It is no longer news that Google has been making its footprints across Africa, starting with South Africa and Kenya and#8230;

Kilonshele.com is a new e-commerce site that provides ticket sales, marketing and distribution services as well as connects the world to#8230;

As strange as “Planet Google” may sound, it really does exist. Randall Stross was probably the first man to land#8230;

After about two weeks of announcing the launch of a new feature that allows their subscribers send Twitter updates via SMS#8230;

Whoever your favourite personality is #8211; comedian, radio presenter, dj, actor, CEO, musician,  motivational speaker or pastor #8211; Taafoo lets#8230;

It seems you can now find out about breaking news and the latest and top stories of the last 24#8230;

As the telecoms war (to grab more customers) continues in Nigeria, Starcomms has just added yet another tool that helps#8230;

At the end of a dinner and networking event organized by VTNetwork Nigeria Ltd at the Civic Centre in Lagos#8230;

If you have been wondering what the term #8216;nigeria 2.0#8242; (coined by Francis Oghuma) is, let me announce to you#8230;

It seems that Nigerian companies have started going crazy for social media platforms especially Twitter. I#8217;m not surprised since Twitter has#8230;

Since I started watching the African Technology scene, I#8217;ve seen quite a good number of start-ups from Africa with great#8230;

I wrote about NEXT sometime early this year at the Startups Nigeria blog, and have been an avid reader and follower#8230;

Notice the keyword?

Impact. Impact. Impact.

That’s what or how your brand must be, if you’re going to stand out from the crowd and differentiate yourself in your market or industry. There are a lot of ways you can create a personal brand or business brand, but I’ve narrowed them to the top three.

1. Name


2. Logo


3. Design

Recently, I discussed first way to create and build your brand. After choosing a brand name, you should design a brand logo for your business in order to build awareness. Today, I’ll be discussing the second one ndash; Logo.

Logo

Your business logo is the image of your site, and your personal portrait adds to the image branding for your site. If your logo is not a product of Photoshop or similar image designing software, it would hardly have the aesthetics and features that a quality and easily brand-able logo has and may not grab the attention of users.

Your logo concept and design must also be unique and not look anything like that of another website or company; otherwise you may be sued for brand trademark infringements. It is also important to use quality picture formats such as PNG, GIF or JPEG. I recommend you use the Portable Network Graphics (PNG) format, as it gives your logo or portrait the best quality.

Your logo should also be flexible and adaptable to different situations. For instance, Google always modifies their logo during important celebrations such as Halloweens, Christmas, New Year Day, etc, events such as FIFA World Cup, Olympics, and so on.

When designing a brand logo, use the right colours that would appeal to your audience. Granted you might want to use your favourite colours, but what if these colours don’t fly with your audience?

For instance, when designing the logo of Startups Nigeria, I put into consideration the colours of the Nigerian flag (green and white). I like green, but it’s not my best colour, even though my apartment has several shades of green. Thanks to my girl;-)

But, my choice of green for the Startups Nigeria platform is due to the fact that I felt (and still feel) Nigerians can easily connect with the green colour, just like they’ve done with the Globacom brand.

Besides, my goal is to build a business and technology startup community of ‘green’ entrepreneurs and businesses. By that I mean, entrepreneurs and businesses that won’t fade or fail. Hence, businesses that would flourish and remain focused despite the challenges. And of course, startups that rely on green technology.

On the flip side, some people have asked why I’ve used a different colour for my personal blog, www.loyokezie.com and not green. Well, the reason is simple: My favourite colours are Blue and Grey. But perhaps I could add a green smile on my face;-)

UK Prime Minister, Gordon Brown announced earlier this week that the government would invest £150m in high growth technology businesses. The UK Innovation Investment Fund will focus on growing small businesses, start-ups and spin-outs in the digital, life sciences, clean tech and advanced manufacturing sectors.

The investment total will be matched by the private sector, and according to the government, this could lead to enough private investment to build a £1bn fund over the next decade.

“This fund will help build Britain’s future by investing in key sectors,” said Gordon Brown.

“It will provide crucial support for our most promising start-ups and existing small companies just when they need it most. Venture capital finance is the lifeblood of innovation and crucial to ensuring the commercialisation of the discoveries coming out of our research base.”

According to government figures there are 1,093 venture capital backed tech companies in the UK employing more than 40,000 highly skilled workers.

Business secretary Lord Mandelson said the government had identified access to venture capital as one of the ‘critical factors’ in developing innovative UK ventures.

