Afriversity's Natasha Avidan on Developing African Entrepreneurs and Following Her Heart

GloWoman recently interviewed one of our Founding Fellows, Natasha Avidan on the reasons why she got involved with Afriversity.

GloWoman is an online site created by Bettina Moss, who is an entrepreneur herself and an inspiration to many. Bettina owns a marketing company called BettinaBranding (www.bettinabranding.com) and has worked with companies such as Woolworths, Vital Health Foods, Associated Magazines Corporate, O the Oprah Magazine, Cosmopolitan, BoE Private Clients and WWF (UK), helping them to deliver business growth.

Here is a snippet from the interview:

How did you become involved with Afriversity?

"Simple...I fell in love...I fell in love with the project and I fell in love with South Africa. One of my guiding principles in life has been to follow my heart and my heart was leading me to South Africa.

I was working for an IT company in Sweden when I met the founder of Afriversity. Running a marketing department for a global IT company was challenging but I felt that I needed another project. Something that was driven by passion, inspiration and was aimed at making a difference in people’s lives. I have been lucky enough to meet a handful of people in my life journey that guided me, helped me grow, made me challenge myself or simply appreciate and embrace myself as a strong and driven woman.

It would be wonderful for everyone to have this opportunity and I will try my hardest to pay forward what I have received.

Many people give up before even trying. We must help others around us to be strong and believe in themselves and their abilities. Every one of us can make a difference.
Take the examples of Mother Theresa, Martin Luther King, Nelson Mandela, Ghandi..these are individuals who set out to help.
They didn't think about being one person out to change the world but they thought about making the world a better place by influencing others to help change the world.
I believe that everyone can change the world, if each of us performs one random act of kindness at least once a day.

It all starts with YOU and YOU CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE!"

Read the whole interview here: GloWoman Interview

INTEGRATED BUSINESS & OWNER DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMME

Where will your business be in August 2013 (3-years from now)? What will it look like? What will you be doing? Do you have a clearly defined strategy to ensure growth and success or are you 'flying blind' like so many business owners today? Do you own your business or does the business own you?

Do you want to develop and implement new strategies and workable plans that ensure growth and sustainability of your business? Do you need support and help on this 'sometimes lonely' journey of establishing and growing your business?

Now that the Soccer WC is finished - it is back to business as usual.... or is it?
What does the next 3 to 6 months hold for you and your business?

Is it about growth, sustainability or just survival?

Whichever one it is, we invite you to apply for Afriversity's Phase One, Business Owner Assistance Programme running between August and October 2010. This development journey, together with other business owners will help you to:

1) Consolidate your business
2) Identify new opportunities and
3) Develop business growth plans...

Register here and we will send you more details...

Dates: 10, 11, 12 August – 7, 8, 9 September – 5, 6, 7 October 2010

This 3-month intensive development opportunity will change the way you do business now and in the future.

Thanks to the support of key sponsors we are able to offer the entire 3-month business and owner development programme at a fee of only R500, a fraction of the real cost .

To be considered for this opportunity Click Here and complete the online application form.

Afriversity Cape Town:

A place for local "Afripreneurs" to meet & share successes & lessons & inspire & encourage each other as we develop growing, sustainable businesses

For more info contact:
Pauline 021 418 0450 adminsa@afriversity.org

A great report from McKinsey on Africa´s Growth Story

Africa's economies experienced a marked acceleration in growth during the past ten years. This first package, part of a four-week series on the future of Africa, explores what factors underpinned Africa's development and the continent's prospects.

They conclude that if recent trends continue, Africa will play an increasingly important role in the global economy and the rate of return on foreign investment is higher in Africa than any other developing region. Global executives and investors can not afford to ignore this, Africa must be part of their long term planning. The time for businesses to act on these plans is now. Companies already in Africa should consider expanding.

Working together, businesses, the government and society can confront the continent´s challenge and lift the living standards of its people.  

To read the report: http://www.mckinseyquarterly.com/Whats_driving_Africas_growth_2601

Think Better, Think Further, Think Faster

Afriversity proudly presents Cognician, a marvelous South African innovation by Barry and Patrik Kayton, winners of the Idea Track Award at the Cape Town Entrepreneurship Competition 2010.

Cognician is a software platform for deploying book content in a new, dynamic, participative form. The tool turns books, training guides, articles, research papers and even blogs into thinking wizards to use on the web, the iPhone and the iPad. Cognician mimics the workings of an agile mind by allowing you to click your way through the thinking process. Cognician bridges the gap between what you know and what an expert knows. It does this by asking you all the right questions an expert would ask you. You simply enter the subject that you want to think about and Cognician asks you thought-provoking questions that guide you to think in innovative ways about that subject. The questions set the agenda for your thinking, helping you can see patterns and make connections that you might struggle to identify on your own. Cognician gives you all the know-how you need, just in time. Go from clueless to clued up in a couple of clicks.

Afriversity and the Kayton brothers are working on launching the product later on this year so watch this space!

For more information, please visit www.cognician.com

Congratulations to JO´M Cosmetics!!

Afriversity would like to congratulate Johannah and Solomon, owners of JO´M Cosmetics for their nomination as a finalist in the Global Entrepreneurship Competition-Hit Barcelona 2010 !

HIT-Barcelona’10 is an international summit that will bring together CEOs, presidents, general directors, directors of innovation, businesspeople, entrepreneurs and investors from around the world in Barcelona on June the 16th and the 17th, 2010. They will size up the latest international tendencies in innovation and technology, identify new commercial innovations, network with the international innovation community and formalize new businesses and investments.

We wish Johannah and Solomon the best of luck and are crossing our fingers!!

You can read more about JO´M Cosmetics at www.jomcosmetics.co.za

Warm Welcome to New Afripreneurs!

Afriversity would like to send a warm welcome to all the new participants that have started the Afriversity business training programme in Stellenbosch!

We look forward to learning more about you and your businesses!