Press Release: MNCapital Africa Advisors Facilitates SPEAR Capital Investment in Zimbabwe’s Second Largest Dairy Producer, Dendairy

HARARE, Zimbabwe, May 26, 2015/African Press Organization (APO)/ —Scandinavian-backed private equity investment company, SPEAR Capital (Pty) Ltd (“SPEAR”) , acquired 27% of Zimbabwe’s second largest dairy producer, Dendairy . The deal, which was a combined debt/equity transaction, had a value of $6 million.

MNCapital Africa Advisors (“MNCAA”) was responsible for the introduction of the Dendairy opportunity to SPEAR and assisted SPEAR in its initial assessment of the opportunity.

Commenting on the transaction, MNCAA Managing Partner, Mr. Mansur Nuruddin, stated: “Our combined 100+ years’ experience in the industry has ensured that we have access to numerous funders and are a ‘go to’ partner for sourcing capital. Assisting in this transaction has enabled us to participate in the growth of a local Zimbabwean owned entity. The funding will go a long way to assist Dendairy’s expansion plans, and we are pleased to have helped to facilitate this growth.”

Mr. Martin Soderberg, a SPEAR Capital Partner, stated: “We are pleased that MNCAA brought the Dendairy transaction to us. We were impressed by their effectiveness and efficiency throughout the transaction. We trust our business relationship will grow into the future”.

Distributed by APO (African Press Organization) on behalf of MNCapital Africa Advisors (MNCAA).

Zimbabwe Rugby 7s Intresting Sponsorship offer

The tweet below was tweeted by the Rugby 7s organisation. Zimbabwean athletes and teams have found it difficult to get sponsorships and so it seems the Zimbabwe Rugby Union is trying something new.

@zimsevens launch title sponsor lotto for 2015. Would really appreciate retweets from all to help us spread the word! pic.twitter.com/EWf46nzjaS

— Zimbabwe 7's Rugby (@zimsevens) December 21, 2014

ZRB is offering companies a $50 000.00 sponsorship by selling 120 opportunities at $500.00 each, on the 31st January 2015 there will be a draw to see which company won. The winning company will have a lot of branding space with the team name and kits. There’s more information on the tweet, but oddly the offer doesn’t seem to be on the website.

Zimbabwe is a harsh environment within which to find sponsorships, lately. So you really got to think outside the box.

What are your thoughts on the Zimbabwe Rugby 7s sponsorship concept?

MARKETING RENEWAL WORKSHOP: MAY 2014

COURSE: “DEVELOPING AND IMPLEMENTING MARKETING STRATEGIES AND PROGRAMS

IN THE CASH STRAPPED ORGANISATION”

MARKETING AS THE LIFE BLOOD OF BUSINESS

While very few business leaders deny that marketing is the lifeblood of every business, few business executives fully appreciate the importance of marketing in daily life of the organisation. For example, when most organisations face difficulties, most executives react by either cutting down on, or by totally suspending marketing, in itself a terrible mistake similar to applying brakes to a vehicle that is slowing to a stop against your will. Most executives decide that marketing is expensive because people in charge of marketing often request huge amounts of financial resources for marketing but fail to justify the expenditure with real financial results arising from the marketing. Many SMEs do not grow and even die for one single reason-lacking of marketing depth. Despite the failings of traditional marketing, the truth remains that marketing, done the right way, is the life blood of any business organisation. It remains a fact that every organisation is as successful as its marketing.
THE DEVELOPING OF EFFECTIVE MARKETING STRATEGIES AND PROGRAMS COURSE

This course does not replace professional marketing, but assists people in the marketing profession to more effectively deploy their marketing knowledge and qualifications in real life. The course is built from studies of highly successful marketers who have solid track records of helping companies develop and deploy effective marketing strategies in real life situations. For this reason, this course is extremely useful for recently qualified marketing professionals who are employed in the marketing field as it will bridge the gap between marketing theory and practice. The course is also very useful for experienced marketing practitioners who are seeking for fresh ideas and concepts to renew their marketing creativity and rejuvenate their marketing approaches and campaigns. SMEs will find this course a critical game changer because it zeros in on very practical plug and play, simple approaches that can help them step up their success in the competitive environment. This is more so for those companies that fail to deploy marketing out of the belief that marketing requires huge amounts of money. This is a powerfully packed workshop that will leave you heavily armed with marketing missiles that will truely shift your marketing game, produce great results and get ahead of your competition
Some of what you will learn include;

