Image: Touch Digital co za

Growth in Africa.

Economic growth is robust and foreign investment is growing.  Its expanding urban middle classes are creating an internal market of global scale. The continent is actively harnessing its natural resources, but Africa is not just about the commodities boom. There is growth in manufacturing, technology, telecoms, finance, business services, outsourcing, retailing and hospitality. Each of these sectors are changing the face of the continent’s cities.

Which cities offer the best opportunity for economic growth will clearly vary by industry sectors – here is a list of 10 African cities that are likely to have the combination of critical mass of commercial activity and underlying growth factors to push them to the top of the continent’s city hierarchy.

The 10 African Cities on the international radar are:

• Mature: Cape Town, Durban, Johannesburg
• Emerging: Accra, Cairo, Casablanca, Lagos, Nairobi
• Early Adopter: Addis Ababa, Luanda

Looking at the bigger picture, these are the 12 factors that we believe will underpin growth in Africa’s commercial real estate industry:

10 African cities poised for take off – read the full story on Moneyweb

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Blog update from Orlando, Florida, USA

In 8 hours I will be presenting VAULTLife to 80 CEO marketers attending the MegaMarketing 2014 Conference here in Orlando (this will be a pre-launch)

VAULTLife is going to be an international game changer. What started out as a luxury online app a year ago in South Africa has now been upgraded for the international market. When we launch in July 2014 we will have an office in 5 different countries.

What is VAULTLife? VAULTLife is viral gamification.

• For players it is an online gaming app for luxury goods, events and experiences – it gives you the lifestyle without breaking the bank.
• For luxury brand managers it is a research tool that offers data and reports in real time empowering instant changes to marketing strategies with little risk and zero expense.

This is why I’m at MegaMarketing – this is a conference for CEO Marketers who deal in the currency of ground breaking ideas.

There are an infinite number of great ideas around but only a few will make it. Those that succeed are those that understand the critical role of positioning. Once that is sorted the next thing is to create the correct type of hype around your product – this is the message of the internationally acclaimed speakers this weekend.

“CEO Marketer” Definition: “If you expect your marketers to make you millions, you have already failed – it is the “CEO Marketer” who takes the vision and turns it into millions ” – JT Foxx

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Asics Gel Kayanto

I am concerned when I hear of entrepreneurs who put a business startup plan together and then approach a bank for a large loan. It’s the mindset that worries me . . . .

• This approach places a gatekeeper on your plans that you have little control over.
• This loan has to be paid back. This is an overhead that a new business cannot afford (profit should be used for expansion and enhancement)

When I was a high school student I was involved in every activity. These activities started before school and went into the evenings. Like the entrepreneur, I approached the ‘bank’, (my parents) for a solution i.e. a scooter at the very least.

The next day they presented me with a box i.e. a pair of running shoes. I was flabbergasted but they explained the elegance of the solution i.e. my school life was my domain and I needed to be in control. No petrol needed – my passion would make it work; the running shoes were merely a tool. It came with a zero overhead as I did not need a license, helmet or riding jacket. The running shoes were multi-purpose because running to a debating evening ensured that I was fit for the sporting events.

Look around you. Use an available elegant solution that is multi-purpose – that is inexpensive and ensures that you grow as a person; a solution that can be driven by your passion and a solution that is inherently sustainable unlike an expensive monthly repayment.

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VaultLife has its international launch 5 April 2014 so when we asked Bryan Pinehro and Donovan Black to pack for Rwanda, Sierra Leone and Nigeria they were none the wiser.

We explained to them that we could not send in the USA sales team. The quote had come back and the American medical aid and emergency evacuation insurances were too expensive. In addition the USA embassy had issued a cautionary to any USA citizen wanting to travel to these three countries.

They looked at us. We continued. .

We told them we would have to send in South African citizens who could take the heat i.e. Bryan and Donovan!

They nodded thoughtfully in our boardroom at 9am on 1 April 2014

Once in the various countries they would have to travel alone. They would be given a large amount of foreign currency that they could use at their discretion to get themselves out of difficult situations on the road. As Ebola, ecoli, yellow fever, malaria and blackwater fever are rife in these countries they needed to have a full set of inoculations before leaving.

They nodded thoughtfully.

They are asked to phone their parents to bring their passports so that we could start the visa applications.

Bryan spoke first. “Mike, I have committed to making 100 calls a day to recruit new VaultLife members. Please ensure that the phone I’m given has international roaming so that I don’t miss my targets while overseas”

Neither of them flinched although their eyes told a different story.

