Lauri Elliott

Media is such a major issue for Africa at this time.  There is a general perception that western media is doing a disservice to the image of Africa.  I agree and disagree.

I agree that western media has painted a particular view of Africa as needy, poor, corrupt, and in conflict historically.  But there are also those who do Africa a good service.

But to me this argument is no longer the primary relevant issue.  Now with the technology tools and the connected society, everyone is media.  That is called citizen media.  Individuals, groups, and organizations need to use this shift to make media that is appropriate for Africa.

The new configurations of media will be infinite, but open.  This is what we have to focus on.  There are still people who need to work with in traditional media who can help change what is being reported and how.  But most of us, whether professional media or public media don’t have to what for things to change, we can make the change.

I had a brief opportunity to share these thoughts and others at the Rwanda Convention 2010 (www.rwandaconvention.org) in Boston, Massachusetts on May 29, 2010.  And living  up to the potential in technology, I participated via videoconferencing from my home!

You can download my slide presentation – Evolving Media Presentation 2010 (37). 

Feel free to start up a conversation on this.

This is an article I wrote for Brainstorm Magazine of South Africa. It appeared in the December 2009/January 2010 issue.

The penetration of mobile phones and mobile data will serve as catalysts for a growing mobile gaming market in South Africa. The question is how well the industry will navigate these opportunities.

Globally, gaming is a hot market – from console, to PC, to online, to mobile. Pyramid Research’s recent report, Mobile Gaming in Emerging Markets, says that mobile gaming will grow at least 20 percent per year from 2009 to 2014 in the Africa and Middle East regions.

Jan Ten Sythoff, research manager for Pyramid Research, says that mobile phone and mobile data penetration serve as catalysts for this market. While Africa has good mobile phone penetration, there are differences between consumers in mature markets like the United States and those in emerging markets like Africa.

Says Matt Benic, a developer with I-Imagine: “While we have high mobile phone penetration, our potential consumers in South Africa typically have low levels of disposable income (also typical of the rest of Africa).”

This means handsets used by consumers are lower-end devices, and the cost of games needs to be lower than in developed markets. In addition, consumers would not necessarily have previous experience with other gaming platforms like consoles and PCs. Says Danny Day, owner of QCF Design: “The first provider that offers a truly engaging, massively multi-player, micro-transaction-enabled game on phones is going to win big.”

Benic says there is also huge opportunity with sports, like soccer, and SMS-based games in South Africa. A “taxi”-driving game might be an appealing concept in South Africa too. This is tapping into what consumers know and feel comfortable with.

Sythoff says the challenges facing emerging markets include game cost, affordable handsets and piracy.

Benic mentions that the misperception that game development is inexpensive is a challenge in the local industry. Companies that would pay to have games developed for advertising and promotional purposes are often shocked when quoted a price.

Furthermore, according to Benic, the lack of sufficient numbers of skilled developers is slowing down the mobile game development industry. And then there is the ongoing issue of the cost of internet access. There are many free and inexpensive tools online to support mobile game development but the data usage expense can be prohibitive for small firms.

Challenges impact the consumer too, says Day. “Poor visibility, commodity-focused instead of product-focused marketing, shoddy after-sales support and lack of penetration by local mobile developers means…potential players have to wade through sheets and sheets of poorly advertised games.” In addition, the games are not localised to suit consumers.

Challenges notwithstanding, Sythoff shares several business models with the potential to succeed in African markets. First, there is gaming for advertising, or adver-gaming: players are allowed to download games for free, but the games contain advertisements. The vendor and developer generate revenue by selling advertising space.

A second potential business model allows consumers to play games for free until they reach a certain level, after which they must pay. This is a good way of getting consumers hooked on a game, providing motivation for them to pay to continue.

In some instances, a game developer will work with a data provider to provide games. Both share the revenues while keeping the price of games lower. Day says QCF Design is looking into another business model – subscriptions.

No matter which business model is employed though, says Benic, a game has to make it the first month it is released.

Sythoff says there are potential spinoffs in digital content and educational games, while Day says his firm “has had some success with mobile-based learning games”.

Sythoff points out that new mobile game developers need to address several issues. First, they have to find channels to reach potential consumers. This will normally result in partnerships with mobile phone operators or aggregators. Second, developers need to consider how they will bill the end-user.

Third, games should be localised to match language and culture.

Unlike the iPhone Appstore, which shook the US mobile game industry by allowing new and more agile mobile developers to enter the market, local developers find it difficult to enter the market. Day says “commissioned game development is currently more lucrative”.

