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IT'S probably a tad presumptuous to offer entrepreneurship tips when Richard Branson is in town, but I'm sure he would approve.
On Tuesday, the Branson Centre of Entrepreneurship hosted a fashion show for one of its entrepreneurs at the newly established Fashion Kapitol in Johannesburg.
Firstly, kudos to the organisers and everybody else investing in Johannesburg. We lugged camera equipment more than three blocks to get to the event and at no stage did we feel unsafe. It really seems like Johannesburg is once again becoming an entrepreneurial hub for South Africa.
Anyway, the theory was that while the fashion show and the appearance of Sir Richard Branson would be the highlight, the rest of the entrepreneurs would get to showcase their offerings to the delegates.
This is all good and well, and I think what the Branson Centre is doing is fantastic for the promotion of entrepreneurship in the country. However, certain basics should perhaps have been seen to before the event.
Walking around chatting to the entrepreneurs, I picked up a couple of business cards and flyers so that I could maintain contact with them again after the event.
Here is some feedback. Number one: it is incredibly irritating when you hand out a business card that doesn't have your name on it. How am I supposed to make contact with you if I think you have a good story to tell?
You can do better, guys
Number two: don't get me wrong, Gmail and Yahoo addresses have their place. It is just not on your business card, when you are trying to tout yourself as a promising start-up and looking for your big break. If you can take the time to register a domain for your website, why not direct your email to it?
Number three: I understand the whole start-up thing and I understand that too many early-stage entrepreneurs spend too much time putting together a pretty website before they can actually generate revenue to cover its costs.
Of the four businesses which interested me, three have websites which say "coming soon" while the fourth, a gaming design business, had a very basic one-pager.
With the tools out there, like Yola and WooThemes, any of these small businesses can knock together something simple and functional in a matter of hours.
If you are a technology business and you want to build something which can be sold to corporates, you need to look like you produce a meaningful package.
Guys, these are simple things incubators and business mentors should be ticking off the list when they are putting together the marketing for their small businesses.
As I said, I don't want to be too critical but it is very often the basics which get neglected, especially as businesses grow. Sometimes we get so caught up in building our businesses and brands that we don't always zero in on the shoestring infrastructure we set ourselves up with.
It was pointed out to me once before that too often entrepreneurs focus so much on survival that they don't remember they are building an asset they can sell.
If you market yourself as cheap, you are going to be treated as cheap when would-be investors or business partners come along.
In conclusion: a nice effort, but the Branson Centre shouldn't lose sight of some of the basics.
- Fin24
