South Africa - Rocking the tip of Africa!Posted on Sunday 17 July 2011 at 09:52AM by equitye11even |
With great innovations and entrepreneurs having come out of the tip of Africa already; such as the world’s first heart transplant by Chris Barnard in 1967 to Mark Shuttleworth’s successes as founder of major tech businesses Thawte and the Ubuntu Project - South Africa clearly has huge potential to be a major player in the global innovation landscape!
But where is South Africa now? And what does our current entrepreneurial landscape look like?
I believe it is important for you to understand what is happening on the ground of South Africa and have insight into the real issues and dynamics faced by the talent pool from which South Africa hopes to find and support its next generation of great entrepreneurs (of which there are many!).
South Africa is characterised by a huge disparity between those that have key skills/education and those that don’t..and sadly, the latter is largely due to factors out of their control!
The key issues that the next generation entrepreneurs face are:
But for those fortunate enough to get over these barriers and begin their journey of driving their BIG idea to the market, South Africa is rocking!
One can just look at our capital city in the Western Cape, Cape Town and its surrounding areas to see a buzzing hub of entrepreneurship and innovation taking place. Home to top universities in Africa; University of Cape Town (ranked #1 in Africa), University of Stellenbosch, Cape Peninsula University of Technology and the University of the Western Cape - the region clearly has the talent pool of young inquisitive minds working on research that could be turned into the next big start-up. Added to this, Cape Town has been shortlisted for the World Design Capital Bid 2014 and has taken third place on2ThinkNow’s 2010 list for emerging innovative cities. Recognised as a city that is both globally competitive and has regional industry influence on innovation.
So is there innovation happening and do we have an active start-up scene? Yes!
Recent activity?
There has been much debate about whether there is a viable foreign exit market for local start-ups. And there is recent activity to show that there is. PoweredbyVC had a successful exit with Csense to US based General Electric and selling Fundamo to Visa!
Furthermore direct international investment activity can be seen by the recent funding by UK renowned angel investor Permjot Valia. He invested in local start-up MYOWS, which stands for "My Original Works", a web site that enables freelancers and entrepreneurs to manage their copyrights.
Not only do these success stories add confidence to the South African start-up and investor community, but it also shows that South African start-ups can indeed compete head on with global competitors!
So there are definite signs of great entrepreneurial activity happening in South Africa, but who is driving this movement?
Over the last several years key pockets of excellences have emerged and some truly amazing initiatives have sprung up, harbouring our entrepreneurial talents and facilitating the entrepreneurs’ journey from idea to market..and beyond.
Here are three high-impact initiatives:
Often revered as a truly powerful platform showcasing the greatest minds of society, locally organised TEDx events have grown tremendously here in South Africa over the past two years – with many of the speakers being the driving force behind South Africa’s change-making start-ups - you can view these great minds here: TEDxCapeTown, TEDxStellenbosch, TEDxJohannesburg,TEDxSoweto, TEDxCityBowl!
The Silicon Cape Initiative is a private sector community movement that was launched at the end of 2009 and was founded by two South African high-tech entrepreneurs, Vinny Lingham andJustin Stanford.
Both being entrepreneurs and angel investors in the ICT start-up sector in South Africa who observed that the Western Cape region showed key traits of an ecosystem in it’s infancy, that could be likened to that in Silicon Valley, California, USA. Why will Silicon Cape Cape work? Read this article.
The Silicon Cape initiative already boasts 4 600+ members and is growing on a daily basis, there are ALWAYS events taking place, initiatives forming and connections being made. After all, it’s the people and tangible interactions that make these eco-systems work and the Silicon Cape clearly understands this!
You can also find a great resource page for more information and key links into the Start-up scene on their site. Here.
Google recently launched the Google Umbono Project – a project aimed at incubating African Tech entrepreneurs. It does so by providing joint angel funding from Google and a connected Angel group as well as office space at The Hub and memberships from Google developers.
What start-ups should we be watching?
Take note of these start-ups emanating from South Africa:
Edgecampus, Personera, Sampleboard, Trustfabric, Motribe, Cognician, Evly, Wiwallet, Chesscube
South Africa is a dynamic and vibrant country, full of potential and the possibility to do great! There are real issues that need to be addressed and there is a mountain to climb for those wanting to chase their entrepreneurial dreams and create innovative companies. If they succeed in starting their venture - overcoming these initial barriers - we have phenomenal change-makers, initiatives and communities that are committed to help them succeed!