• Fail to market and fail to make it in business; the seven reasons why
• Failings of traditional marketing and how it gives marketing a bad name
• Are You Marketing or Running Publicity Stints? An assessment of your current marketing
• The deeper and only purpose of marketing even most marketing people have not yet discovered
• The hidden dynamics of successful marketing campaigns
• Choosing your overall marketing strategy
• A powerful model for developing laser focused, clear and highly effective marketing programs
• The heavily guarded most effective marketing model all the highly successful people use
• Marketing and Sales or Marketing Versus Sales-The greatest mistakes being made by some organisations
• Being a highly effective marketing commander-the practical requisites
• Branding revisited; The reason why traditional branding is a huge waste of resources

SIMON BERE
Training Coaching and Consulting Profile
Simon Bere has a solid track record in business consulting, attracting the attention of Zimbabwe’s organisations that need strategic advice and support, training, performance and creative problem solving. He has also earned respect for his insights and contribution to the development of businesses and organisations through his participation on ZBC SFM’s hugely popular program Business Talk, where he has contributed more than 400 hours during a period of more than five years.
Simon’s greatest strength is his ability for strategic multidisciplinary view of business and organisations, allowing him to put different parts of a business or organisation within a framework of a system and being able to use this big picture, multidisciplinary view to provide practical solutions that bring results. Simon provides his services through advising, coaching, mentoring and training. He also speaks to provide motivation, strategies and solutions at conferences and other groups.
Simon Bere has also developed some original models that have helped organisations create positive changes, solve problems and achieve their goals. Simon’s areas of major focus are;

• Strategy
• Non-traditional strategic marketing
• Organisational development, performance and change
• Creative problem solving
• Peak performance
• Sales training and strategies
• Strategy facilitation and strategy performance management
• Transformation

Simon Bere is a holder of a Master of Science Degree from Lancaster University (first class pass), United Kingdom and Bachelor of Science from the University of Zimbabwe. He is also a certified trainer and an internationally certified Neurolinguistic Programming Practitioner. He has also attended seminars held by the world’s leading experts in the areas of marketing, peak performance, neurolinguistic programming, leadership and organisational development. On his own he has extensively explored research in many disciplines ranging from organisational development, psychology, leadership, neuroscience, mental performance, marketing, sales and practical entrepreneurship.
Some of Simon Bere’s past major clients include Nyaradzo Group, Securico, James North Zimbabwe, Rainbow Tourism Group, Motec Holdings, Genesis Travel and Tours, Zimre Properties, Metbank, IODZ, Marketers Association of Zimbabwe. He is also frequently invited as a speaker. However, the demand for consulting business is currently depressed but Simon continues to make his contribution to Zimbabwe through forums such as Business Talk.
Simon provides a fresh look at situations, breakthrough solutions even generating new, effective and original solutions for your business or organisation, Simon Bere is the go to person. His clients include those who want to start in business, those who want to grow their businesses, those who seek higher performance in their organisations.

DOWNLOAD: Registration Form M1

 

Investment: $95.00 per person includes teas and lunch
$85.00 if payment is received by 16/05/14
Venue: Bronte Hotel cnr 4th St / Baines
Ave, Harare
Time: 8:00 am to 4:30pm

 

This marketing event was posted for and is being hosted by:

CLASSYRIGHT BUSINESS CONSULTANCY
Cell +263 772 238 183 (Innocent)
0774 072 745 (Sharon)
64 3rd Avenue, Parktown, Waterfalls, Harare

THE POWER OF MEDIA IN NATION IMAGE

There is no more powerful tool in media than visual arts. It is clearly the most entertaining and sensory stimulating media, plus it requires the least amount of interaction (you’ve seen people with brain dead expressions in front of the screen, right) . Television and movies can be very effective tools in building a nation’s image in the audiences’ mind. What people know of another nation is usually based on its depiction in films, a minority of people actually do real informative research e.g reading up on a nation. With this in mind, it explains why people think:

• Africa is a jungle, where the mode of transport is an elephant. It’s rare to find films that show the sophisticated side of Africa. It’s a jungle, a starving, diseased village, or a war ravaged society that’s mostly featured in movies
• Indians are a love sick people whose path to happiness is tested by prejudice, family feuds and comical misunderstandings…….and when you fall in love you have to sing and dance about it.
• The English are either formal and stuffy or plain and funny looking. Their dress code and lifestyle matches their dreary weather.
• The French are romantics who love to smoke and drink wine. Their talent is art and they are very liberal especially when it comes to sex……plus they don’t bath.

