Nov 2022 edition

Now available at Nationwide

An Oracle on Market Research & Competitive intelligence

ThamiNdlovu

Forget the UEFA Champions league, The NFL Super-bowl, game seven of the NBA finals, the rivalry of Pete Sampras and Andre Agassi… one insanely competitive sport currently is business. Businesses are scrambling for market share. It’s a strategy warfare, a marketing battle, a fight for attention and more importantly a quest for sales.

The Fourth Industrial Revolution is getting into full swing, and it is affecting how business is conducted as it were. Artificial intelligence is making it possible to attain information and analytics about clients, customers, prospects, suppliers, competitors, and entire industry trends. Having this kind of well researched data allows for companies to press the right buttons in their businesses. CEOs, Product developers, marketing managers can make calculated decisions to meet desired goals. Having this data is essential for any business to thrive post the Covid Pandemic as it ensures that one ’ s business stays ahead of competition or at the very least remains competitive.

Mining that data, conducting that thorough research to come up with detailed competitive intelligence, that is what ThamiGlobal and Datadvise do. They help businesses grow through data.

Thamiglobal, formally known as Thamsanqa Ndlovu is a world leading market research expert. His firm (Datadvise.org) is based in the United States of America (Atlanta Georgia) and has operations across the Middle East, Europe, Australia, Dubai, and Southern Africa. Thami has served businesses in consumer products and services, software and mobile apps, e-commerce, health care, financial services, media telecommunications etc. Playing to his strengths he fuses a professional yet laid back style with clients where he ideates collaborative strategies and implementations for flawless execution. As part of the top one percent hired talent in the USA, he is outstanding when it comes to market sizing, providing segmentation analyses/audience targeting, forecasting industry trends growth drivers, regulations, competitive intelligence, and keys to sustainable UVP, customer acquisition and sales channel identification and customer research. The young CEO holds a Bachelor of Laws (LLB) & a BA in Philosophy & Law from the University of Witwatersrand in South Africa. He also has an MBA which he attained at the Hult International Business School. It is not surprising that he brings an impeccably unique business and legal perspective to research needs whilst using lateral thinking approaches.

He established Datadvise in 2020 after working as a top researcher in a globally respected firm. When Covid 19 affected businesses and Thami found himself facing unemployment, he took lemons and made lemonade. He had the expertise and experience so instead of job hunting he took up his own clients and built the business from scratch to what it is today.

One of the highlights since then was working with the product development team of arguably one of the biggest communications companies in the world on an application which most organisations use for collaborative work and communication every day.

Thami has a culturally rich background, being born to a Zambian mother, in Zimbabwe, studying and living in South Africa and proceeding to building a life in Europe and the United States of America (Boston, Dallas and Atlanta).

Thami argues that one of the biggest challenges SMME’s face is the lack of due diligence. It is overlooked by not only SMME’s but most businesses in general. That is where research and Datadvise come into play. Companies can move in a direction that is supported by conclusive information. That simply means businesses can optimize their operations and messaging with their customers whether it is a Business-to-Business operation or Business-to-Customer setup.

Collaboration is king

Conceptualized as a mobile spa service and currently have two sites in Gqeberha - ON THE GO SPA is a black women-owned enterprise by two sisters. The duo, which is the brain behind the brand is from the Gilivane family - named as Vatiswa (the older of the two), who currently resides in Johannesburg and Zodwa (the younger sister) who currently resides in Gqeberha - also known as Port Elizabeth, where they both grew up and operating their business.

Vatiswa: “My favourite brand is the clothing brand named @RichFactory – African resort wear. I have enjoyed seeing the brand grow over the years and I love how they approach their offering with great attention to detail, which does translate into the end product we purchase online or at their beautiful boutique store in Parkhurst”.

Before we spoke ON THE GO WELLNESS SPA we were interested to hear what are their favourite brands in Mzansi and why, this is what they said, “We both absolutely love supporting and shining a light on other local brands and businesses”.

Zodwa: “Mine would be Bathu the shoe brand, because they remind me more about my journey and I find their story very inspiring. From how they started their business to how consistent they are in producing high quality shoes every time. Their work ethics and most importantly for me how they keep collaborating with other South African brands to help in growing and expanding their business”.