Up, up and away

As for the future, Day provides several insights. “New studios are applying lessons learned from digital distribution games on consoles and PCs to the mobile space. These are studios and products that will change the mobile gaming sector in South Africa.”

Also, says Day: “Watch content creators that produce content for local consumers, as well as the Indian mobile game development industry… (it) will inform developers here.”

Finally, Day says to track MXIT.

“MXIT is a heavyweight in the industry. It’s one to watch for future growth in the mobile game sector, especially if it acts as an aggregator for quality local content.”

The sector will also be tamed. “New gambling control laws and changes to premium cost services should help reign in the `Wild West’ nature of many mobile businesses,” according to Day. This will reduce exploitation of consumers.

Overall, two possible scenarios will develop in South Africa’s mobile game sector. Mobile games will be overtaken by flash- or browser-based games as phones evolve, if the mobile game industry does not respond on time. Or, the industry will shift from its current business models to more customer-focused models, which focus on alternative revenue streams.

Sythoff says the mobile game sector is complex. Navigating this complexity successfully is a key enabler for firms wanting to enter this space. Success will come to firms like Apple, which are able to deconstruct the complexity and tap into the potential of the sector. With the potential revenue stream and under-tapped market, it’s definitely a sector to consider.

One of the paradigm shifts in our global society is moving to an entrepreneurial culture.  This means that the entrepreneurial “lifestyle” will be a significant influence moving forward.  This cultural change will influence companies and consumers alike, so businesses need to understand what will influence success in this new age.  One of the defining characteristics is creativity. 

We had an energizing show about creativity and business on October 29, 2009.  We were joined by Dr. Lynne Levesque, a creativity expert and author of “Breakthrough Creativity.”  Our show discussed how creativity is a strength and imperative in business, as well as the thought that everyone is creative.  The concept that everyone is creative aligns with the concept that everyone is an entrepreneur, or someone who creates.

Dr. Levesque presented an excellent definition for creativity, “ability to produce different and valuable (useful) results.”   She said that people, who were considered creative throughout history, produced something of value.  It wasn’t just about brainstorming ideas.

Another aspect of creativity is its relationship with innovation.  Levesque says creativity is something that belongs to an individual while innovation is the ability of an organization to pull out creativity in its employees to produce great products and results for its customers.

Levesque supports the thought that everyone is creative, but each person’s creativity manifests differently.  It’s something that is within every individual.  The creative process, including tools and techniques, is what develops the creativity within individuals.

The eight Creative Talents, e.g., Visionary, Harmonizer, are aligned with the eight personality types proposed by Carl Jung.  Levesque says all the Creative Talents are necessary in successful business and on teams.  It is interesting to note that all the Creative Talents are at work in every person, but in varying degrees.  A person will have a primary and auxiliary Creative Talent.

In closing the discussion, Levesque spoke of the importance of entrepreneurs knowing their creative strengths, then determining if they and/or their teams represent all eight Creative Talents.  Also, entrepreneurs need to:

• find ways to respect the differences in the Creative Talents
• remain open as a leader
•  work on a culture incorporating creativity
• have goals and metrics.

In all, the process to develop the creative culture is embedded into the team building process, not a separate task.

To learn more about the eight Creative Talents, access resources and contact Dr. Lynne Levesque, go to http://www.breakthroughcreativity.com.  To listen to the show recording, go to http://www.blogtalkradio.com/art-of-biz/2009/10/29/Power-Push-Living-Life-as-an-Entrepreneur.

To share in other discussions on The Art of Making Business Happen, check out our show page at http://www.blogtalkradio.com/art-of-biz.  You can also follow us on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/theartofbiz.  Join our online community to become more involved at http://artofbiz.ning.com.

This is a part of the ongoing series I write on ICT across sectors for ITWEB/Brainstorm Magazine South Africa.  This article is on manufacturing.  It was a collaborative piece with Hilton Tarrant who focused on South Africa while I focused on the African continent and global trends.  Enjoy!

Originally posted online at Brainstorm Magazine.

ICT is a key enabler for the manufacturing sector. It’s transforming the global manufacturing arena while opening opportunities in the African market.

Africa lags behind its global counterparts in industrial and manufacturing development. Even when comparing the percentage manufacturing contributes to the gross domestic product (GDP) in African countries to other developing countries, manufacturing contributes about ten percent in African countries and 21 percent in other developing countries.