I value loyalty above anything else but I was blown away. These guys had what it takes. They have the passion and they have the vision. Doing business in Nigeria was do-able because they believed in their mission and in their product offering. Wow. Now there are brand ambassadors. The excitement of VaultLife overtook their fear of Nigeria, Sierra Leone and Rwanda. They knew they could tell the story and sell the dream.

At 11:45am they returned to the boardroom and began the visa application process. They filled in page one. They filled in page two. They turned to page three which only had two words ie April Fool.

We all laughed till years ran down our checks but I knew I had witnessed something special. Well done Bryan Pinhero and Donovan Black.

The post April Fool Prank that went right appeared first on Mike Eilertsen Blog.

We all have the same 24 hours but not the same productivity. Some people grow, some stagnate…

For me this is about mastering the ‘Law of Unintended Consequences’.
• Do you do the same thing and therefore get the same results?
• Do you meet the same people and therefore get the same opportunities?
• Do you frequent the same places and therefore get the same perspective?
• Do you read the same journals and therefore think the same way?

By exposing yourself to a vast array of different people, circumstances and even countries, you can obtain a different result. This multifaceted diversity forms a matrix of dots that forms your business world – more dots means more opportunity and more growth.

We don’t have the same 24 hours at our disposal. A person with only a few dots in his matrix remains in the same place. He does the same things over and over again with zero prospects. A person who ‘gets out there’, who exposes themselves to diversity, who moves outside of their comfort zone (as a way of life) has a multiplicity of dots and when he joins them together he rapidly moves forward, making his 24 hours that much more productive.

There is one last aspect to my take on the Law of Unintended Consequence – expect the positive. Expect that unknown person in a room of 1000 to find you. Expect that unexplored idea in a sea of ideas to seek you out. Expect to go home with a stroke of genius because what you expect creates your reality – this is true in life and is true in business.

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Why is productivety so disappointing? Why are people so disengaged? The traditional pillars of management are obsolete. You do not fight your competitors, you fight yourself. Solution – smart simplicity.

I loved this TED talk by Yves Morieux . . .

http://www.ted.com/talks/yves_morieux_as_work_gets_more_complex_6_rules_to_simplify.html

Visit his website for more . .

https://sites.google.com/site/yvesmorieux/

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The people in order of appearance: Einstein, Dylan, Luther King, Richard Branson (founder of Virgin, you can also see the logo in one frame), John Lennon and Yoko Ono, Buckminster Fuller, Edison, Cassius Clay, Ted Turner (founder of CNN), Callas (Soprano), Gandhi, Amelia Earhart (the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic), Hitchcock, Martha Graham (dancer), Henson (creator of the Muppets) with Kermit the frog, architect Lloyd Wright and Pablo Picasso. The girl that appears at the end is the niece of the composer of the music, Tarsem Singh.

The post The Creative Entrepreneur. 5. Think Differently appeared first on Mike Eilertsen Blog.

You can lead your company using one of two styles. You can . . .

• Lead with the statistical facts of harsh reality.
• Look past the present circumstances and see a new world of opportunity

Does ‘future vision’ of success constitute lies and delusion or is it the pinnacle of innovation and leadership?

Delusion is defined as a ‘false belief or hope’. This is ridiculous as both ‘belief’ and ‘hope’ deal with the future whereas ‘false’ deals with present. No definition can have one foot in the future and one present; this is a contradiction – hope cannot be false and vision cannot be a lie. This has enormous consequences on the leadership styles we use when running our companies.

For the people of Silicon Valley in the 1980’s delusion and fantasy was the world of Steve Jobs the greatest creative entrepreneur of our time.

For 2014 the concept of fantasy and delusional business thinking excites me to my core.

The post The Creative Entrepreneur. 4. Delusion and Future Vision appeared first on Mike Eilertsen Blog.

Fantasy and reality are constantly changing concepts; therefore the line between them is imaginary. This is the world of the creative entrepreneur.

To take cognizance of thus imaginary line is to impose limitations on yourself, your company and your products. In fact it can be argued that the more formal knowledge you have the greater the limitations you impose on your future growth. When people limit their imaginations they limit their future.

Steve Jobs grew up during the 1960’s a period well known for its use of hallucinogenic drugs like LSD. LSD blurs the line between reality and fantasy mixing the senses and making unlikely associations. This is what Jobs was talking about when he refers to joining the dots (see quote). The more dots you have the likely your are to create a revolution within your industry and product lineup.

This is not to say that hallucinogens is the recommend route to product innovation! This is merely an anecdote to us as business owners to loosen up, to think freely, to think differently, to reject boundaries and to refute the ‘impossible’.

We have to find ways to broaden our experiences and to reject the imaginary line between reality and fantasy. This is applied imagination.

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