He added: “The [fund] will be a shot in the arm for the British venture capital industry. It is also a challenge to UK VCs to follow the government’s lead in backing British entrepreneurs in building exciting new companies, investing in new technologies and creating new jobs.”

Via: Startups.co.uk

Here are simple steps to guide you in starting a successful small business in Nigeria.

1. Identify Your Business Opportunity

Choosing what kind of business to start can be an immobilizing task when confronted with the multitude of opportunities. It’s important to determine where your passions lie and to understand your entrepreneurial personality type. Do you think you have found the one business opportunity that will bring you freedom, fame, and plenty of profits? If not, keep searching.

2. Build a Business Plan

For the majority of start-ups, a business plan allows you to gain a better understanding of your industry structure, competitive landscape, and the capital requirements of starting a small business. If business planning is beneficial, why do so few start-ups use business planning? Learn the critical steps to writing a business plan.

3. Name Your Business

What’s in a business name? Everything and nothing. The right business name will help distinguish you from a sea of bland competitors, provide your customers with a reason to hire you, and aid in the branding of your company. Find the best ownership structure for your small business. The most basic of all business legal structures is the sole proprietorship. Other possible structures include the popular limited liability company, a partnership, or an S corporation.

4. Register Your Business

Starting a small business requires the usual paperwork and regulations. Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) is responsible for this, for a small business start up you might not really need to incorporate the business as a Business name registration will do. Setting up your small business may require a business name registration to avoid embarrassment from local government authorities and to enable you get a corporate account with a bank. You can get your ex-school mate with a background in Law to help you out.

5. Find Start-up Money

Contrary to popular belief, most small business start-ups aren’t funded by grants, venture capitalists, or banks. Your seed money will come from your personal savings, friends, family, and any other creative means such as bartering.

6. Determine Your Business Location

Surveys have revealed that over 56% of the fastest growing companies were started at home. Discover what you need to make your home office design more productive. If home business isn’t for you, learn how sharing office space can aid your start-up. Don’t forget to review the pros and cons of office space leasing vs. buying. Read Tips on Choosing an Ideal Business Location.

7. Create an Accounting System

Unless you’re a number person, the accounting and book-keeping aspect of running your business can’t be avoided. Setting up your accounting system will help you understand the financial aspect of running a business. If you need help in setting this up, you can contact an ex-school mate who has a good background in accounting.

I’ll be discussing these steps one after the other in the future.

Here are a few social media lessons from Barack Obama that can help you connect with your audience, build your brand and generate more revenue than you can ever imagine.

1. Obama loved his audience first and showed that they mattered most in the campaign and that’s one of the reasons he raise as much money as he did throughout the campaign. He often said that his campaign was about the American people and he focused on their problems and sought ways to solve them.

Lesson: Know your audience and strive to reach them. Focus on your customers and show them love (because love makes the world go round). Give them value, because they are going to pay you more money for value.

2. Obama surrounded himself with smart people, even people smarter than he is. Even though he’s a highly intelligent man, he’s also a humble servant and is willing to acknowledge other people’s viewpoint.

Lesson: Borrow brains. You aren’t smart enough to succeed on your own. Look for people smarter than you are. If you are good at internet technology, find someone good at internet marketing to partner with.

3. Obama marketed himself and his campaign both online and offline using tools and techniques that appealed to a larger audience. He connected with his audience via his speeches and effectively used social media sites such as Facebook, Flickr, LinkedIn, Technorati, Digg, Friendster, Youtube, etc to network with his audience.

Lesson: Communicate with your audience. Let them see you as a real person who is interested in their needs and wants to fill those needs. Establish relationships with the social media and use it to create awareness about your startup.

4. Obama adopted advertising strategies and mediums that reached his audience wherever they were via Tv ads, radio ads, etc His goal was to effectively overscore the importance of his campaign as well as his programs and plans for the American people. Though some of those ads were considered as attacks against his opponents, they were mostly in response to his opponents ads.

Lesson: Create an advertising strategy that would out-compete your competitors. Use a far reaching advertising medium to target your audience. Press releases and interviews in local newspapers as well as web-savvy publications can sell your start-up very well.

Obama enjoyed recreation and had fun even during the toughest times in the campaign. He played basketball and did bowling (even if he thinks his bowling sucks…Lol) and worked out to keep fit.

Lesson: Don’t overwork yourself. Enjoy reasonable recreation and just have fun sometimes.