Best Student PR Campaigns of All TimePosted on Friday 15 July 2011 at 17:39PM by josephvitalis |
Students bring life to numerous projects, the most interesting among them is campaigning. PR undergraduates and postgraduates – given the nature of their future profession - typically engage in campaigns for organisations by either competing to get hired or, occasionally, by their own initiative.
The students involved in certain campaigns have done excellent, truly inspiring work and this is what will be discussed in this post, after all everybody agrees that sharing is caring.The Pyongyang Project
The first campaign that deserves our attention is one recently launched by Brown University students who were inspired to counteract what they describe as the “one-sided” coverage of North Korea in the international media.
It is entitled ‘The Pyongyang Project’ and is the creation of Matthew Reichel and Nick Young. The pair scheduled meetings with North Korean government officials at consulates in the US and China and managed to bring academic staff from all around the world inside North Korea.
They also set up a travel program, which has now been expanded into a semester-long study abroad program. Mr Reichel put it very simply in one of his statements “We feel that education is the best ice-breaker”.
The Bateman Campaign
Another campaign was launched by five public relations students from the University of Georgia in 2010. The team from Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication took part in the Bateman campaign, which is the premier competition for public relations students in the United States.
The competition, sponsored by the Public Relations Student Society of America (PRSSA), uses a single national client. In 2010 this client was U.S. Census.
The UGA Bateman team's iCount campaign focused on the student population at UGA, as well as the hard-to-count populations within Athens such as the Latino community. The UGA Bateman team took a four-prong approach to increase knowledge of the Census, communicate its benefits, educate the community about the new short-form and increase likelihood of participation.
Home Court Advantage Campaign
The third remarkable campaign comes from a Kansas State University student public relations team. K-State's PowercatPR chapter of the Public Relations Student Society of America recently won the Fleishman-Hillard national Home Court Advantage campaign.
The team created a public relations campaign to promote watching basketball games at the Buffalo Wild Wings in Aggieville. The team's campaign, four "Wing N' Watch" events during the K-State men's basketball season, increased restaurant sales up to 68 percent.
The Vampire Diaries
Last but not least we have a campaign coming from Louisiana State University. The students attempted to plan and implement a public relations campaign to build awareness about The CW Television Network’s show, “The Vampire Diaries,” at LSU in September.
Here, the team’s two-week campaign, “Meet. Prey. Love.” featured a variety of events ranging from a week-long blood drive to an afternoon T-shirt painting promotion to an evening-long entertainment event featuring free music, food and episodes of “The Vampire Diaries”. The team, with this effective campaign, won the first place in the Public Relations Student Society of America’s 2010 CW Campaign Competition.
One of the things that matter the most in contemporary societies is to take initiative in your field and the most effective way to bring change in any issue is by trying to involve the rest of the world in your cause. These students seem to have a perfect understanding of the situation and this is more than evident in their efforts.
We're looking for a PR and Marketing Entern. There's a competition with a one-month placement here at Enternships and £1000 from out sponsor - AMMT Fellowship - it closes Monday 18th July.
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[VIDEO] Success at Startup Britain, Three Months OnPosted on Friday 15 July 2011 at 11:17AM by Ed |
Since launching on the 28th March, here's a five-minute video showing what's been happening at StartUp Britain.
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sp-pfjySzOM?rel=0&w=640&h=390]
What's Been Happening Recently?
The recent Marketing 4 StartUp Britain Week saw the Marketing Agencies Association providing a week of free seminars and workshops in early July. Here's a link to the video recordings.
Startup Saturday, rolling out nationwide this September, is a weekly course to train people how to turn their passion, hobby or skill into a viable business.
StartUp Summer, a project with University College London, will see five teams of students work on their business ideas ahead of a "Dragons' Den" style pitch, as well as compete to win around £15,000 based on how much progress they've appeared to have made.
Follow @StartupBritain on Twitter
Is Your CV This Embarrassing?Posted on Tuesday 12 July 2011 at 20:44PM by jovanarjc |
We all know that first impressions are everything, and in the world of career hunting our Curriculum Vitae (or CV) is the only real representation of ourselves to potential employers. Our CV has to be witty and charming, simultaneously highlighting our strengths and finding excuses for our weaknesses. Unfortunately for many of us, this desire to stand out leads to disaster.
