LIVE Liveability Institute Virtual EnterpriseBy Frans Badenhorst B. Econ (US), MBA (USB)1234insight#@gmail.com

African business by design for a bright future and sustainable growth and prosperity

Africans understand the needs of communities. It includes job creation, food security, better health and wellness, a safe, comfortable life style, democratic accountable government and adequate affordable housing, quality schools and training, broadband and Internet access. good public transport and delivery of basic services.

These needs can be translated into products and services urgently needed in the fast growing African Cities and rural areas. The growth of satellite communication and mobile phones make even the most remote town part of the global village.

Liveability from an African perspective concerns many things thatwere covered in the millennium goals. Two things which cannot be neglected however are:

1. protecting (or restoring) natural resources like water and wildlife, rain forests and ocean life. Exploitation of these valuable assets greatly reduce the long term potential of a region. Without enough safe drinking water there can be no development. Water resources has to be protected.

2. Children are our future. If the youth are not given a good early start and young adult life with too few opportunities to study,work or start their own business is a ticking time bomb. Every effort should be made to secure a better future for each successive generation by learning and developing better life style solutions.

Describe your business using schema or canvass.

Take note of thechanges in the environment that impact on

your business. Global competition, 3G mobile phones and Internetaccess, changes in the spending power and aspirations of people, energy use and legal environment.

Collect data on expenditure, preferences, competing products and brands and describe what makes your product and services the best option to choose. How will it change what people have now?

Where is the disconnect between the various levels of data that prevents wisdom and a great experience?

Data →Information →Knowledge →Wisdom →Action->Experience

Choose the proper system for small businesses. The system that provide what you needat the lowest total cost of

ownership.

Open Source software like Apache OfBiz offer great opportunitiesfor even small business owners to run sophisticated operations.

Match the system with the abilities of the business. To master the systems and to be able to afford it. For Medical practises consider GnuMed, pharmacies FreeDiams. Commercial systems is way too expensive for start-ups. Countries should train learners to set-up, use and maintain Open Source software. They can use it in their own business or offer their services to other businesses.

Even in a tiny businessthese four processes (onthe right) have to beperformed. The BusinessDevelopment Processeslook at how these andother processes can beimproved and done differently and better.

African communities also aspire to great looking homes and suburbs, modern shops and better living and working conditions as you find in any developed country. How do we create that and still give it a strong African style?

An Eco-village to advance rapid economic developmentand Knowledge management

Africans have for centuries lived in a kraal or Eco-village. This concept can be given new meaning and purpose. An Eco-village enables people to live and work within walking distance from theirhome. The community provide the food and most of the things the community needs to live and prosper. It is big enough to have huge impact without having to change the whole economy or solve all the problems in the region. Four or so large businesses (each with more than 250 workers or so) are all one needs to develop a great retail sector and market, medical facilities and good schools and tertiary education, plus Green, great looking affordable homes and a attractive life style.

Reform of subsistence agriculture can be implemented by mentors and technical advisers so that each family produces enough food for two families. Using the best cultivars, latest techniques, sharing tractors, joint marketing, cold storage and warehouses. Farming will only takes a little bit of their time (1 hour a day) and they can spend most of their time earning good salaries doing what they are particularly good at.

Broadband and Internet has changed the way the world works and do business. The idea is to develop a trading system (similar to Alibaba) for Africa. A system people can use in their home language from their home computer or cell phone to market products and services, accept payment and full fill orders. All the

small businesses can link with one another to make use of sub contractors, shipping companies or recruit extra staff, help with translations or running the business.

To get the ball rolling interns will be selected to work in the LIVE business. The business will be closely monitored using the balanced scorecard. In the second year interns will be given the opportunity to manage various aspects of the business to become

familiar with all the various departments and to find out which they are particular good at and enjoy the most. Those with leadership skills and that want to start a business of their own will beassisted to start a branch r become a franchise owner of that business. Business which despite help from thought leaders and experts perform badly will be dropped from the portfolio of projects.

Good candidates for being successful small businesses include:

Health care and medical practises, Auditors and Engineers (Planners, Architects, Land Surveyors), Teachers and trainers, Tradesmen (Plumbers, Electricians, Carpenters, Painters, Brick layers. Roofers), farmer cooperatives, small scale (organic, free range farms) and Branded retail, fast food, clothing and B2B stores.

The aim is to understand the needs of the community and own the whole value chain and incorporate all the business opportunities into a single business system. From R&D to implementation, creating many small business that work together to form synergy and work towards a common goal. To create sustainable quality life style for all.

To become part of this project and contribute to the development of the systems and prototype business models an training please go to:

http://www.gofundme.com/h3tk6k

Every contribution will help. Africa is growing at arapid rate, faster than the other developing countries like China, India and Brazil. It is reflected in thegrowth of their GDP, Citiesand the number of tourists as well as the record breaking size of Direct foreign investment received

The strategic objective is to establish a Group that can assist manyinterrelated business to work together. To enable Africa to take centre stage in the rapid growth of the Knowledge economy and the anticipated prolonged and high economic growth rate projected for developing countries and in particular for Africa.

Sadly this growth has not been well planned and informal settlement and land use is not ideal. The cities could be more beautiful and the natural environment protected and housing and living conditions a lot better. Basic services like sanitation, tar roads, waste management, street lighting, public transport are not in place. Poverty, poor schooling and training that do not lead to employment, unhealthy living conditions can be accelerated with proper systems and planning made possible in the knowledge economy.

Business Development Process

Like any big task the Business process can be broken down into sub-components.

Primary aim

Strategic Objective

Organisation Strategy

Management Strategy

People Strategy

Marketing Strategy

Systems Strategy

Developing human capital is the key to success. It is the staff that bring theskills, formulate the strategy, style (flair and culture) and know how to usethe systems or devise new ones. Action like learning, innovation, making deals that are profitable and securing new sales and keeping customers happy and coming up with creative solutions are all done by the parties you work with. If you are an existing business that want to revamp and becoming part of the knowledge economy ask yourself and your stakeholders the questions listed above often and really think about the answers.

What worked before may not work tomorrow, but what did not seem to work for years may suddenly take off and flourish. Starting a new enterprise takes time (on average more than 7 years). If one looks at successful case studies like Alibaba and Nike the horizon should move closer to 10 years. It take 12 years to finish school to master running a business can also take years. The basics has to be in place and the learningprocess has to be managed to ensure real progress is being made.

It is time for action. Partner with Live and lets build a the LIVE brand all over Africa using a cloud based system and Eco-villages.