I forgot to mention in my last blog that I also want the first Tripe festival probably in the world.
In order for the tripe business to get off the ground there are a number of details we are working on.
1. Permits. And you know how i hate permits. These include health and safety permits and hawkers licences. On the tripe business however the health permits are a good thing when it comes to food but lets see how comprehensive they are. if they are like the "entertainment permits" we received for stick fighting then i am not sure i will be too impressed and i'm not too worried about this.
2. The process of purchasing the tripe and various suppliers. These are looking positive and i dont see any problems.
3. Cooking the tripe...not sure who is going to do this yet???
4. recipes and testing of recipes. There are 4 varieties that we need to test on the streets in the next few days. These are curry, tomato and onion, spicy, mushroom. Based on teh feedback of people we will choose 2 for the stand. I also want an open competition for people to send recipes and bring samples to a single place over 1 day of sampling. The winner will receive R1,000 and we will use best recipes for the cookbook. The winners will also be able to have the option of becoming chefs for the business.
5. The mobile units. In a new business i dont want to expend too much capital in infrastructure until we have tested the concept fully. My friend Yolanda has some units we can use and i hope this works out. Otherwise we will be needing another option...like a chinese bicycle! (thanks douglas)
6.The logistics of moving a cooked product to the streets daily...no ideas yet?
Ps : the stick fighting company is flourishing, the next tournament is soon and we are getting plenty of publicity

Why a Tripe Franchise?

So you probably all think I am kind of crazy doing a tripe franchise. For those of you who dont really know what tripe is...it is the intestines of the stomach. The idea actually came to me while travelling in Italy. There I was in my first trattoria and on the menu was trippa (Tripe). So I ordered it and it was magnificent. I asked the owner if tripe was popular in Italy and he raved and raved about its importance to genuine Italian cusisine. I then went to the largest Florentine open air market and the most popular stall was the tripe stall which was considered very famous. In the queue were office workers in suits and ties and then it hit me! In a country like South Africa tripe is only seen as stinky poor man's food. In Italy the land of gastronomy it was seen as a gift and a delicacy...something that takes time to cook and revered as a popular food amongst rich and poor. Why not try and and popularise the concept in South Africa? So this is how the idea came about. Food franchises are very popular. So the business concept for the tripe franchise is as follows.

1. Formulate a mobile street tripe franchise that the general public love
2. Change people's perception about Tripe
3. Offer cooked tripe to top end restaurants for their menus
4. Publish a tripe recipe book

Welcome to "I love Tripe" coming to a corner near you!

an entrepreneur never gets to sleep

I have been away with my family for around 7 days on holiday and yet i have been in contact with Alex ( my man on the ground ) all the time building the next business " I love tripe".We have made some significant progress with the I love tripe business but more about that tomorrow. There were so many signs that this is the correct business #2. I met a farmer and we discussed tripe. I read in the succeed magazine about new food franchises and how they should do very well. None mentioned tripe which excites me even more as they hadnt thought about it. I spoke to a greek women who mentioned how her greek relatives love tripe. I spoke to an old friend from University who mentioned how much his realtives love tripe. I spoke to a politician on the plane who said the politicians during parliment love eating tripe. So even on holiday an entrepreneur never sleeps. I had alex doing the legwork, i was looking and thinking and stressing about being away, and yet trying to relax. Over the next few weeks i hope to get the first tripe stand on the streets in Cape town. I hope that everyone loves it.

Looking back at what can be achieved at in 30 days

Can someone set up a new and innovative business in 30 days. The answer is a definte yes and here are some of the summarised ingredients. On a scale of 1-10 with 10 being the higheest...
1. Have a new and innovative idea that others will buy into. This is a definite golden rule for me, and the Stick fighting does subscribe to this philosophy. (9)
2. Convince a few passionate people to become partners ( and they can own most of it) to implement the idea on the street level. (10)
3. Implement and test the concept on the street and see if the public love it. In the case of stick fighting the public love it and this can be seen by the very high numbers of spectators at tournaments, corporate interest, tourist interest.(10)
4. See if the media are interested. This was a resounding success as we received plenty of media interest ( 8)
5. Can we sell to investors. There is definite interest from investors (6)
6. Are there good revenue streams. yes ( 8)
7. Will this business run without me. yes ( 9)
8. We have a company structure in place as a TRUS

So there is much to do, but there is a great team in place and there is real traction for this business. I have no doubt that the stick fighting company/ Trust will grow into a great business. The new business for the next 30 days will be started tomorrow. IT WILL BE A STREET TRIPE FRANCHISE CALLED " I LOVE TRIPE". I will explain more tomorrow.

