Coming back with a new challenge!

Hi fellow entrepreneurs. I am back. Over the last few months since the 12businesses in 12 month challenge was completed some really interesting stuff has happened. While i lecture on innovation at the UCT Raymond Ackerman Academy (RAA) every year Elli (the person who runs the show) and I discussed focusing on the students new ideas as well as testing of these ideas in the hope of inspiring investors to invest in them, other young people to find ideas and pitch them, and for the students themselves to start a new business. So the students have looked for great new ideas and they have found some really interesting and innovative business concepts. Each month we will highlight one new business and one new entrepreneur. Here are the ideas and the entrepreneurs in no particular order.

1. Raquel and her FUNKY SEAT BELT

2. Sizwe and his DOOR TO DOOR MEDICAL DELIVERY SERVICE

3. Charles and his VIBRATING ARM ALARM

4. Yanga and his TOI (SQUARED) brand ( I bet you are really wondering what this is about!)

5. Lauren and her NO SLIP PAVING BRICK

6. Meli and his Graffiti Boards

7. Adrienne and her device for TV/Movies for deaf people

8. Mponsi and her idea called the HANDSHAKING COMPANY

9. Chantal and her idea for ADS ON HORSE RACING

10. Taryn and her idea for PROVIDING RENTAL FURNITURE AND DECOR FOR HOMES THAT ARE FOR SALE

11. The PERSONALISED CAR ALARM

What will happen over the next 12 months is to showcase these entrepreneurs and their concepts as well as their brands and generate the buzz around being an entrepreneur, being exciting, being awesome.

I have attached some funky new brands in general as well. If anyone and i mean anyone wants to pitch a new idea then they should come to the UCT graduate school of business every Friday at 12 in Cape Town and the idea will be looked at i promise and perhaps even funded. Because we have now added a fund called SUP that will pay for the testing of a new idea....even more mindblowing and its open to everyone who pitches at the public open sessions.

Final post!

Was it possible to do 12 ideas in 12 months. Yes it was. Did anyone care. I dont really know! Am i going to make money. Yep defintely! Will i carry on starting new ideas and testing them in the markeplace. Of course. My guess is that 50% will carry on and thrive and if more do then i am very happy. Have i learnt a shitload? Oh yeah. Can i replicate this model. Yes. Do others want to join me. Come on wednesday afternoons at 12 at the UCT GSB and check out my cult following...but please bring your new ideas...you never know i may like it and say...Youre in! How much do you need? Lets go! Shack wallpaper and Eden cut fruit are well on their way to great success. The final stickfighting tournament of the year will be this weekend in Site C Khayelitsha and the champions will battle it out for R5,000. HUHO street gyms is awesome and Shibeen snacks has the niftiest bowls for peanuts i have ever seen ( order from me asap). The greenboards are in schools and you have to see them to beleive them. I'm gonna sell thousands of these next year. Sumary summary. In the next 3 years i want to test 500 new ideas...the next challenge. I suppose thats toobig for a blog so we'll see where it goes. On the product side i will be opening a retail store with all my funky stuff in 2012. To all those who tried a new idea in 2011 wether it worked or not you played the game my friend and that's what counts. Keep reading newspapers to find new inspiration. This is the final post. in 2012 it will be 166 businesses in 12 months or 500 businesses in 3 years challenge.

I have not dissapeared!!

Hey fellow entrepreneurs! I am still here and as active as possible. In the last few months I have started the required number of new ventures. What i havent told you about is HUHO street GYms which started selling asap straight after launch. 31 in one day! I have also started Greenboards with the first school being painted...so exciting. We also launched the Cut fruit model with all the product sold out within the first day...a huge success! So to summarise we have started and maintained the following new businesses

1. stickfighting company 2. Lavender in Lavender Hill 3. CT Buskers 4. Greenboards 5. HUHO street gyms 6. Cut Fruit   7.I love tripe franchise   8. The Soccer Coop  9. Firebox  10. Collection of 1c/2c pieces

That's 10 businesses in 10 months so i am way on target to reaching my objective. As for November and December i have 2 ideas that i will try.