Everybody can recognize all the assumptions above, if you disagree with the first  then you have to understand the rest are also false. Point is that, people hold these assumptions as true and that’s the power of media in creating a nation’s image.

The easiest case study is USA, it’s got a very successful media industry. We know what Vegas is and what happens there… We all know of the Brooklyn boroughs courtesy of rappers. Everybody knows all of these yet they’ve never seen an advert or read a book about these places. Media has been a very powerful tool in strengthening American influence.

Take a close look at the movies being shown around the world. When the world is threatened by villains or aliens, good ol USA saves the day. The film is fantasy but the fight between good and evil is close to people’s hearts and so they cheer the good (read USA) team, e.g. Independence Day. Alternatively a respected and trusted character would be used to propagate USA pride and allegiance. Most of the time its subliminal, in an ending scene while swinging through New York City Spiderman shows his spectacular form right in front of the USA national flag.

Initially this could be chalked up to Hollywood’s patriotism, they are Americans after all: but that’s not quite the whole picture. The USA army has realized the importance of Hollywood’s influence and reach. The USA army has set up office in Hollywood to assist with equipment, training and consulting on army issues. This is all done in the interest of creating a positive image of the USA army. Take a look at the link below;

http://topdocumentaryfilms.com/hollywood-and-the-pentagon/

Whether its coincidental or planned the impact that media has on public perception is real. There is a lot of false perceptions out there, especially about Zimbabwe or Africa. Speaking out against them is not enough, we must tell our own stories to the world. show the diversity and depth of our society.

RESEARCH: Tour operators perceptions on “Zimbabwe; A World of Wonders” tourism brand.

Abstract: Zimbabwe’s brand theme “Discover Zimbabwe” put in place soon after the country’s independence was replaced by “Zimbabwe: Africa’s Paradise” which was characterised by images of economic hardships which negatively affected tourism development resulting in the destination being rebranded to “Zimbabwe: A World of Wonders”. In today’s competitive environment, destinations have to fight for visitors and therefore strategic approaches to destination branding are essential. The failure to incorporate stakeholder perspectives in managing brands to competitively contribute to tourism development can compromise collaboration amongst different players in the tourism sector. This study used a quantitative approach to explore Tour Operators’ perceptions on Zimbabwe’s destination rebranding exercise (Zimbabwe: A World of Wonders), mainly focusing on brand coverage, stakeholder consultation and value for money associated with the brand. Findings from the study indicate that in terms of brand coverage, Zimbabwe: A World of Wonders brand covers extensive aspects (economic, heritage, and destination accessibility). Further the findings indicate that stakeholders were consulted on policy and partnership issues but implementation was the challenge. We therefore concluded that in as much as the brand covers a wide range of aspects, issues addressed during stakeholder consultation have to be implemented for the brand to succeed.

NB: The numbers in brackets, eg (16), are citations. To see who they are quoting scroll down to the end of the document

 

Click to view document

Tour operators

Why Most Email Marketing Fails‏

The idea behind mass email marketing might make sense. Send a couple thousand emails to people who never opted to receive them what harm is there in that? The problem with mass email marketing is that it is the very protagonist of spam laws world over. According to Return Path, 70% of all marketing emails are responsible for ‘this is spam’ complaints world over. The only thing you might be achieving sending thousands of emails to people who really never wanted to hear about your product or service is to be incredibly annoying.

Being annoying is just half the story. Spamming is actually illegal and can get your company’s email domain blacklisted. Many anti-spam laws regulate that you can send unsolicited emails to corporate subscribers if it is relevant to the work they do. For example, you can send an email of office furniture to a facilities manager. This is to guard against certain abuse. Imagine opening your email account one day to find hundreds of emails that had nothing to do with you.