In Africa, but outside South Africa, there are pockets of manufacturing success stories. The Ethiopian leather industry has made a name for itself in global niche markets. Robert Parker, group VP of research for IDC Manufacturing Insights, says the one significant manufacturing segment in Africa is the remanufacturing of computer and electronics.

However, the picture is getting brighter. Globalisation, innovation and ICT are transforming many sectors to anywhere, anytime platforms. In the manufacturing sector, the mantra is “design anywhere, make anywhere, sell anywhere,” says Parker.

One shift is product manufacturing, separated into tasks and spread across manufacturing facilities. This is seen as a huge opportunity for new, smaller manufacturing entrants in low income countries, including Africa, according to the Industrial Development Report 2009 by the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO).

Parker speaks of a similar shift from mass to micro to pod manufacturing. Historically, manufacturers built one facility to serve the world. With pod manufacturing, manufacturers can download designs and methods from anywhere to localised manufacturing equipment to serve the local economy.

Pod manufacturing has reduced cost tremendously and increased flexibility. For example, there is equipment to manufacture wine, starting at $3 500.

Parker also says that local African manufacturers will be able to “bring more diversified and custom products to their local consumers”. For example, Digiskin allows customers to go online to design skins to cover gadgets, including cellphones.  A company can purchase a production machine to provide some of these skins locally to customers.

For a long-term opportunity, Parker says that African governments need to leverage access to their abundant resources and require firms to develop manufacturing and processing facilities locally alongside extraction operations. In some instances, deposits in Africa may account for 80 to 90 percent of global deposits of certain precious minerals or metals. They need to play the leverage game like China. China recently limited the export of rare metals to boost the price. African governments can use the same principle in a different way.

In every aspect, ICT is embedded in the manufacturing value chain from infrastructure to intelligent manufacturing. Without sufficient broadband infrastructure, approaches like pod manufacturing might not be possible.

Parker also sees another opportunity with the pervasive wireless infrastructure in Africa, allowing African firms to tap into and manage the full manufacturing value chain almost anywhere with technology like remote sensing and radio-frequency identification (RFID).

While there may only be pockets of manufacturing on the continent, the global manufacturing shift opens new, even immediate, opportunities for ICT firms looking for new pastures, e.g. industrial clusters in Uganda and Tanzania, as they develop. It will be important for ICT firms to continually scan the environment to take advantage of these emerging opportunities.

Manufacturing convergence

Further south, leveraging information, communication, control and power is helping South African manufacturers innovate and compete.  Manufacturers have two options during the global economic downturn: cut back and try to weather the storm, or take the opportunity to be more innovative and aggressive. However, because South African factories struggle to manufacture products at the same cost as is possible elsewhere in the world, and due to a strong currency, local manufacturing concerns face these two options all the time.

Rockwell Automation believes that even though convergence has become a cliché over the past decade, “today the combination of technology maturity and economic necessity has made manufacturing convergence a manufacturing reality”. Manufacturing convergence sees the merging of functions and systems that have been separate. The theory is that with people, processes and technology working together, manufacturers can perform better.

Convergence within manufacturing leverages information, communication, control and power.  It’s no use simply having systems and machines recording data. Information must be in a manageable form: the new goal is presenting information in context.

Sources of information can be “streamlined to allow configuration, visualisation, maintenance and optimisation of manufacturing processes and plant assets,” Rockwell says.

Immense value is created when IT and manufacturing departments are able to share information seamlessly and securely, while running multiple applications over the same network. An enterprise manufacturing approach that is particularly suited to larger distributed companies envisions the enterprise as a “virtual manufacturing network”.

EOH, during an implementation at Coca-Cola’s greenfields Bloemfontein plant, was able to capitalise on available technologies while the rest of the group used mostly manual or semi-automatic systems. In time, improvements to its other factories will mean that they can join the network across the Coca-Cola SABCO enterprise.

The trend nowadays sees standard, unmodified Ethernet being adopted broadly across the plant and enterprise for data collection and real-time control. Add to this newer functionality such as voice, video and mobility, which are beginning to appear in the plant environment.

However, despite these advances, manufacturing convergence is a complex environment and cannot be delivered by a single supplier. Locally, system integrators like Bytes and EOH implement solutions from companies as varied as Cisco, Microsoft, SAP, Wonderware and Dassault Systems.