In November it will be Shebeen snacks and awesome idea to provide snacks to the shebeen market with a wonderfull young entrepreneur called Michael.
In December i will try Shack Wallpaper which will be the design of fubky wallpaper designs for the shack and low income market ( try kaizer chiefs wallpaper) and for shacks add in insulation into the wallpaper.
The issue is that through the process of the last 10 months I have about another 20 great ideas and i will need young dynamic project managers to help me test them. I have also started an experimental kitchen to test a whole new range of food ideas like "chicken crackling" .
The most exciting part of this journey has been that a fellow entrepreneur ( name not disclosed) gave me R500,000 to test anything i liked because i started the whole thing in the first place.
Now that is a great lesson for entrepreneurs...start first....reap the rewards later. 

Seeing the leaves, the book of teaching people to find new ideas

For many years i have been teaching people how to find brand new refreshing ideas for the market. My technique is called "seeing the leaves" and you can now get the information for free from my blog via my newspaper i have produced, called, you get it, "seeing the leaves".  You can take the technique and practice as much as you like. I promise you that if you keep on practicing this technique you will come up with that great new idea that is both simple to do and wont cost that much. A few months ago i did this technique with WIPHOLD, Old Mutual and Nedbank, and we came up with amazing new ideas. Two of these ideas are Sewash and the Firebox. Sewash is an awesome concept that takes from the fact that local people in the interior of the country use seawater to drink for both health ( enema) and spiritual reasons. However no one has ever commercialised the water into a cool brand ( SEWASH) and made sure the water was cleaned to SABS standards. A very cool concept that we will pilot soon. Remember my beleif is that you need to pilot as much as possible to find the truly creative out there. Noted that the seawater is free and there is undoubtably plenty of it...in fact endless supply. The Firebox is an idea that i have been working on but fits the partners so well from a branding and new customer value add. This idea will hopefully see every household in a shack in SA have their own firebox with a recognised brand on it. This will be piloted soon as well.   So download the newspaper read it, start practicing and pass the knowledge onto other people so they can find new and fresh ideas that will blow people away. It really is easy. Send me the ideas from the technique and i will happily add my 10 cents worth. Good luck reading the newspaper, have fun and come on, lets find the next big thing together.

Seeing the Leaves - A newspaper for creative thinkers/social entrepreneurs

I've just created a page for the newspaper I printed a few weeeks ago. You can read it here (it's at the top of the right-hand toolbar) or if you're battling to enlarge it, you can go directly to Scribd and read it there. Click here for the Scribd link

i'm gettin a PA cos every entrepreneur needs one

I havent been writing much because frankly i am just too damn busy. The rock roads project has come to life and so have my innovation workshops. If anyone wants a copy of the innovation series please send to my email account and i will send a free copy. But this also means that although my business model for starting them and handing over to managers is working i'm still swamped. So is it time for a PA? I think so. As an entrepreneur of the highest order i need someone to actually handle the stuff that gives me alzheimers. Those little details like my diary, or when to pick up a child, or that all important travel arrangement. So like all things VP i have decided after my brazil trip ( oh yeah i'm going to brazil and colombia next week) to get the PA. It should be interesting to just let go of the nitty gritty. Will this save me time? Will it mean i start even more ventures as i have more time and energy? probably but isnt that the point... to just go for it ....be manic and excited about the new ...to enjoy every moment of the journey with friends and family and...i am sounding slightly manic ut i have had 4 espressos already and woke up at 4am to be in JHB today. Talking of espresso i think i may be going into the coffee business in my own social enterprise way with jake my mate. More of that later when the plan is done...but suffice it to say i want to take over shebeens and start serving capuccino to the masses instead of beer. Impossible? Not a chance. The government wants a solution to alcohol ads...dont ban them that stupid...serve more coffee!

CT Buskers on the move again

PaleSTAR my project manager for CT Buskers has identified most of our top spots in the city and we have auditions scheduled for the Friday 8th July from 8am-5pm at ROMA in Guguletu. She will be sending out messaging to all who would like to audition to become an official busker on the streets of CT. We are looking for people of all ages, acts of all kinds, and the process will be tough. However the benefits may be huge. We will publicise the talent, become their agents, and make them STARS. So send out the message to everyone to be there. PaleSTAR can be contacted on 071 284 9676. To Moodswings please contact PaleSTAR to be involved. We would love to have you.

Evereyone loves the Firebox idea and everyone sees the need. Now i need the sponsor so we can order a few thousand and start marekting it to the public.