From left: Zodwa & Vatiswa Gilivane, owners of ON THE GO SPA

Back to On The Go Wellness Spa: This Gqeberha based wellness SPA is one of best startups founded amidst the pandemic, in June 2020 to be precise. Losing their jobs during the pandemic led the sisters to the idea of combining their skills and expertise to start a business - a passion project, with the aim of connecting people and curating a space where they can present themselves as they are, leave feeling relaxed, revived, rejuvenated and feeling good about themselves.

Please share what challenges have you faced when you were getting ON THE GO off the ground? “We are still on early days and yes challenges are still here, the reality is every step one takes in business whether it be to expand, introduce a new offering, collaborate or partner with other brands/businesses introduces a new and different set of challenges. However, we try to look at these as opportunities to either grow into something or out of something. When starting a business there are the obvious hurdles known to all which includes finance, access to information, market and opportunities – we faced and still face all of these until today. But we are deliberate about seeking information, asking for information, mentorship, guidance and really just keeping ourselves informed about what our customers are looking for, and about industry trends and opportunities that are out there. One thing about starting a business, you cannot operate your business as a silo. You must get out there and network”.

What has been the best thing about working together as sisters? And who does what? “Well, it’s almost like our very different career paths have been grooming us to end up here, working together one day. Zodwa is a trained wellness and beauty professional with over 10 year experience in the industry and I, as Vatiswa am a Sales and Business development specialist with over 10 years ’ experience. We both love working with, connecting with and meeting new people and place great importance in customer service underpinned by professionalism and service excellence”.

In your experience, how important is it for people to take time and rest out of their busy schedules, and how important is it for you to offer the best services to the public – and support your statement. “People are dealing with so much nowadays because so much is being thrown at us, we are always on autopilot – going through the motions and just moving from one thing to the next. We feel that because of this fast-paced existence taking time out, to give back to the body, mind and soul is very important, it is the right thing to do. We need to replenish that which we extract from the body. This way we are able to regroup and come back to our day-to-day with a fresh and renewed outlook. Also, it is important for us at On The Go to offer the best service, using the best products and the best environment – because by doing so, we are contributing to the wellbeing of our customers”.

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Striving to revolutionize the way you sleep

Kooi Beds is a Johannesburg based company that specializes in good quality beds for sportsmen to be precise. An extra-odinary dream to revolutionise sleep became a reality in 2006 when Jannie Breedt and Zaach Smith had their heads together as businessmen to venture a quality mattress business. Their ultimate goal was to transform and advance individual sleeping experiences, and that goal seem to be what is growing their clientele that is pleased by their products.

Kooi beds are not just your ordinary beds but these are tailor-made for sportsmen, with the intention to make sure after a long day of sports any sportsmen can end up in a very comfy and quality beds. To achieve the specific target of sportsmen the duo collaborated with a real sportsman who is an exSpringbok player Jannie Breedt. The ex-Springbok captain came to join the Kooi team with his own experience as a mattress designer from early 2000’s, and his involvement in the new team became a great solution to better the products.

“Our beds are manufactured according to European Standards.

Furthermore, we expose the foam mattresses to strenuous compression testing during the manufacturing process. The end result is a quality, reliable and a comfortable pure foam bed. Aditionally, our foam mattresses are calcium filler free. Calcium fillers decline over time, resulting in a mattress plagued by sagging and body impressions. Due to Pure Foam, Kooi mattresses will never encounter the same problems.”

The Kooi Beds pure foam mattress range is worth every penny as it is tested by sleep professional and approved as the best mattress in the market. The mattresses come in different names and sizes from B-Series Plush, Perfoma mattress and more. More than their comfort their mattresses are praised for lasting long, in good shape and quality.

What makes your beds stand out?

"Regardless

The company has also took it upon them to educate their clients about good quality sleep. Many are working long hours or having hard training sessions that can give the body stiff muscles, and to only stretch does not give full relaxation to the body but where one sleeps also plays a huge role in giving the body what is needs to fully recover.

