The Business Warm-Up, Soweto Theatre, Jabulani - 26th January

It's been nearly two months since my last blog post. You could be forgiven for thinking I've been doing nothing, rather just lounging around over an extended holiday period. Nothing of the sort!

Apart from a two week break in Plettenberg Bay over Christmas and new year, I've been working on some long term issues and projects, and initiating some new ones.

It's amazing how our newly acquired status as the governing party in Joburg has transformed the image of the DA amongst the people I am speaking to. We can now DO something about all the ills that we see around us, not just talk about them and blame the ANC.

So whether it's issues in my constituency around corruption, service delivery, jobs and housing, or portfolio-related matters concerning small businesses, there is a renewed sense that under a DA government people's lives can change for the better.

Over the coming weeks and months I will be reporting back on some of these issues and projects, which are brewing nicely but not yet ready to be served to an audience thirsting for real signs of change. For CHANGE is the brand message coming out of the DA at present. Change that will leave people better off, more positive about achieving their dreams and life goals, and more likely to vote DA in the all-important 2019 elections.

So let me tell you about the Business Warm-Up.

This was conceived in a conversation I had with Nomsa Mazwai, General Manager of the Soweto Theatre, at the end of November. (By a dreadful twist of fate, she is the daughter of Thami Mazwai, the subject of several recent blog posts. Fortunately this episode has remained firmly out of the picture in my dealings with Nomsa, which have been amicable and productive from start to finish).

The theatre is in my constituency so I was paying a courtesy visit, to introduce myself to the recently appointed new theatre boss. Very soon we got onto the topic of small business, which is dear to her heart (I wonder why!) We came up with the concept of staging a series of events, beginning in January, with the heavy involvement of the private sector and civil society, and if possible government if we could get it to move off its ass fast enough.

There followed several other meetings and conversations with people who I thought could be interested in partnering on this project. The response was overwhelmingly positive, and the Business Warm-Up (the name was Nomsa's idea) was born.

When Joburg closed for business on December 15th we had five partners lined up and ready to go: Infinity Learning, Harambee, Zinto Marketing Group, The Business Place and the National Small Business Chamber.

We worked furiously on getting a flier designed and produced (see pic above), and on December 22nd it was sent out to the theatre's database.

On January 6th we had our first meeting and agreed that staging the event in less than three weeks was doable, but challenging. We had to fill the main auditorium with 420 people and if possible the two other smaller ones, as well as have enough activities in the foyer and outdoors to create a buzz. My event management experience came into play and very soon the team gelled and we had a plan in place.

The partners in the project were truly amazing, and brought to bear all their resources and contacts to make things happen. My contribution included finding speakers from Soweto and elsewhere to give authenticity depth to the content, and getting some media coverage. We had live interviews on Bob Mabena and Kuli Roberts' breakfast show on Kaya FM, Morning Live on SABC 2 and Shift on SABC 1. With a week to go the tickets were all gone and we decided to increase the numbers from 500 to 600. Any more and we risked a crush and we wanted to avoid this at all costs. But the risk was, would people actually turn up for a free event?

See Morning Live interview here and BizCommunity coverage here.

We need not have worried - every seat in the theatre was taken. In the circumstances, to have kicked the programme off half an hour late at 9:30 with a full house was a miracle.

Here is the programme:

 26^th January 2017

PROGRAMME

09h00                    Session One                       Introduction and Welcome

                                Programme Director

                                Cllr Herman Mashaba        (Video) Executive Mayor, City of Johannesburg

        Nomsa Mazwai                  General Manager, Soweto Theatre

                                Toby Chance                      Shadow Minister of Small Business Development

09h30                    Session Two                       Think Beyond a Job

                                Mike Anderson                 Founder & CEO, National Small Business Chamber

                                Programme Director         Introducing the event partners

10h30                    Break & Networking

11h00                    Session Three                   Starting and running a small business