Street theater

Vuyisile has taken to the streets with his permit ( although I can honestly say that the permit is a load of crap, written on a scrappy paper, and very vague about its terms and conditions). I was watching the young boys "busking" in the Gardens and some security guards came over and asked them to leave. When I intervened Vuyisile had to go to "the boss" who claimed we couldnt busk in the Gardens. There was nothing said about this on the permit. I suddenly had a brainwave based on the New York subway experience. In New York if you want to busk in the subway they have auditions for a limited number of people ( say 100) to get permits for 2011. This leads to competition and excitement. When I walk in the city centre there is so little vibrancy and energy in the form of original street entertainment. When in NYC in the parks and subways there is some amazing talent on show...and who knows someone may get the exposure they need and get discovered. Cape Town always wants to be seen as a center for creativity and innovation and wouldnt a busker audition be something really big for the people in the city. Designated areas with high volumes (like the gardens) would give people income earning potential and train some of the buskers to market themselves and develop their talents. I love it! Now to convince the powers that be on the idea!
Meanwhile Vuyisile continues on the streets, learns more about his product and continues to earn some cash as a "busker".

bureaucracy!

After 10 amazing tournamenst with thousands of spectators in the townships Vuyisile took to the streets of Cape Town for a small promo exhibition of Stick Fighting. Within seconds a security guard walked up to them and told them to stop. He needed a permit. In the townships we could do as we wished. We created an amazing spectacle watched by thousands...of black spectators. They phoned me. What type of permit do we need, I asked? He said he didnt know but they needed a permit. Ok where do i get one? At the civic center. Which department i asked? He didnt know. I told Vuyisile to pack up. The country is screaming for entreprenurs. For people to take their destiny into their own hands and start enterprises. Well thats excatly what were doing. However there are different rules for the township entrepreneur to that of the city entrepreneur. Not sure why though? Methinks the bureaucarcy for young entreprenurs in South Africa is just pathetic. Rules, rules and more rules. Little wonder there is so little innovation and creativity. Rules to open a business, rules to what you cant do and where you cant do it. Rules about employment. Rules about rules about rules. Here are my rules for young black entreprenurs.

1. There are no rules to what type of business you want to start
2. There are less rules and more fredoom to experiment in the townships so start there
3. Dont register a business unless you have to. First see if your products/services sell before you choose compliance. Compliance should come thereafter as it is time consuming and costly and CIPRO is not exactly the most dynamic of organisations.
4. Dont employ people with contracts to start. Rather get people who want to be involved with you. By offering people jobs you become and employer and this can be the cause of some serious heartbreak the first time someone takes you to the CCMA.
5. Get paid upfront for goods or on the first of the month rather than the end of the month. People are such bad payers in this country.
6. Dont register for any VAT or other taxes when you start. Keep it simple and only do this if you start to grow.
7. Dont borrow from banks or try to from other financial institutions. They have too many rules and you are wasting your time. Try and borrow from family and friends.
8. An entrepreneur will try and break as many rules as possible but they need to be legal.

So we'll get the permits (however long that takes) and we'll' "hit" the streets of Cape Town and hope they let some young entrepreneurs be dynamic. Wonder what would happen if Helen Zille got on the streets to promote a new product or service wether she would need a permit. She probably wouldnt even know what type of permit we'd be talking about.

Taking ownership

Today was a really good day. I met up with some of the winners of the stick fighting tournaments on Muizenberg beachfront. With a stick in my hand we discussed the way forward. The first thing was the issue of ownership. I spoke candidly to them that if they took complete ownership of the Stick Fighting Comapny it would take off like a rocket ship. They all agreed. What a great first step. This was not just about greed and money but about neing apart of something new, innovative and big, and something they truly beleived could work. From being unemployed to being apart of a real company. We then discussed the holidays. They all agreed that we would set up some exhibition style events at places like Camps Bay and The Waterfront. We would PR the company together and try and get some people to pay for the experience. Vuyisile will make sticks that we could try and sell. After the holiday period the fighters will start setting up clubs in their areas and get young boys to fight.
Afterwards I met with SABEF ( South African Black Entrepreneurs Forum( Vuyisa) and we discussed entrepreneurship. He mentioned that would could hold a large tournament at a stadium. Exciting. A type of Romanesque Colloseum type of bout, which is more like entertainment that we could film with all the top fighters. The last tournament happens this weekend and I cannot wait. This time we will start with some young boys and I might even let Noah my boy fight with them. Then we will get on with the real stuff. In last weekends bouts one guy got wacked hard and there was plenty of blood. We better make sure the medics are in full force. We now have 15 more days for this business to make a mark and continue. Not a bad job for 16 days of work. I also realise that after speaking to Vuyisa that I really want to just help youngsters become what they really want to become. To achieve their dreams but also to get people excited and to take ownership of their own lives. In the following 11 businesses each one will be owned by a different group. Now think about that. 12 new businesses with an average of 12 new owners ( or more ) 144 people with a whole new life.