Currently, Kooi Beds are the main sponsors that gives comfort sleep to multiple recognisable South African athletes. “We believe in empowering the best high-performance athletes with the sleep and comfort they deserve. Regardless of who you are, our beds will work tirelessly to ensure a happy, healthy and productive lifestyle”, added Jannie Breedt.

Lastly, tell us about some of the community work that you are involved in: “Some of the work is when we hosted a sports day in Port Elizabeth, the purpose being to scout for young and talented rugby and netball players. We identified 36 gifted children, and these athletes received scholarships at various Rugby and Netball specialist schools. Furthermore, Kooi invests in grassroots Rugby and Netball development of young children between the ages of ten and thirteen. All participants received Kooi T-shirts and shorts. Additionally, athletes were provided with meals, drinks and snacks. At Kooi Beds, we don’t just dream; we make dreams come true”.

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Alafa-Organics Alafa-Organics

Be African, in all our ways.

Founded by Dingaan Nzeke, an Eastern Cape born from Cofimvaba to be precise. Alafa Organics is a health & skincare company that targets Africans and uses African sourced herbs to solve Africans skin issues. It’s founder and CEO Mr Nzeke grew up in Kokosi, a small town in the West Rand, Gauteng. We wanted to hear which is his favourite brand in Mzansi besides his own before we commenced with his interview and this is what he said, “My onetime favourite has to be ILanga Labantu, they're about conscientizing African people towards healing through herbs and to rely on their ways of life”. First, tell us about the meaning of your company name: Alafa is a Setswana word which means to "Heal", the reasoning behind this name is that, my interests in the company is to heal Africans, to heal their psyches on -

how they think about themselves and to heal our bodies”.

When did you commence with brand and what inspired you to even start? “Initially, I started the business with just selling non-GMO vitamins as a distributor for Olayinka company - which is a black owned vitamin company. I started distributing for them in 2021 while I was doing my Postgraduate studies at the University of Pretoria, and to fund the business I used my bursary allowance.

Early 2022, I decided to start Alafa Organics, and to grow the business I introduced organic/natural African made skincare. This was after I realized that most over-the-counter skincare and health products are filled with synthetic and often toxic chemicals that do not cater for the melanated people, a need for an alternative and natural approach was developed”.

What make your products stands out? “We, at AlafaOrganics pride ourselves about African made products, these are products that have been mastered by African women using ancient traditional techniques, hence I believe that my products standout from the rest of the products from over-the-counter shelves”.

Challenges you faced since you started and how are tackling those? “Like any other small black owned business, I experienced challenges that almost made me want to give up the business. Like I mentioned earlier I did not have funding to start the skincare business. I, therefore had to use the profit made from selling the vitamins to establish Alafa Organics, but more problems kept coming through. Secondly, Shea Butter needs to be melted and packaged, the melting part of it requires electricity and in my township we have loadshedding and load reduction every now and then. We have been experiencing that since beginning of the year, this therefore requires me to travel to my brother's place in another town where I have to melt shea butter and package it. And this is a problem that is still continuing, but to curb it, I melt it in huge bulks so that I do not run out of stock”.

In your own experience, why do you think it is important for one to take care of their skin? And does your products accommodates all genders? “Because I believe in the vision of the business, I have strived to continue with it because it is an alternative for African people, and to pull them away from over-the-counter cosmetics and from health products that are synthetic. I believe it is crucial that Africans consume a product that caters for their genetic make-up. I also believe that health isn't a " one size fits all", we ' re biologically different people with non-Africans, Africans therefore require a skincare that will nourish their melanated skin and that is crucial for their skin as their skin needs protection and nourishment. Shea Butter and African Black soap are natural products that have been used as cosmetic products for centuries in Africa and have potent nutrients that soothe, condition and treat the skin and hair. I believe our products are essential as they're naturally made and address skin problems such as, dry skin, cracked skin, stretch marks and helps to sooth and eliminate blackspots and all our products are beneficial to any skin type and any gender including infants”.

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Highlights of your business thus far?