Why Creative CVs are the Best Worst Way to Differentiate Yourself
You know that picture your mother convinced you made you look like a movie star? Scrap it. Unless you are without a doubt convinced that your looks will land you a dream job, pictures are usually inappropriate on a CV.The same rule applies for cutesy fonts, pretty borders, and any other design you think will make your piece of paper more attractive than the other 500 in the bunch. Here are a few design ideas to watch out for:
The temptation to get creative and differentiate your CV from everyone else’s needs to be controlled. Therefore the use of coloured paper, a scatter of fonts, and funny pictures may be more appropriate for an art project rather than your first impression with a potential employer.3 Easy Ways to Ruin Your CV...
Lies, Grammar, and Embarrassing Facts
Ruining the aesthetic appeal of a CV is only one of the ways to potentially embarrass yourself. What is more important is the actual content you choose to send out to employers and how that may reflect poorly on you as an individual. Take a look at some real-world examples of achievements that should never be seen on your CV (or admitted to in real life): Likewise, when listing your skills and talents on your CV, some are not worth mentioning (or even making up!): And lastly, when listing your objectives make sure to avoid these common pitfalls: Although seemingly obvious, the use of spell-check and proof reading cannot be emphasized more strongly. The worst thing you can do is rattle on about your attention to detail and then find out you’ve misspelled the word ‘detail’. Along with poor spelling and grammar, the use of inappropriate pictures, colours, and random symbols can cheapen your curriculum vitae and make you appear unprofessional.Likewise, what you write and the way that you write it can send the wrong signals and potentially offend employers. If when writing your CV you find yourself drawn to telling lies and exaggerating achievements, checkout CVbullshit.com
What is the Secret To a Good CV?
A CV should be well thought out and serve as an accurate representation of your character, showcasing your skills and talents. A CV should not look like a science or art project and read like a conversation between you and your best friend while having a drink at the pub.
It is worth remembering that in some industries CV’s are allowed to be more creative and outlandish. On the other hand, a good rule of thumb is usually this: simplicity is key, and spell-check is your best friend.
References: All images courtesy of: Speckyboy All lists taken from: Jobmob
Disclaimer: The names appearing on the last 3 CV’s are made-up and do not reflect any actual person. The information presented in those CV’s is a compilation of quotes from the website listed above.
What embarrassing CV blunders have you come across?
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Seven Tactics to Become Insanely EmployablePosted on Sunday 10 July 2011 at 17:19PM by Ed |
Graduate unemployment may be frightening, but the truth is there's plenty of room for jobs if you know how to ask. This is how I built up half a dozen job offers for this summer, by experimenting, failing and investing in relationships with employers.
Like a recipe, most of these elements won’t standup on their own - its up to you to put them all together. Worse, its not a list of simple instructions. What you make of this is really up to you.Here’s Seven Tactics to Become Insanely Employable...
If you were hiring, wouldn’t you want someone who was clued up on you, your company and your industry? Build an informed opinion - read around what you're interested getting into; reading is a fun and fascinating habit, even if you’ve never really picked up a book before,
A few great places to start if you need some help...
Become an industry expert. And prove it. Besides, the act of writing forces you to think and express your ideas with clarity. Writing is more than stringing words together; a good writer shows clear communication, the ability to make things simple to understand.
Bigger corporations and brands have the attention (and therefore, the competition) for job-seekers. They may well be great jobs, but what’s more attractive is small businesses and startups where jobs may not be so well advertised, but more importantly, there are more “roles” to fill. Do they have an online marketing expert? A legal expert? Someone who can really nail the accounting and finance?
Small business owners can’t be everything - the best one’s recognize this and build teams around them to fill in the gaps. They needn’t have to post an official “job offer” for you to stand a chance getting in there. See how Fiona created her own job via Enternships.
Employers are human. They like gifts. A gift needn’t be a box of chocolates or some extravagant hamper (that *could* be seen as manipulative).
If they’re blogging, retweet and comment on their posts. Introduce more people to them, their goods and services. Send birthday cards. Heck, think about shipping a book to their door that you’ve found really useful, and perhaps mention how you could implement some of the ideas in their organization. Don't invade, but think on the edge of the box. Understand what makes a gift too.
This naturally leads onto a special type of gift. The gift of time...
Get on a train. Go meet employers in their offices, shops and at events. Go help them. Apply a little of what you’ve read around about the industry, ideally something new. My ‘party trick’ is talking through the power of search engine optimization and other highly-effective online marketing tactics. What's yours?
Often, small business owners aren’t be experts at everything, and will appreciate your insight, hence why they hire outsiders. There's no better way to prove yourself and your commitment than by being face-to-face. How many of your jobless friends would think of that?
