Braving the Dragons: Giving Your Good Idea Some Wings #MixedTalents @SamsungSA

Hi Guys,

If you have a great business idea but don’t know how to take it further, Samsung’s Mixed Talents campaign is running a new competition aimed at young and aspiring entrepreneurs - officially opening to the public on 13 June 2016 and closing on 3 July 2016.

Following on from its previous competition earlier this year, which saw three winners each receiving R50 000 in start-up capital, as well as support from a training and mentorship programme, this competition is going to see ten finalists pitching their ideas to a panel of business experts in much the same manner as the popular ‘Dragons’ Den’ television programme.

This is according to Dr Michelle Potgieter, Director of Corporate Marketing and Communications at Samsung South Africa, who adds, “Earlier this year, Samsung Launching People, in partnership with METIME, unveiled the Ideas Bank - a way to turn your entrepreneurial ideas into a reality, and help address the issue of youth unemployment in South Africa. Samsung created this technological platform for young local entrepreneurs, offering them an opportunity to voice their ideas and link them to expert partners for guidance.”

“Now once again, we invite young entrepreneurs to visit the Mixed Talents Ideas Bank, hosted by METIME, to find out how to take their ideas further and stand the chance of winning an amazing prize that has both monetary and mentorship components.”

Potgieter goes on to explain that the prizes offered for the latest local Mixed Talents competition will include another Trade Safe grant giveaway to three promising young entrepreneurs, who will each receive R 50 000 to help launch their business dream. “In addition, winners will be given access to over R 300 000 worth of invaluable business support tools from our partners, such as serviced office space for each organisation through Work Central and world-class coaching through Winning Edge.”

Potgieter continues, “To enter the competition, new users are invited to visit the Ideas Bank web application and submit their entrepreneurial ideas or aspirations. New users will need to build a professional profile to source the relevant support or information to take their idea or business to the market. Existing users should make sure that they polish and update their profile on the Ideas Bank, also completing new fields that have been added.” 

With the ideas loaded, a team of business experts will scrutinize them and select ten finalists. Potgieter says, “The shortlist of finalists will be announced on 13 July and invited to present at a ‘Dragons’ Den’ style grand finale, taking place on 22 July.”

During this event - which borrows its theme from the popular television program in which budding entrepreneurs are able to share their ideas with a team of business experts who are prepared to reward the best idea - a panel of Samsung Mixed Talents experts and partners will choose the three winners.

“One of the distinguishing characteristics of the competition is that promising entrepreneurs are able to get real guidance and support by simply presenting an idea. In contrast, most business incubators stipulate that the entrepreneur needs to have actually established their business. We are extremely excited at the opportunity to offer another three entrepreneurs the chance to turn their idea into a business reality,” concludes Potgieter. 

For more information on the campaign visit: www.launchingpeople.co.za and follow #MixedTalents

Cheers!!!

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The Evolving #Toolkit of the #Entrepreneur #MixedTalents @SamsungSA

Hi Guys,

Entrepreneurs can be defined as those who take capital and use it to make more, generally employing others during the process. Currently, entrepreneurialism is one of the key areas of focus in the drive to reduce high levels of unemployment locally. The urgency of this issue has been reiterated following recent reports by Statistics South Africa, which indicates this year’s first quarter unemployment rates in the country to have risen sharply to 26.7% of the work force. 

With the introduction of new technologies and initiatives, young business people are now able to access a world of innovative tools that were previously unheard of in order to create much needed opportunities. Mere decades ago, those with new ideas for business generally started small, with access to limited opportunities for funding. Aside from taking on the challenge of competing with larger, more established organisations, entrepreneurs of the recent past were required to physically engage with potential investors, partners and mentors. This was often carried out by way of knocking on doors, investing countless precious hours in securing and travelling to meetings. 

The emergence of the Internet and access to modern technology has led to a plethora of new ventures and entrepreneurs who have found easier ways to do business by making use digital communication. In today’s world, entrepreneurial undertakings and technology tend to be intrinsically connected. 

This is according to Michelle Potgieter, Director of Corporate Marketing and Communications at Samsung SA, who says, “Technology today can be used by entrepreneurs both as the focus of their talents and also as a tool that encourages and aids innovation. A creative and key example of a modern tool for South African entrepreneurs is the recently unveiled Samsung Launching People: Mixed Talents solution.”

The Samsung Mixed Talents campaign invites young local entrepreneurs to make use of a technological platform created to offer them a mouthpiece for voicing their ideas and connecting to expert partners for mentorship and guidance. This resource hub is powered by an innovative Ideas Bank, which was created by the Mixed Talents expert team and further developed in partnership with METIME, an online start-up company that facilitates job creation and operates differently to normal employment models. 

Ian Wright, co-founder of METIME, says, “Technology and the modern devices we have access to can act as the most amazing tools of progression. However, the true importance lies ultimately in how the entrepreneur uses the tool. For example, today’s technology is a critical tool for entrepreneurs in their endeavours to access funding and information, as well as communicate with potential partners and mentors. This is what the Ideas Bank is all about.”

Wright says the Ideas Bank helps people to promote their business and skills using a social media mindset within a business context. “The site allows users to categorise themselves in one of three different ways – as a sponsor (investor), an employer or a consultant (coach) – and from day to day, users can change their on-site definition of themselves depending on the need at the time. 