“My highlight would be for African people to love their malanated selves, and to realise our natural products that have been created for us by African women, and this made me realize that we have been inventors since the beginning of time”.

What’s the next step to grow the business? “The next step as a business is to work with more African people from many African countries, to source more natural products. Currently, we ’ re in a process of getting herbs to be packaged by Alafa Organics and made available to African people that is the next step as the business”.

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catalyst

communities.

Located 33 kilometres as the crow flies from Nelson Mandela’s birthplace, the Bulungula Incubator (BI) is on the Wild Coast of the Eastern Cape of South Africa. The area in which we work is one of the most remote and rural parts of the Mbhashe municipality, which, according to the latest census results, is one of the poorest in South Africa.

Founded by Dave Martin and Réjane Woodroffe, who first arrived in that community in 2004 and worked with the community to open the Bulungula Lodge with the vision of using backpacker/independent tourism as a tool for rural development in a remote African community.

school, without clean water, without access to basic health care, their community could not have the minimums needed for living happily and with dignity. This led to the establishment of the BI, a nonprofit, community-based organisation.

Once the Lodge was established, it was realised that the community would never escape the grinding poverty trap if they focused only on income generation through tourism. Without a -

“The

formal

A

in the creation of A catalyst in the creation of vibrant and sustainable rural vibrant and sustainable rural communities.

Please share what inspired the beginning of the incubator and what role has it played in that specific community since it’s establishment.

rehabilitation of No-Ofisi Primary School was the project that prompted the

incorporation of the BI in 2007.

Bulungula Lodge Backpackers

At that time the only educational facility available was a collapsed wattle and daub structure, where little teaching of any kind took place. We continued to focus on providing quality education in our community and opened five preschools.

But how can you focus on early childhood - No-Ofisi Primary School prior to collapsing, 2007.

education if a third of babies are dying of diarrhoea diseases? How can you keep a population healthy if you live a full-day walk away from the nearest clinic? How can you excel as a student if you struggle to read because of poor-quality schooling?

No single intervention, no ‘silver bullet’, can enable a path out of poverty. We began the organisation as a crisis response to the many challenges our community faced. Now, our projects span from Pre-conception to Career, focusing on transformational impact through incremental change.

Please share what services the Bulungula Incubator offers? “Over time we have steadily built our interventions to span the spectrum of Preconception-to-Career, with four focus areas: Education, Health & Nutrition, Sustainable Livelihoods, and Vibrant Villages.

Education: We have programmes in Early Childhood Development (ECD) 0-3 at home, and 3-6 at four different ECD Centres; Mathematics and English supplementary through our e-learning iiTablet Tshomiz project at our government schools; and the first ever High School in our area to offer Matric diplomas, and vocational education & training (Job Skills Entrepreneurship Programme).

Health and nutrition: Our integrated community health programme includes Community Health Workers (Nomakhayas), the Bulungula Health Point, and nutritious school meals.

Bulungula Community Radio Dj's

The programme operates by providing health education and service linkage through community outreach, making use of Nomakhayas who monitor health in accordance with accepted indicators, and advocating for services for the vulnerable.

Our Bulungula Health Point is an accredited fixed outreach point of Nkayna Clinic. Our two Professionals Nurses provide primary healthcare, including immunisations, ART & chronic medication refills using the Central Chronic Medicines Dispensing and Distribution (CCMDD), acute consultations, and COVID-19 vaccinations. At our ECD sites, our Nomakhayas provide six monthly growth monitoring, development milestone assessment, deworming and vitamin A provision, along with annual vision and hearing screening. Each child eats two nutritous hot meals and a snack every day. We provide over 50,000 hot school meals for children 3-6 every year.

Sustainable livelihoods: Masilime Ngqo, our nursery, sells 6,000 seedlings per month to our community members. Our farmers are trained through an accredited course provided at our Job Skills Entrepreneurship Programme, and sell their produce to local spaza shops and grocery stores.

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“As children grow up today, they're losing their culture. I don't want my culture to die. That's why I teach children Ndebele art".