Note: These lessons are by no means exhaustive, so Irsquo;ll be adding more to the list soon. In the future, Irsquo;ll be writing about how companies and organizations can use these social nedia lessons. If you learned any lesson from Barack Obamarsquo;s use of social media, please tell let us know.

Facebook has grown to become one of the most popular websites today due to its social networking tools and utilities, audience reach and its relevance to businesses. Facebook is a social utility for connecting with people ndash; friends, family, co-workers, or simply others ndash; with similar interests as well as sharing information with them in several ways.

When the site was created, most people didn’t recognise Facebook’s potentials for growing their businesses. But today, successful companies are using Facebook’s utilities such as applications and advertisements to build their brands.

Before discussing ways Facebook can help you grow your business, here are some goals for using Facebook for Business:

• Attract people who are searching for your products or services online.


• Connect and engage with current and potential customers online.


• Create a community around your business for interaction.


• Promote your contents such as blog articles, press releases, product information, events, photos, videos and other resources

If these are part of your business goals, then you might want to learn ways you can grow your business using Facebook.

Facebook Page

Apart from creating a personal profile as an individual, you can also create a Page for your business to represent your company on Facebook. A Page is similar to a Profile except that it is, by default, public and users can become a “fan” of your Page without first requiring approval from the Page administrators.

Creating a Page is absolutely FREE but will require time and effort to build and maintain. To get started, visit http://www.facebook.com/pages/create.php

Facebook Group

In a few cases, however, it may make sense to create a Facebook group instead of a page or in addition. The key distinction between groups and pages is that a group is for a community of people with a common interest, while a page represent a brand or entity of which there are “fans.” For example, there could be a Nokia phone users group on Facebook and/or a Nokia brand fans page.

By participating in the discussions of your page or group, you can promote your business, establish contacts and connect with potential customers and redirect them to your company website. To create a group, visit http://www.facebook.com/groups.php and click “Create a New Group” in the top right hand corner of the webpage.

Facebook Ads

Facebook ads allow you to advertise a website or content you manage on Facebook (like a group, page, or event). The system for building and running ads on Facebook is quite similar to Google Adwords. Thus, you can promote your business, get more fans for your business page, and drive more leads for your sales team.

Facebook allows you to target the reach for your ad by location, gender, age, and interests. As you add filters, Facebook will automatically update the count of people fitting your criteria so you can gauge the size of your target market on Facebook.

Facebook has built-in analytics to help track ad performance in terms of number of impressions, clicks, and click through rate. You can also run multiple ad variations at the same time and use the ads manager to determine which ones deliver the best results for your business.

Facebook allows you to select a payment type and budget for your ad campaign. The two main payment types are “pay for clicks” and “pay for views.” The “pay for clicks” offers the best value for the cost, particularly because the click through rate is very low (less than .1% for most ads).

Thus, if you include your company logo as the photo for the ad, you will get a large number of brand impressions to your target audience, and you will only pay for the actual clicks to your Page or website. With Facebook Ads, millions of people are able to see your business on Facebook who would naturally visit your website, purchase your products or use your services.

To create a Facebook Ad, visit http://www.facebook.com/advertising and click “Get Started.” Then, choose what you would like to advertise: an external website, a Facebook Page, a group, or an event you manage.

Facebook Apps

There are thousands of applications or apps on Facebook that can help you share content and interact with your customers. A Facebook application can take on many forms, but in order to fully utilize the suite of integration points and deliver a full user experience, it is recommended that you integrate your application into certain areas of your Facebook profile. Facebook applications allow you to connect with your potential users, customers and partners. You can visit http://www.facebook.com/applications to browse available applications.

Final thoughts

Businesses need to start using Facebook (if they’re not already doing so) to reach out to millions of Facebook users worldwide who are actively involved with the site named ldquo;The Most Popular Siterdquo; for the Year 2008.

Indeed, Facebook can help you to build your business brand, interact and engage with existing and potential customers, and drive sales and generate revenue for your business.

And here comes the best part ndash; Facebook is FREE!

So my first prediction about the future of web start-ups is pretty straightforward: there will be a lot of them…As the volume of start-ups increases, big companies will start to develop standardized procedures that make acquisitions little more work than hiring someone.

