make all themoney. Its not quite a one-hit wonder; Ive built and worked at mineeveryday for 10-12 hours a day for a year now.Q. Looking back, what are the most important personal qualitiesor characteristics that are most responsible for your success?A. I credit my success to 3 things: a) A lot of luck b) persistenceand c) working crazy hard to make sure every customer (and there

is a lot of them) is happy.Q. Steve, what was the key motivating factor in your drive anddetermination to become your own boss?A. When I first started working in my PhD, I started reading blogs,essays and anything I could find on startups. I was intriguedmostly by how someone could start with nothing but an idea, andthrough hard work, almost magically turn it into something that didnt


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even exist beforehand. On one hand I thought it was awesome thatsomeone could go from nothing to fortunes in a few years. On theother hand, I thought it was foolish to view that as the most commonoutcome.

Q. What is the greatest reward in running your own business?A. Knowing that Ive created something that thousands of peopleenjoy. I guess if Id started a debt collection agency I wouldnt havethe same satisfaction.Q. Is there anything else you would like to share with oursolopreneurs?A. If you dont think about your business or ideas constantly, youprobably dont have the right idea. If youre not willing to give upsleep, food, sex, hobbies, sunlight, etc. youre probably not going togive what it takes. That being said, you shouldnt give all those things

up indefinitely or it certainly wont be worth your time! If you cant(give those up or stop giving those up) then get a 9-5 job, and spendthe rest of the time doing something you enjoy!

Opportunity No.3: IT Repairs and ServicesStill on IT, the influx of cheaper computers and IT gadgets meansmore people have access to them. However,most of the users are notwell versed in servicing and repairing the machines. Offering an ITrepair service is a good business opportunity. However, to succeed,your business has to offer extraordinary service, such as homeservice, fast turn-around etc. You should target specific nichemarkets, such as people over 60 for example, and find the best wayof getting your marketing message across to them. You can usecheap methods such as distributing flyers to their homes, clubs etc.You can also offer training services. (Do you know that themajority of computer and mobile internet users utilize only a smallportion of all the functions available?). As for manpower, there arelots of unemployed IT graduates and students who want attachments.

Opportunity No.4: Personal Beauty ServicesThese days, working people are strapped of time, but they still needto have personal beauty services done,such as manicures,pedicures, massages, hair styling etc. All you need is the basicequipment and your flyers or business cards informing people thatyou can offer these services at their homes, offices etc, at their ownconvenient times. By targeting your marketing to executives,


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business owners and other time- strapped professionals, you willquickly build up a solid customer base.

Coming up in the March issue A survey of banks: which is the best bank for SMEs inZimbabwe?

New insurance packages for SMEs launched.

Start nominating your choices for the SME andEntreprenuership awards 2011.

Interview with one of the fastest moving entrepreneurs.

Customers slow to pay? Five ways to pry out the cheque. Business Linkages: How to do business with the big boys.

What the CZI says to SMEs.

To read more, get the CD now, which also carries afree e-book, 101 Tips For Your Business in 2011from leading entrepreneurs and business leaders.Available at Innov8 Bookshop, 23 G.Silundika

Avenue Harare, or you can ger it directly from us at111 Seke Road, Logan Park, Hatfield Harare for only

$3.00 a copy, or add $1.00 and we will deliver to yourhome or office in Harare, or post it if you are out ofHarare. Just call/sms us on 0772 854 301, 0777 774007, or email [email protected].

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