“A sponsor is somebody who offers themselves as an enabler for another person’s work idea. An employer could be anyone who has a particular need for a particular service, while a consultant offers their time and talents to others. This multi-dimensional characterisation means that users are able to present themselves in different ways at different times and transforms the job-seeking from knocking on doors, both literally and metaphorically, highlighting just one aspect at a time.”

Wright says that the database’s information is not prescriptive. “Those on our system will tell the community what they need. From the customisation of their specific requirements we are seeing and noting new trends to start working with. For example, we have already seen a trend of building up the informal trader and are looking at potential matches in this arena from differing needs across the database.” 

“Given enough real help and guidance, successful entrepreneurs can ultimately impact the economy of a country in significant ways,” says Wright. “In today’s tech-driven world, the Samsung Mixed Talents platform is of tremendous help to young South African entrepreneurs. But, in our opinion, this is just the beginning.”

Potgieter concludes by explaining that the true benefit to entrepreneurs does not lie in any one piece of technology that Samsung develops. “Samsung’s greatest value lies in its approach to building a solution that can be used by those who have been looking for it and truly need it. We believe this ideology – of sharing ideas and resources - lies at the heart of how the world will work in the future and how we will combat unemployment going forward, thus ultimately facilitating the growth of our country’s economy as well as its population’s wealth and social security.”

For more information on the campaign or to register, visit: www.launchingpeople.co.za and follow #MixedTalents

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@SamsungSA Launching People #MixedTalents Campaign #Entrepreneurs

Hi Guys, 

Technology has the power to push people forward and spark innovation. More than that, technology has the power to unite people, fostering an environment to create solutions that are not only innovative in functionality, but also serve important social purposes. It is through such mediums that start-ups can find differentiation, become impactful and are grown sustain-ably. 

These are the thoughts of Michelle Potgieter, Director of Corporate Marketing and Communications at Samsung SA, who said “platforms which spark conversation are critical for the mixing of ideas and talents which ultimately lead to innovation.” Adding further she said, “Once you have innovation and technology contributing to business growth, especially in emerging markets such as our own, entrepreneurs have a greater chance of operating in these tough environments.”

South Africa has one of the highest unemployment rates globally, which is continuing to rise, according to the recently released Quarterly Labour Force Survey (QLFS)**. From the survey results, the national unemployment rate in the second quarter of 2015 was 25.5%. The figure is especially high amongst the youth, currently standing at 36%. 

Based on these insights, Samsung identified an opportunity to create a technological platform that would serve to tackle and alleviate unemployment. This innovative offering was created in the form of a web-based tool that could look to change the makeup of how our economic structure, by offering entrepreneurs a mouthpiece to voice their ideas. 

Samsung approached Carol Koffman, a senior manager at Deloitte, and Jonathan Liebmann, the entrepreneur behind the rejuvenation of the Maboneng precinct, with the offer of being campaign experts that would engage with and mentor millennial business owners. 

In order to structure their approach, Carol and Jonathan conducted workshops, where groups of educated, unemployed young South Africans were asked about their opinions on the topic of unemployment. These workshop discussions allowed the millennials to share frustrations around starting their own business and the lack of opportunities and resources available to them.

Over a series of 8 workshops, Carol and Jonathan collaborated to find possible ways to address the issue of unemployment among South African youth. These workshops were published on Samsung’s various digital media platforms to increase awareness of the project. 

“We had to start somewhere as the problem is so big. It became clear that the youth we need to target are the ones that are leaving school at a tertiary level and are entering urban areas,” said Koffman. 

The final solution developed and revealed by Carol and Jonathan is a resource hub for entrepreneurs, essentially functioning as a “one-stop shop” for any and all requirements entrepreneurs would have. These include advice and direction on areas such as proposal writing, CV development, ideas-pitching to business, collaborations on new ideas, mentoring and coaching, on-the-job experience and access to funding, among many other areas of need. 

The hub is powered by an innovative Ideas Bank, which filters and vets entrepreneurial ideas according to type, industry, nature of impact and others, and then channels and matches these to the right business partner, coach, funder or business collaborations. 

It is therefore a truly collaborative, dynamic and open source, owned by the contributors and entrepreneurs themselves. Moreover, because it is on an integrated platform, the data that will be extracted will assist in influencing policy makers and leaders in entrepreneurial development.

In order to implement the “Ideas Bank” and eventually expand on the concept, Carol and Jonathan, with the support of Samsung, partnered with METIME, an online start-up company that specialises in creating employment opportunities. Their values and vision were perfectly aligned with Launching People’s key focus of alleviating the unemployment crisis in South Africa.

Although the full METIME solution will only roll out in June 2016, the BETA phase was successfully launched in February 2016. A group of millennials were chosen to submit their ideas that were vetted by a panel of experts, including our expert pair. Three applicants were selected, each receiving R50 000 in start-up capital and mentorship support to help kick-start their business dreams. 

“The team at Samsung is very proud of this initiative, as we see the development of our youth as a critical component to the future success of this country. We encourage all millennials with bright ideas to come forward and use the platform. South Africans are naturally innovative and are leaders in entrepreneurial initiatives – we as corporates need to develop and nurture these talents,” concluded Potgieter.

For more information on the campaign visit: www.launchingpeople.co.za and follow #MixedTalents on Twitter. 

*Samsung commissioned Masutane Consulting Services to conduct online research into over 300 young South Africans from ages 18 – 35 to gauge their perceptions on a range of issues. The research was entitled “Project Youth Debrief”.

**The QLFS was released by Statistics South Africa for the second quarter of 2015.

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