                                Edwell Gumbo                  City of Johannesburg, Department of Economic Dev

                                Shaun Govender               The Business Place

                                Nthabi Montsho                Soul Inspiration

11h30                    Session Four                      Growing your business

                                Chris Dykes                         Infinity Learning

                                Sydney Hadebe                    IBM

                                Alexandra Hadfield              Harambee

                                Eddie Matladi                       Zinto Brand Activation

12h30                    Session Five                       Preparing for the workplace

                                 ZenZele Education Doorway    Duke Maseko, Industrial Theatre Group

                                 Harambee                                  Industrial Theatre Group           

13h30                    Lunch and networking

14h30                    Session Six                         Small business essentials

                                Kodishang Tshwane        Web presence and social media

                                Fana Lephakha                Mind Refinery

                                Megan, Thabo                 Create your vision

                                Fana Khumalo                 Africa Cooperative Desk: Support for Coops

                                Phathizwe Mkhunya        Phukuca Coordinators: A spaza shops revival

  

17h00                    Close     

19:00                     Fire walk - courtesy of Mind Refinery

The programme does not begin to convey the incredible energy and positive vibes generated throughout the event. People were literally crying as they listened to the inspiring and motivational stories coming from our speakers.

From Mike Anderson's Think Beyond a Job, describing how he lost his business and lived in a cave in the Magaliesberg to regain his sense of self; to Nthabi Monthso from Soul Inspiration, who overcame years of abuse at the hands of her pastor husband before getting a grip on life and launching a series of CDs teaching kids and parents how to avoid addictions, which has now been adopted by Nedbank in a national programme for schools.

Mike held up the first edition of Entrepreneur Magazine which he published nineteen years ago featuring Herman Mashaba on the cover: a fitting image from our keynote speaker, coming directly after a video message from our new Executive Mayor, Herman Mashaba himself (he apologised for his absence due to his attendance at the first council meeting of 2017).

What was clear as the day progressed was that this could not be a one-off event. I have already booked Soweto Theatre for three repeats - 26 April, July and October. It's now up to the partners, who financed this entire event themselves, to find sponsors to take to the next level, including staging it in other Joburg townships and elsewhere.

The information sheet we produce for the event describes what it was all about and why we did it. Below is a slightly abbreviate version:

The Business Warm-Up Event :

The Business Warm- Up event is an initiative by the private sector/civil society to stimulate local business, create jobs through business start-ups and assist job seekers to find employment.

This will be unlike any other business/jobs-focused event staged before in Joburg, bringing together opportunity, inspiration and energy to kick-start the year at this iconic Soweto venue.

The event is aimed at existing business owners, entrepreneurs and aspiring business owners, and employment seekers wanting to enter the workplace better prepared.

Economic Reality :

Unemployment and lack of business skills are proving to be major drawbacks in advancing the economic well-being of the country. To tackle these problems, a number of businesses in the private sector and NGOs have joined together to stage a business readiness springboard and employment doorway event to confront, head-on, the economic challenges facing the country.

Business Warm-Up Event Outline :

Using the Soweto Theatre in Jabulani as the venue, the event will comprise a number of different forums and interactive sessions tailored to the specific needs of the attendees to allow them to derive full benefit from their attendance.

The content of the different forums and interactive sessions will focus on the following needs :

•      A businessperson/entrepreneur running his/her own business but not knowing how to grow it    or make it more profitable
•        An aspiring entrepreneur wanting to start a business
•         A school leaver/unemployed person wanting to improve his/her readiness to enter the job market

The private sector participants with the relevant skills will then run the different forums imparting their know-how to the attendees and engaging with them in an interactive setting.

In addition, the different forums will draw on the skills and expertise of successful business entrepreneurs to share their experiences in establishing and running their own businesses.

The Business Warm-Up Event takes place on Thursday, 26^th January at the Soweto Theatre, Jabulani from 09h00 until 17h00. Entry is free but registration is essential. Max 500 attendees. Local vendors will be selling food and drinks at the venue.  Visit www.sowetotheatre.com call 0861 670 670 or register at www.webtickets.co.za.

All in all, another brick in the wall as we build our economy and provide a doorway and route map for individuals wanting to make a success of their lives.