So how are we supposed to send mass emails? Well the first standard to follow is the CAN-SPAM law. Some of the requirements include the need for you to have an unsubscribe option, to state your physical address and a message must not be sent to a harvested email address.

Law out the way, the next thing to worry about is avoiding spam filters. Spam filters are able to analyze your content. Try and avoid using common spam words such “buy”, “promo” or “free” especially in your subject line as these can trigger the spam filter. When you send images with your email, try and host those images with credible services only. Try and avoid having too many links in your email and if you do make sure as far as possible these are with credible domains.

The next thing to worry about is getting potential leads to send emails to. Email campaigns are effective if they are targeted and relevant. The best way to achieve this is to have opt-in features such as a landing page form or newsletter sign up on your website. When people opt-in to receive your email, they have expressly stated they want to receive your content which means you are in full compliance of law and certainly not spamming. Just make sure you adhere to having all the essential features of a legit email every time you send.

The final thing you need to concern yourself with is the analytics. How many people opened your email? How many people received the email? You need to carefully follow these metrics to ensure that you can not only measure the success of your last email campaign but to also improve of those in future. With that in mind, you can be assured you are in full control of your email marketing.

Author: Code Sage Technology

Website: http://www.codesagetechnology.com

Address:  Suite 8, 4th Floor Sanders House, Cnr First Street / Jason Moyo, Harare

Code Sage is a digital media marketing agency in Zimbabwe which provides internet marketing solutions to companies. Code Sage Technology provides email marketing, under its content marketing service www.codesagetechnology.com/content-marketing.php

Zimbabwe’s PSL by the numbers

Soccer is the most popular sport in Zimbabwe. The marketing revenue figures are hard to come by so this blog post tries to aggregate news articles to come up with a single frame. The fortunes of the PSL have been closely tied to the fortunes of Zimbabwe and the revenues have been growing from the low base of 2008.

PSL SPONSORHIP

Castle Lager PSL

The 3 year contract with delta for $1.8m has run out. Delta paid out $600 000.00 each year, league champions won $70 000.00. They are still negotiating for new sponsorship deal. Delta doesn’t seem to be happy about the PSLs professionalism, even commenting that coaches should look professional……now you know why European soccer coaches are always suited up. Clubs believe the Delta sponsorship money is too little, especially relative to other sponsorship deals.

The winners of the eight team knockout tournament the Banc ABC Sup8r get $120,000. The winners of the Mbada Diamonds Cup get $130,000 and their runners up get $25,000 more than the league winners. The Netone charity cup winners got $50 000.00 last year, the sponsorship might be raised to a total of $200 000.00 in new negotiations.

BROADCAST DEALS

In 2012 the PSL announced it had reached a broadcasting agreement with DSTV’s Super Sport. Super Sort has been very active in acquiring African sports content and Zimbabwe was a natural fit. The PSL was particularly happy with a deal where they will be paid, as opposed to a deal with ZBC that required the PSL to pay to broadcast matches. Yes, you read that right, yes its ridiculous. Although the amount isn’t jaw dropping, it’s a start. The payments for 2012 season look like this:

• The 16 clubs shared  US$94 397
• The negotiator of the deal got 15% commision amounting to US$20 400
• Transmedia US$9 003.
• Broadcasting Authority of Zimbabwe  $5 400
• PSL administration fees US$6 800.

TOUCHLINE ADVERTS

It seems up until recently. The clubs didn’t get a penny from touchline ads……it boggles the mind how that happened. The money went to the banner rights holder Askeland and the city councils. But after the Super Sport deal the clubs where able to negotiate to be paid. Clubs will be given 30% of the revenue. League and club sponsors will be given fixed space, this sweetens sponsorship deals.

GATE TAKINGS

Below is an excerpt from an interview on how gate takings are shared up in the PSL. An exampleis given of a Highlanders game.

After every home game, clubs remit six percent of their gross gate-takings to the PSL, three percent to each of Zifa and the Sports and Recreation Commission, 20 percent to city authorities, another large chuck to the Zimbabwe Republic Police, who provide security at matches and another to a security company that provides cash-in-transit services.