- Esther Mahlangu

ESTHER MAHLANGU Celebrating

Born in Middelburg 1935, and celebrating not only her birthday in the month of November but also celebrating so many milestones since she has commenced with her stunning paintings. Esther Mahlangu is known as the first artist to transfer the traditional Ndebele style of mural paintings to canvas. One of the things that makes her stands out and made us to celebrate her this month is the fact that she is a self-

taught painter who has find her ground and penetrated the global market by her amazing work that represents her background. Her ability to self-teach herself a skill that has open doors for her is the mentality that every young person should adopt and implement in their daily lives - you can teach yourself anything if you put your mind to it. In this day and age we have the advantage of easy access to tools like YouTube and Google to learn and empower ourselves. And to add on that, we should take if from mama'Esther, her age was and is no excuse to deliver good quality work and impact others positively.

5 Things you may not know about Esther Mahlangu:

She use acrylic paint for her paintings. Her talent was discovered by researchers from Paris. Her artwork ranges from $3,000 to $30,000. She was the first African and first female artist to paint a BMW Art Car in 1991.

Today Mahlangu's work is represented in private, corporate and public galleries around the world. Her village home in Mpumalanga is inundated with visitors from around the world, keen to explore her complex approach to wall decoration.

"KEEPING THE "KEEPING THE END IN MIND" END IN MIND"

One of our strongest features is that we have a relevant specialist for each specific service that we provide. For us, the trust relationship that we build with our clients highlights the principles and values that we aspire to in our business. This has continued client loyalty and support which has allowed our firm to grow rapidly by reputation.

Gqeberha and the surrounding areas.

Stay safe during festive season Stay safe during festive season

One of the best ways to protect yourself from scams is to know what they are. Cons are everywhere, and they can be tough to spot. When you ' re looking for a new job, buying a home or just trying to make ends meet, it's easy to get overwhelmed by financial stress.

That's when scammers step in and offer a solution but it's not one that benefits you. Becoming a victim will probably leave you going through quite a sour holiday period, so let’s dive into ways to spot and avoid potential scams.

Understand the basic structure of a pyramid scheme:

Often if the scam in question is in the form of a pyramid scheme such as MMM years ago or WhatsApp stokvel recently, then there are some things they’ll have in common that you can spot from a mile away:

1. You buy a product or service

2. You sell it to others

3. You recruit people to do the same

If most of the money is made in recruitment, you are likely dealing with a pyramid scheme.

Be aware of the tactics scammers use: When making financial decisions, taking note of your emotional state before committing to anything is essential. People with bad intentions can take advantage of your vulnerable state when you feel scared, rushed, or confused. For example, scam emails can trick you into accidentally sharing sensitive information by crafting a scary situation like a false account deletion request.

If it’s too good to be, it probably is: I cannot emphasize this enough, but if someone is explaining a product, investment or idea to you and you feel excited, try not to agree to anything before you can calm down and think clearly. Ask yourself questions like, how reasonable is it for someone to offer me R5000 from a R200 investment? From where would they be getting that kind of money? If they could make that money for themselves, what incentive do they have for sharing? And so on.

Trust but verify: Even if an “investment opportunity” comes from a friend you trust, always research the information you are receiving and fact-check everything. Sometimes your friends can lead you astray even with the best intentions.

Refer to official channels: Each country has a relevant authority to register to offer financial services. In the case of South Africa, there is the Financial Sector Conduct Authority, which can help you verify the registration of the company you intend to do business or investments with and check which products and services they are allowed to offer you.

Learn further: There are many other kinds of fraud and scams that you could potentially come across. Read up about them and their prevention. As you increase your knowledge about these scams, you become less likely to fall victim to them.

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""Sometimes Sometimes your friends your friends can lead you can lead you astray even astray even with the best with the best iintentions". ntentions".

Allow Allow yourself yourself no excuse no excuse

Born in Orsay, France, a city about an hour away from Paris. Lehn Kessen is a talented R&B singer based in the UK- with well composed hits like DYM, Let Me and more. We had a chat with him about his music journey where it all started and the lessons on the journey thus far, and here is what he said, “My first introduction to the music industry was as a music producer and songwriter when I was in Paris, where I had the chance to work with different independent artists a while ago. What I enjoyed about those roles was to work on different projects for other artists, but as much as I enjoyed producing for others, it was always clear to me that I wanted to give myself a chance and push myself as an artist. One of the lessons I noted is that working in another artist's shadow showed me that being an independent artist is a real challenge, which is not always simple to overcome.