Internships are the *perfect* way to get your foot in the door. It opens up the opportunities being inside a company, but without the commitment of a job just yet by the employer. Your chance to show off your true qualities in a workplace.
Since you’re not demanding the commitment of a fulltime job, its easier to go and ask for internships at even better companies that you might never be able to get a fulltime job upfront, so you can be even more ambitious.
Finally, you’ve got to ask. You don’t ask, you don’t get. No one’s going to go and “anoint” you with a job. Ask nicely, but make your request clear, short and actionable. Ask a specific yes/no question. Something along the lines of:
Hello.
My name’s John Smith, and I’d love the opportunity to intern with Gapplesoft this summer - I’ve been following your company and your blog for the past two years, and I love how you produced such simple, useful software.
I’m a computer science undergraduate currently studying at Manchester University, I’ve built my own web-application here (awesome-link.com) and I’m planning for a career in the software industry. I think Gapplesoft would be a great place to start!
Looking forward to hearing from you,
John Smith @JohnSmithy 01234 567890 Remember, you must never, ever send email. You gotta send “me-mail”. Me, me, me... my favourite person me. Think of the guy you’re trying to scrounge a job off - what do they care about? Write everything from that perspective.
Or you can take the simpler option, and fill out your profile here on Enternships. It’s quick, easy and free.
Oh, I lied. There’s one more thing...
The laws of economics side with whatever's scarce. There’s only one of you, so play the field! Rinse and repeat these techniques with different companies, and build up an array of different job offers.
Of course, if you stick around the same industry, or related industries, what you’re reading, writing and doing will all rub-off on each other. For instance, I love the online marketing industry, but also the tech and startup space. The two go hand-in-hand, and so I get to leverage what I’m doing in both fields.
And when you’ve got lots of companies who know who you are, love what you do and are itching to give you a job, you only stand to win! Enjoyed this post? What are your top tips for getting jobs? Share your ideas on Twitter with the hashtag #InsanelyEmployable UPDATE: Here's what people have been saying
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Enternships in the MediaPosted on Thursday 23 June 2011 at 10:46AM by rajeebdey |
It's been a bumper day for press coverage of Enternships with us being featured in four separate publications.
The first is The Independent newspaper which talks about my speech at the Association of MBA's Convention in Geneva, in an article entitled: "Why MBAs will have to adapt to survive"
The second is a feature for The Financial Times in which they look at the issues of Unpaid Internships and some of the issues potential interns should be aware of in the article "Hard word doesn't always pay"
The third is a feature in Startups.co.uk about The Rise of the Young Entrepreneur in which they feature 3 young entrepreneurs in their 20s.
Finally there's a feature in Marketing Donut on "should you pay for an intern?"
Let us know what you think about the issues covered in these articles either on our blog or on our Facebook Page.
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Hot Enternships of the WeekPosted on Monday 20 June 2011 at 16:54PM by rajeebdey |
Check out this week's Hot Enternships
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Do you want to be one of the 'faces' of "Entrepreneur First"?Posted on Monday 20 June 2011 at 16:37PM by rajeebdey |
Enternships.com is proud to be a Founding Partner of Entrepreneur First alongside McKinsey & Company, Microsoft, Tesco, BNP Paribas, BT, Cisco, Qualcomm, Intel, Civil Service Faststream, L’Oreal, Allen & Overy, Diageo, Pricewaterhouse Coopers, Shell, RBS and Silicon Valley Bank. The initiative was announced by the Prime Minister David Cameron at the end of March to coincide with the launch of StartUp Britain.
Enternships will be supporting the campus recruitment and promotion of the programme and as part of this we're working with Design & Marketing agency City & Law who are hosting a photoshoot on Friday 24th February in East London.
We're looking for University students/recent graduates to be photographed in an entrepreneurial/startup environment (location will be disclosed later). If you think you've got what it takes to be one of the 'faces' of this new national programme and are free to attend a photoshoot on Friday 24th June between 10am - 2pm then please send a headshot of yourself to: marisa@cityandlaw.com who will be in touch with more information. It should be a fun day!
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Making the most of University lifePosted on Sunday 12 June 2011 at 20:23PM by rajeebdey |
This week's guest blog is from Iosif (Joseph) Vitalis (pictured below), a First Year student at Queen Mary University. In his article he talks about how students should make the most of their time at University - a time to explore and upskill yourself and urges fellow Undergraduates to utilise their time at university wisely.