Minus player bonuses and other internal expenses, the home club gets very little. When Highlanders hosted Dynamos before a paying crowd of 25,957 at Barbourfields Stadium earlier this season, the Bulawayo giants grossed $104,445, but were left with $40,500, far less than half the total amount, after the authorities and service providers had wolfed down the rest.

The Bulawayo City Council took $20,885, $9,800 went to the ZRP and a private security company, $9,200 to the PSL, $1,044 to Zifa and $6,200 was guzzled by the SRC, a government arm.

Sources

http://www.newzimbabwe.com/sports-9009-PSL+chief+defends+TV+rights+deal/sports.aspx

http://www.newzimbabwe.com/sports-9140-PSL%20in%20touchline%20adverts%20deal/sports.aspx

http://www.sundaymail.co.zw/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=34031:supersport-deal-divide

http://www.thezimbabwean.co/sport/football/69787/no-sponsorship-deal-yet-for.html

http://www.thezimbabwean.co/sport/football/62080/how-long-will-soccer-administrators.html

https://www.newsday.co.zw/2013/01/18/netone-charity-shield-on/

Detailed Case study: The Ecocash Story

Below is a fascinating read on how Econet made a success of Ecocash. The main points from this are:

• There was a real commitment and investment from Econet to the Ecocash project. Econet created a new business unit and dedicated staff for Ecocash
• Product introduction was kept simple. Econet realized the need for customers to understand and appreciate Ecocash as a money transfer product, initially.
• Have numerous, quality Ecocash agents. This was important to make Ecocash ubiquitous and more effective.
• Ecocash got 75% of its customer sign ups from brand ambassadors.

The case study is tittled  “Big ambition meets effective execution:How EcoCash is altering Zimbabwe’s financial landscape” by  Phil Levin

EcoCash-Zimbabwe

A few ideas on how ZBC can improve

The national broadcaster is in a truly ironic situation. It’s not making money in a virtual monopoly. The reasons for this are well known and have been widely debated. The challenge is how to overcome them and become profitable. Here are some ideas, feel free to add your own in the comments section.

 

CONTENT

Content is king

It’s an overused expression only because it is true. In general it’s cheaper to buy a foreign production than it is to buy a local one, it’s about economies of scale. Oprah can sell her show to 1000s of channels and thus spread her costs, Mai Chisamba only has ZBC to pay for her costs and markup. That’s one of the reasons it’s hard to satisfactorily pay for local content. Local content is key.  It’s the one competitive advantage that ZBC has over its competition i.e free to air channels, DSTV. It’ll be hard for ZBC to have better Hollywood content than DSTV, but ZBC can be the only source of Zimbabwean content. Zimbabweans love Zimbabwean content.

 

Brand

ZBC has very little brand value within the populous. The popularity of Wiztech even among the lower income households was a clear indication of this. ZBC has a really bad image problem. A rebranding exercise has to take place, how extensive is up to them, but they gotta get the following right;

• There needs to be substance to the new ZBC, mostly content as mentioned above
• Change the colouring, styles, transitions etc, it’s about time. As a rule of thumb they should be changed every year to be fresh
• Change the TV and radio personalities. Most of them , to be frank, are grey and others just try too hard. Body language skills are lacking and presenting skills are wanting

The above would help ZBC have a new crisp image from which it can establish itself as a premiere Zimbabwean broadcaster. All of which is important for the following

 

Get Advertising

It’s really not that hard when you’ve got a monopoly.  For it to get this bad is an issue of mismanagement. Get new management with a real turnaround strategy. For a monopoly its not rocket science. ZBC should try these options too;

• Product placement: this is when brands pay to feature as a  subtle part of a program, e.g a drama character enters the scene carrying branded shopping bags from a retailer
• Sponsored programming, its hard to get one sponsor for an entire season, it will be easier to get different sponsors for each episode, e.g a farming program can feature different sponsors and their products on each episode.

 

Distribution

The real potential for ZBC is if it uses its resources to distribute media online. ZBC has a large library of local content that it can resell to a nostalgic audience. Better yet, ZBC can offer new content that it can’t broadcast to the online community. This gives it the opportunity to earn revenue off extra content, since its only got 2 TV stations. Musicians would really benefit from a single distribution channel to an appreciative diasporas and locals. The primary target for this service would be the diasporas, a market with good internet service and more disposable income.