“I started doing music at a really early age, 12 years old, with my brother at first, then we started a few bands, with a few close friends, and also performed in a few places back then. This was a great start for me to discover the different roles involved with the music creation processes, which led me to learn how to produce music on my own ” .

“I think the most difficult part has been to build a team in order to get my music out there, which is still a tough challenge even today”.

For those who do not know, when did you start doing music, and what is the toughest thing you have experienced as a musician thus far?

Your last single out – tell us about it, how was it received by the public thus far, and who have you worked with? “My last single “Trophy” is featured with a UK artist called Trunkie, who also just released his new album just a few weeks ago. The song was about a guy showing love to his lady by referring to her as his “Trophy”. The public’s reception has been great, since the song was also played in a few radio shows”.

November – you are releasing new music, tell us more about that: “I am releasing a new single titled “You’ve Gotta Go Through”, on November 11th 2022 which is about life motivation and mental health. These being topics that we all have to face on a daily basis, I am really trying to speak to anyone that might

Click here for my new single

feel like they are climbing a mountain of troubles every day, and also to encourage everyone to keep pushing, regardless of the difficulties that life might bring our way ” .

Before we wrap it up, please share one of your favourite highlights this far in your music career and why that one? “I would say my highlight is the fact that I still have the chance to release more music, and that I am still able to enjoy this process. I have seen many artists throwing the towel over the years, so I am simply thankful for still being able to spread my music out there”.

Lastly, when you are not doing music – what do you normally get up to? “I actually start my day at the gym, which also keeps me motivated with my music, and life in general. Being dedicated to keeping in shape and body building really helps me find the strength to carry on!” Click social icons on the right to follow me:

BENEFITS OF USING YOUTUBE FOR BUSINESS

Creating the right online content is important for all kinds of businesses today. While there are many different content channels and options available, YouTube remains one of the best platforms for any business.

If you want to grow your business, enhance your brand, and reach more customers, then YouTube is a great place to do it. With a good video marketing strategy, any kind of business can use YouTube to boost its success. This guide will cover some of the main advantages of using YouTube for business.

How is YouTube Useful for Businesses?

When figuring out what to post on your business’s social media platforms, creating YouTube videos is one of the best options. Video is the most engaging form of content online, and YouTube is the best place to publish video content. Businesses can use YouTube videos to educate their audience, showcase their products, promote brand messages and awareness, answer customer questions, build an audience, and more. There are endless video ideas brands can use to attract and engage their audience.

In today’s highly competitive online environment, businesses need to develop powerful content marketing strategies to help them beat the competition. YouTube is one of the most popular and useful platforms for publishing content online.

What are the Advantages of Using YouTube?

There are many advantages for businesses that use YouTube. First of all, YouTube is one of the most popular websites in the world, with 2.1 billion monthly active users. This means YouTube offers massive potential for brands to reach new customers and grow their audiences.

There are also endless content opportunities that YouTube offers. No matter what kind of business you operate, there will be people interested in watching your content on YouTube. You could create short entertaining videos, long educational videos, and everything in between.

Businesses can also use YouTube videos in a variety of ways. Of course, you can tap into the platform’s large audience and gain views organically. You could also embed YouTube videos onto your website, share them on social media, use them in lead generation ads for B2B marketing, add product videos to your online store, and more.

YouTube is also completely free and easy to use. Anyone can start uploading videos and tapping into the audience potential of this video platform. You don’t need to be an expert filmmaker to find success on YouTube. YouTube is owned by Google, which means YouTube videos appear in Google search results. This means creating content on YouTube can be a great way to boost your SEO efforts and make your brand more visible online.

Another important advantage of YouTube is that you can use it to generate an income. Thanks to AdSense, creators with an active audience can earn revenue from their videos.

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