It is not often that you get appreciated for the hard work you do. The sleepless nights. The pitches you don’t get called back for. But lucky for you, someone out there is watching.

This morning in the mail, I got something that might excite you. At least I thought it would.

Sanlam and Business Partners are giving away up to R100 000 in their Entrepreneur Of The Year Award. It’s also quite easy to apply from what I saw.

The requirements in their three categories are also simple enough. Before you think it’s too good to be true. You have to prove that – by their standards – the three most important financial risks of your business are quantifiable. The application form has more details on that. 

Categories and minimum requirements 

• Emerging Entrepreneur (business younger than three years old)
• Business Entrepreneur (turnover up to R20 million)
• Medium Business Entrepreneur (turnover greater than R20 million

Of course, you are not motivated by the cash prizes. But they are offering those too.

Cash Prizes

• Category winners will receive R20 000.00
• R100 000 in cash for the overall winner along with the opportunity to attend an international conference or trade show, as well as extensive public exposure. That should help in acquiring the much needed sales.

Download the entry forms and more information to enter.

Spread the word as far and wide as possible as well. . . . Good luck!

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Image by : xtrarant on Flickr

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This episode of NetwebTV was probably the most debated. The concept of Viral Marketing is seemingly dying out in its most organic form. At least for me it seems it is.

The way I thought about it was – someone records a video of some or other mishap and it spreads on YouTube. Then marketers and big corporates caught on to it and invested money, which later transformed that initial perception.

To not only satisfy my own curiosity – but also to find whether viral marketing and spreading ideas can be planned – we had to out and find some black belt ninjas to speak to us.

Change of perceptions and new knowledge:

In this episode I spoke to an entrepreneur who spread the idea of education, furtherance and growth in the lives of young people. Yashivan Govender, is the founder of FristStep.me that was built around the idea of developing oneself. And they have been growing in leaps in bounds – long before the now known hype of Social Media.

You Make Joburg Great connects people who want to be connected

We also went out to Penquin International, the company behind one of the most popular campaigns in Johannesburg if not South Africa. You Make Joburg Great is based on the simple idea that a city should be about how its people are and the change they are part of.

Guy Orsmond, the account executive behind the campaign, shares how they spread this initiative and got the masses so involved people themselves took ownership of the idea.

Seth Godin on the viral spread of ideas

If there is one thing about Seth Godin and how he spreads his thinking widely all over the the globe, it’s how always links a simple idea to his work.

In this episode, he talks about how you can and execute your strategy as an idea. Once you have managed that, then the product related to that simple story spreads among its users.

Take a look at the video below and share your thinking about viral marketing and spreading ideas.

How did you find the video? Let us know who you think we should feature next and what you want hear about.

It seems to me that, though small business develops exponentially in South Africa. And small has become quite huge lately. We still get into business with twisted intentions, and by twisted I’m referring to the intent for funding without a solid business model.

Vinny Lingham spoke at the last 27 Dinner about his accomplishments as an entrepreneur, which also included building ventures that later got Venture Capital funding. It is always inspiring to hear an entrepreneur who broke through the barriers to build something meaningful. Even more worthwhile was listening to him retell his own story.

As for the impression many people still have of funding being the foundation for a successful business. That is another story altogether. And the reason for this post.

“But it’s different for software companies and Venture Capitalists view business differently.” Oh, is it?

Any investor considers the viability of a business, not whether it is a software company or not. So that left me with the question, do we think investors/funders change strategies with varying products? Or, are there fewer entrepreneurs than innovative techies? In this case, developers turned entrepreneurs. Geeks who aren’t really entrepreneurs.

Before you throw tomatoes, cans and possibly yank your monitor from the rest of your machine. Hear me out a bit.

The basics of business remain the same, regardless of the product you are developing. Lately, however, there seems to be a lot doing the rounds about products being developed. Of course, there is a need for more innovative products.

And as Web 2.0 has taught us, the market trails far behind innovation. As the masses, we also only know what we needed long after someone has designed it. But a solid business model behind it is what translates to a Return On Investment. Not just the product, and that is what the latest software innovation is.

In an article written earlier this year about VC funding and the need to build sustainable businesses this was said. . . .

Those seeking funds are seeing higher scrutiny of their business models. “There’s less willingness to let it ride now than there used to be,” said Vytas Kislieulius, CEO of Collections Marketing Center, a software-as-a-service startup that runs a collections exchange. VCs are looking more closely at the customer sets of the companies they are considering investing in, Kislieulius added. “It takes so much more proof that there’s a real market and that there’s real customers.”

It is possible that I have old-school business thinking, but is there still space out there for sustainable startups?

Has funding clouded all business thinking into developing companies and waiting to sell-out to the highest bidder?

Image by Rainbow Sherbert on Flickr