University students are blessed. Truly, the fact of the matter is that they are blessed in so many ways that they occasionally tend to forget that the whole world is in their hands and the only thing left undone is to reach and grab it. It is the first time in our lives where we get to enjoy this feeling of unparalleled freedom and of course get immersed and become active members of society, constantly researching and trying to come up with new, innovative ways to make the present more efficient and the future more prosperous.
Despite this we have to acknowledge the fact that we are faced with a great deal of responsibility - a responsibility to do well and get a job afterwards. Many students realise this early on and do their best to develop a decent CV that will someday enable them to create the career of their dreams. This type of responsibility is perhaps the most burdensome due to the fact that the only person held accountable for your eventual success will be you and you alone. Ultimately you reap exactly what you sow.
One thing is for sure; there is no need to panic. You are walking along the path that has been already explored by millions. Arguably, times change and so do the required skills and competences necessary to enter an industry but everything is already there for us. Nowadays, the concerned student knows that he/she has to work hard to secure that specific internship position, build their professional profile on LinkedIn and wrap it all up with a good 2:1 (or above) degree with a fair amount of voluntary work too! The most important thing to bear in mind though is that this opportunity comes just once in a lifetime and the time to take action has already arrived. Our lives cannot wait for the graduation day.
Here is what you should expect to gain by exchanging 2 or 3 months of your summer break for an internship. First off, you will have the chance to learn things that otherwise you wouldn’t. Going further from just putting theory to practice (like for example in numerous labs within the academic institutions) you will have the real deal right in front of you. You will get hands-on experience in your selected field, you will learn for all the different aspects of each business and how all these come together to eventually form a functioning organization. In addition, through the networking opportunities you will start building up your contacts list which will stand you in good stead for the future.
Being of Greek origin, I come from a country where internships are seriously under-appreciated and –of course- as a First Year undergraduate at university I am facing these very issues myself. What makes things easier here in the UK is the fact that the necessary infrastructure is already in place, ready to assist you in your journey. My suggestion is that you should enjoy each and every step in this process and as Constantine Cavafy reminds us in his poem Ithaka, always remember that happiness is about the journey and not the destination.
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NACUE launch nationwide University consultationPosted on Monday 23 May 2011 at 00:02AM by rajeebdey |
The National Consortium of University Entrepreneurs (NACUE) and Lloyds Banking Group have partnered to deliver an exciting research project on ‘Developing Entrepreneurial Students & Graduates’, that will entail a National Road Trip visiting 10 leading university incubators across Britain. Supported by the University of Hertfordshire, the research project will engage with students and graduates so as to understand their views on enterprise education and business start-up support available through university incubators. The consultation and research exercise will be the largest ever conducted within the UK.
The National Road Trip will run over two weeks in late May to early June and findings will be presented at a major economic policy conference in London in September. Throughout the National Road Trip, NACUE and Lloyds Banking Group will be running a series of interviews, focus groups and enterprise forums within each incubator. These will be complemented by an online survey directed towards student and graduate entrepreneurs.
Through the online survey and interviews with incubator managers, the research will seek to understand the extent and value of services being delivered to student and graduate entrepreneurs through incubators. Focus groups with students and graduate entrepreneurs will then seek to understand their views on enterprise and entrepreneurship and how they wish to receive enterprise education and business start-up support within universities.
Finally, at each incubator NACUE and Lloyds Banking Group will host an Enterprise Forum that brings together students, educators and the local business community to discuss the changing relationship between education and business, and how best the local business community can engage universities and students to better support enterprise education and young entrepreneurs. The Enterprise Forums will include local MPs, representatives of Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEPs) and local business networks.
Commenting on the announcement, NACUE Policy Director Matt Smith said: “With youth unemployment at a record high and student expectations set to rise with increasing tuition fees, it is critical that we engage students' views on how they wish to receive enterprise education and business start-up support within universities.
This is the largest consultation of its kind ever undertaken and it will add significant value to the wider discussions taking place within universities and at a national level, around how best to improve the student experience and support nascent entrepreneurs.”
Tour Schedule
27th May - London South Bank University
31st May - University of Plymouth
1st June - University of Glamorgan
2nd June - Coventry University
3rd June - Nottingham Trent University
6th June - Manchester Metropolitan University
7th June - University of Central Lancashire
8th June - University of Edinburgh
9th June - Teesside University
10th June - University of Huddersfield
Student, entrepreneurs and business owners wishing to get involved in an Enterprise Forum can apply by contacting: Matt Smith, NACUE Policy Director: matt@nacue.com