 

Zimbabweans now have a multitude of entertainment options (free to air channels, DSTV, cheap DVDs and music etc).  ZBC must adapt to stay relevant and profitable. There really is less and less room for failure. The population is adjusting to sourcing its own content and advertisers ,realizing this, are becoming more skeptical of ZBC’s reach and influence

 

What are your ideas?

There are a lot of ideas and strategies that ZBC can use to regain its prominence. What would you propose? The challenge is to come up with low cost proposals. Post in the comment box below

Bill board design tips

I’ve always been passing by billboards and never really noticing them. That is because advertisers are forgetting some basic principles. Take a look at the following tips just to get an idea of what you need to remember when designing a billboard.

Billboard Design Tip #1

Simplicity rules!
FACT: Uncluttered billboards usually achieve greater success. Ideally, your billboard design should consist of just 3 main components:

• A compelling image / photo
• A unique, benefit laden, emotionally charged headline
• Your name / logo / contact info

Keep it SIMPLE. Prospects are zipping by at 55+ M.P.H. They have only 5-10 seconds to notice, become engaged by and process your message. Don’t make it difficult by cramming your billboard with too much stuff.

Try to keep your copy length to 7 words or less. The fewer the words, the greater the chance they’ll understand, retain and recall your message.

Billboard Design Tip #2
Use high contrasting colors
Bold, highly contrasting colors help get you noticed. Soft, mellow pastels may work fine in slick magazines but they don’t do well in outdoor advertising. When it comes to color and designing billboards, bold is definitely beautiful.

Billboard Design Tip #3

Forget fancy font styles
Thin and/or elaborate script fonts are hard to read (and often invisible) at long distances. Use thick strokes and simple styles to increase legibility at distances greater than 1,000 feet.Keep ample space between individual letters to avoid blurring, and avoid ALL CAPS, they’re less legible, too. Your billboard has to be read to persuade.Billboard Design Tip #4
Use BIG font sizes
Large fonts allow reading at greater distances, giving the viewer more time to process your message. When designing billboards, minimum type size should be 18″ tall, with 3′ and taller being optimal. Humungous type not only aids readability but adds life to your message.

Billboard Design Tip #5
Outdoor advertising requires outstanding photography
Billboard photos often wind up printing as large as your house, making high-resolution images (300 DPI min.) a must. And good billboard designers leverage that huge scale to make a BIG visual splash, displaying one central image that’s 25′ wide rather than five dinky images that lack emotional impact from a distance.

Billboard Design Tip #6
Laser focus on 1 key objective
You’ve only got seconds to convey your message – no time to list multiple features, lengthy mission statements, or all-inclusive contact information. (Focus your message on one unique objective.) Make one point with IMPACT.

Billboard Design Tip #7
Narrowly target your audience
Try to reach everyone, you’ll appeal to no one. Your target prospect has a name, a face, a neighborhood, passions, desires and needs. Ensure your billboard speaks one-on-one to their specific needs, just as you would with a friend. Establish a meaningful emotional connection with prospects, and they’ll be sure to RECALL your message.

Billboard Design Tip #8

Take it for a test driveShow your billboard design layout to someone for 5-10 seconds. Are they able to read the entire message? Do they easily understand the concept? How about your call to action or business name? Simulating a drive-by-viewing will quickly point out simple mistakes that could clobber your response rate.Billboard Design Tip #9
Use Story Elements to grab and keep their attention
Are your graphics and message thought provoking? Are you creating a vivid mental picture that suggests a storyline and creates drama, excitement, suspense or delight? Bored drivers love to be entertained, but quickly.

Billboard Design Tip #10
Be bold, courageous and daring!
Bear in mind… Absolutely NO ONE will remember DULL.
Follow these 10 billboard design rules but break all the rest in pursuit of the memorable! Explore every possible concept, no matter how crazy it initially seems. Nutty ideas often develop into unique and highly memorable outdoor campaigns.

Source : http://www.designmybillboard.com/designprinciples.htm