MobilizeZA

MobilizeZA Strengthening the foundation of emerging economies by unlocking the economic power of micro-enterpris We have an opportunity to change the outcome! e.g.

According to a recent study 212 million people will be unemployed globally by 2020. Unemployment on a mass scale leads to desperation, frustration and the threat of social unrest, and according to the data, African countries will have the highest level of unemployment. But those gloomy predictions are based on the premise that we all carry on as we have in the past. The study underestimates Africa

’s entrepreneurial spirit. Entrepreneurs are integral to community upliftment, providing goods, services and job opportunities. Through working with a number of micro enterprises across Africa, however, we realised that small business owners spent a lot of their time doing tedious tasks, that although integral to the operations of their business, were distracting them from growth opportunities. And that is where technology can make a difference. Often food stall owners would make a trip to the market on a daily basis, during this time they would close their stall and therefore lose potential sales. They would only have enough money to buy stock for the day and were buying such small quantities that they paid high unit prices. As they did not have their own transport they would either hire expensive vans or transport their goods using minibus taxis (who would charge them double for taking up a seat in the taxi with their bags of potatoes for example). They would then get back to their stall, make and sell their food dishes and put nearly all the revenue aside to go to the market the following day ­ and so the cycle continued. As mobile pe*******on continues to increase we have the opportunity to work with these entrepreneurs to build the technology platforms that will break this cycle ­ enabling them to formalise their processes, get access to market information, share resources and reach new markets. How we do this:

Learning from and adapting existing mobile technology, we can build a platform where local business owners can organise themselves into powerful clusters and benefit from the efficiencies of scale. buying groups that negotiate bulk discounts (think Groupon)

logistics teams that share transport to reduce costs (think Uber)

non­cash payment systems (think Mpesa or Paypal)

access to a global marketplace (think Etsy or gumtree)

simple tracking of cost allocation (think Splitwise)

transaction records that automate accounting process ­ (think Wavesapp)

Essentially, the entrepreneurs develop a sharing economy which allows them to unlock the value of under­utilised assets (such as idle vehicles) create employment opportunities (for delivery drivers and new employees within their businesses) and band together to save money, reduce time on tedious tasks and focus on growth opportunities.

08/09/2015

Congratulations to Mobilize for winning the 3rd prize in the business plan competition of the CBS Social Entrepreneurship MOOC!!!

Congratulations to the team on the exciting launch of our website! http://www.mobilize-africa.com
25/07/2015

Congratulations to the team on the exciting launch of our website! http://www.mobilize-africa.com

To strengthen emerging economies by using mobile tech to enable micro-entrepreneurs to build stronger businesses that stimulate their local economies, create employment and drive social change at a community level.

Check out our latest video on how Mobilize will help micro-enterprises in South Africa (and then Africa): https://www.yo...
24/07/2015

Check out our latest video on how Mobilize will help micro-enterprises in South Africa (and then Africa): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AndXR5hJWwI

Turning the bottom of the pyramid into the foundation of the economy.

16/06/2015

An interesting article looking at social enterprises vs NGOs in SAhttp://gsbblogs.uct.ac.za/gsbconference/files/2012/09/Wijnberg_Social-enterprise.pdf

Sign up for the monthly ePaper http://www.smallbusinessconnect.co.za
09/06/2015

Sign up for the monthly ePaper http://www.smallbusinessconnect.co.za

Information, news, opportunities and finance advice for entrepreneurs and business owners from South Africa who want to achieve better results.

Amazing the non-traditional financial methods that are out there! http://www.vsla.net/aboutus/vslmodel
04/06/2015

Amazing the non-traditional financial methods that are out there! http://www.vsla.net/aboutus/vslmodel

A Village Savings and Loan Association (VSLA) is a group of people who save together and take small loans from those savings. The activities of the group run in cycles of one year, after which the accumulated savings and the loan profits are distributed back to members.The purpose of a VSLA is to pr…

Address

Soweto

Telephone

+27828523332

Website

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when MobilizeZA posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Shortcuts

Share

Category