Beyond this, original equipment manufacturers are embracing new so-called “smart” service business models enabled through embedded software, wireless connectivity and online services.  This shift has significant implications for manufacturers.

Lifecycles of products are becoming ever shorter as releases will begin to ship in “real-time” with software devices delivered to products over networks when needed. Oracle’s manufacturing VP, Manish Modi, reckons it’s hard to accurately predict what manufacturing operations will look like five years from now, but “factors we experience today are likely to have a residual effect on the supply chains of tomorrow.”

Modi says that many of the top manufacturers will have leading “service-oriented architecture suites in place to enable supply chain evolution as well as needed flexibility to quickly respond to changing markets and inevitable shifts in buying patterns”.

He also suggests that most manufacturing systems will support Web or Enterprise 2.0. “The future adoption of tools like wikis, blogs and mash-ups to create store, and collaborate on information by skilled manufacturing users should not come as a surprise. Touch screens and sophisticated wireless devices should be a common part of leading factory floors.”

But, the biggest problem in converged manufacturing is not the availability or implementation of technology: it’s changing the mindset of the people themselves.

This 20-minute BizBrief covers the components of and process for developing a business model.  The business model answers the question, “How do we logically create value,e g., products and services, for our customers?”  It demonstrates how you will execute your competitive strategy.  The business model serves as the core input for a business case, business concept document or a business plan.

The topic objectives are:

• Describe the role of the business model in an enterprise’s strategy and operation.
• Identify customer element of the business model.
• Identify process element of the business model.
• Identify network and channel element of the business model.
• Identify financial element of the business model.
• Identify steps to develop business model.

The seminar is available for online and mobile platforms as a video or audio below.  You will also find links for the seminar slides  and additional resources below.

Seminar Video (MP4)

Seminar Audio (MP3)

Seminar Slides (PDF)

How to Describe and Improve Your Business Model to Compete Better (Draft Document)

Business Model Generation Book

Stakeholder management is one of those areas in which leaders often find it difficult to navigate.  Over the years, I have used a few basic tools when serving as a project or work stream leader.  First, you can check out a series of articles I wrote for TechRepublic almost a decade ago.  Second, I developed a Stakeholder Strategy Tool that you can download from here. 

And finally, check out a presentation I made on Stakeholder Management at the annual conference of the Computer Society of South Africa (CSSA) in 2007.  This speaks of the evolving environment and how stakeholder management is changing, as well as introduces the initial framework on a stakeholder management methodology on which I am working.

I love how the self-publishing industry has evolved over the last ten years, so that people can take more control over their dreams to be authors.  I just spent time helping my mom publish her first book, all for under $10.00.  The process was straightforward and streamlined.  I think it’s a great channel for many who have been waiting to write and publish a book – even those who have already published.

I am not an expert on publishing, but I am good at research and exploration.  After all the time my mom spent writing over the years but never getting to the publishing step, I pushed her to pull together a book on something.  She did an excellent job.  She came up with her first title, “King Commemorations:  A Collection of Activities,” which will be available in a few weeks.

There are several self-publishing houses like CreateSpace.com and Lulu.com, which allow you to publish for no cost. Books are ordered on demand, so you do not have to put much money upfront.  As your book sells, the book is printed.  The buyer pays for the printing, so you do not have to pull money out of your own pocket upfront.

In addition to printing, the services ship, or distribute, the books as they are ordered. The shipping time is reasonable.  CreateSpace.com, which is an affiliate of Amazon, says shipping normally occurs within five days.

They even assign an ISBN number to your book.  And best of all, you keep all rights to your work.   On the downside, the services do not market for you much and they get a royalty on each book sold.  However, the services like Lulu.com have packages you can purchase, which provide more support for editing, marketing, pricing, retail store distribution, etc.  And in general, the more you invest upfront the less royalty the services claim.

If you are like me, I don’t mind doing the work myself.  Plus, in my case, I have a background in technical writing, so I am very use to writing, editing, layout, proofing and printing.

So, how did we do it?  Let me share the steps. 

Step 1: Write and Edit

• My mother wrote, or pulled together, her “book.”
• She and I edited the document several times for grammar and writing style.
• We worked on the layout.  Then, we edited the document again.
• When you have looked over a document several times, you can begin to make errors.  So, my mom had several of her friends, who write well and pay attention to detail, proof the book.

Step 2:  Prepare for Publishing

• We decided to try CreateSpace.com to publish the first book.  We set up her account and the detailed profile for the book.
• For submission, we had to develop a cover for the book, using a template provided by CreateSpace.com.  We also had to submit the cover and content as pdf files that were print ready.  CreateSpace.com provided detailed submission guidelines.
• Once we checked everything against the submission guidelines, we uploaded the files so CreateSpace.com could review and prepare a proof of the book.
• We were notified within one business day about a few, minor errors, so we corrected and re-submitted.  We were happy that we had successfully submitted in alignment with the guidelines.
• The only money spent was to order the proof.  That was just $9.00, including shipping.  The proof was shipped in one day and arrived within three days. I love their efficiency!!
• The proof was good quality.  It brought a lot of excitement, having your writings finally in print!
• We found a few errors in the printed proof, so we made changes and re-submitted.  Each time you re-submit the book you are required to order another printed book proof.  So, this is where you might spend more money, depending on how often you have to re-submit the book with changes.

Step 3:  Publish

• Once we were satisfied with the proof, we approved the proof online.
• The book is now in queue to be published, which takes a few weeks.  People can purchase from Amazon.com or the online store that CreateSpace.com provided.

Just a few additional points.  This process is totally online except for reviewing the book proof, so the more comfortable and efficient you are with the online environment the easier the process will be for you.  But, it’s still a great opportunity for learning because you have a strong incentive to succeed.

Some of the basic tools you will need are a computer, internet, word processor, graphics program, and pdf creator.  Highly useful skills include writing, editing, drawing and/or taking pictures, and graphic design.  But you can always find people to help you with any aspect of the process.

If you have been waiting to write that book, you now have even more control over getting it published.

I’ll let you know how we do on the marketing.

While living solely in the United States, Ms. Elliott wrote several articles for an IT online community called TechRepublic.  The topics included project management tools, stakeholder analysis and virtual team productivity.

Check out the articles at Lauri Elliott’s page on TechRepublic.

2009 started off with a bang!  But it’s up to us to navigate it as a period of boom or bust.  The reality is the world has very challenging economic issues to deal with at present.  But did you know that during the darkest economic times, the light of invention shines through?  In a post in the Harvard Business Review’s Editors blog called “Recession: The Mother of Invention,” Joel Prokesch says, “…that the current wave of market upheavals and shifts are providing opportunities for innovations and growth.”

We can apply this to Africa – this period of upheaval is actually providing unique opportunities in Africa for investors and business people, who focus on innovation and growth.  Even during this global recession, Sub-Saharan Africa’s economic growth will well out pace the world. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) just reduced the forecast for economic growth in Sub-Saharan Africa from over 5% to around a little over 3% for 2009, but the forecast for the world economic growth is only around .5% for this same period.  Where there is growth, there is opportunity.

AfriBiz is not alone in seeing the opportunities amongst the challenges.  In the Harvard Business Review’s list of “Breakthrough Business Ideas for 2009“, investing in Africa is there!  Now is the time to act.

We have compiled three resources to help you with your research:

1. The African Country High-Level Economic Landscape table that you can download here.
2. Our AfriBiz Resource Compilation for February 2009 that you can access here.
3. List of resources by country available on our website.   Just do a search for the country.

Originally posted at www.afribiz.info.

2009 started off with a bang!  But it’s up to us to navigate it as a period of boom or bust.  The reality is the world has very challenging economic issues to deal with at present.  But did you know that during the darkest economic times, the light of invention shines through?  In a post in the Harvard Business Review’s Editors blog called “Recession: The Mother of Invention,” Joel Prokesch says, “…that the current wave of market upheavals and shifts are providing opportunities for innovations and growth.”

We can apply this to Africa – this period of upheaval is actually providing unique opportunities in Africa for investors and business people, who focus on innovation and growth.  Even during this global recession, Sub-Saharan Africa’s economic growth will well out pace the world. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) just reduced the forecast for economic growth in Sub-Saharan Africa from over 5% to around a little over 3% for 2009, but the forecast for the world economic growth is only around .5% for this same period.  Where there is growth, there is opportunity.

AfriBiz is not alone in seeing the opportunities amongst the challenges.  In the Harvard Business Review’s list of “Breakthrough Business Ideas for 2009“, investing in Africa is there!  Now is the time to act.

We have compiled three resources to help you with your research:

1. The African Country High-Level Economic Landscape table that you can request from info@afribiz.info.
2. Our AfriBiz Resource Compilation for February 2009 that you can access here.
3. List of resources by country available on our website.   Just do a search for the country.