His 10 predictionshellip;

1. Lots of Startups

2. Standardization

3. New Attitude to Acquisition

4. Riskier Strategies are Possible

5. Younger, Nerdier Founders

6. Startup Hubs Will Persist

7. Better Judgement Needed

8. College Will Change

9. Lots of Competitors

10. Faster Advances

Interestingly, I found that the keywords ndash; lsquo;cheaprsquo;, lsquo;cheaperrsquo; and lsquo;cheapnessrsquo; ndash; were mostly used to describe how launching a startup could become in the future. But there’s something that Graham did not say ndash; whether or not these startups would become profitable on the long run (even if they were started cheap) since therersquo;ll be lots of competition.

In his opinion, the startups that would eventually succeed are those that would be acquired by “big companies”. After all, acquisitions are now getting starndardized. I agree with Paul, but where does that leave startups that canrsquo;t go through these standardized acquisitions or that simply don’t want to get acquired by the “bulls”?

A case in point is Twitter. There’s been so much debate about how Twitter will make money, especially after Twitterrsquo;s founders, Evan Williams and Biz Stone have affirmed that TWITTER IS NOT FOR SALE.

Now, my concern is: where does that leave African Internet startups?

Paul again added:

Fortunately, if startups get cheaper to start, therersquo;s another way to convince investors. Instead of going to venture capitalists with a business plan and trying to convince them to fund it, you can get a product launched on a few tens of thousands of dollars of seed money from us or your uncle, and approach them with a working company instead of a plan for one.

Will that make them profitable? No!

I think that without a well-structured and sustainable revenue generating model, Internet startups in Africa could be hopeless. Don’t get me wrong, there are a few that may have been fortunate to get funding or acquired, but have they been profitable? How much are they now worth?

While I’m of the opinion that there are too many Internet start-ups doing the same thing, I also think that this makes it difficult to have Internet millionaires (or billionaires) from Africa. Perhaps I can count one or two of them that I know, and you may know someone or so, but the question is:

Did they become millionaires or billionaires solely from their Internet startups?

Today, many smart companies are moving from (high-cost) mass advertising to (low-cost) direct marketing which puts the company and their products in front of their target markets via Marketing 2.0.

Marketing 2.0 is based on building conversations and interactions with customers via the Internet with a view to generating sales leads. This means that customer relationships or service (whatever you call it) should not only be driven by telephone contact centres or face-to-face contact, but also via corporate blogs, online communities as well as email and instant messenger (IM) platforms.

In addition to traditional marketing channels, companies need to adopt social media marketing tools (a.k.a Marketing 2.0 Tools) such as Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, Flickr, etc in order to engage with their customers and build their brands both locally and globally.

Since customers are seen as the most important stakeholders in a business’s success, engaging with them via these Marketing 2.0 tools is the best way companies can show they are customer-focused and customer-driven.

Launch. Social. Network?

Companies that claim to be customer-driven should at least have an online community that fosters interaction and participation with customers. It wonrsquo;t hurt, really. For example, you can setup a mini-social network for your company, and let your customers become the primary focus of your business. Their participation in the community is somewhat similar to being part of other social networks they naturally use such as Facebook, Myspace, Perfspot, Hi5, Orkut and Ning.

An example of a customer-centric approach and strategy is Zain Nigeria’s central station (http://www.centralstationng.com) which is an online community of Zain mobile subscribers in Nigeria that allows users to connect with other people, share information and participate in competitions. This ever-growing community has attracted a lot of youths, other users and fans of the Zain mobile network.

Thus, if your company has a large customer-base or is looking for new ways to increase their customer-base, an online collaboration using the company’s social network would provide the opportunity for finding high-value and meaningful contributions that could provide key information critical to resolving customer-related issues.

What. Customers. Want?

More than ever before, customers value a community where their views and opinions can be heard by the company and they are most likely to stay on your website and support your product brands when their opinions are appreciated by the company. Their opinions, either negative or positive, tend to add value to the company’s business as well as its products and services.

Customers also like to participate in a community that allows them to interact easily with other potential customers. That’s exactly what some of the social media tools provide ndash; an excellent way of using and sharing information via blogs, discussion forums, RSS feeds, bookmarking, etc.

How. Companies. React?

Companies can join in the discussion and get right into the heart of the conversations in a way to connect with their customers. By providing tips and advice on how customers can use their products and allowing for instant feedback from them through the company blog or Instant Messaging (IM) platforms integrated to their websites, they can respond to quick questions from customers about their products or services.

Irsquo;ll be discussing how building a corporate blog can help companies to build their company brand in a future article.

Image via Flickr by Fred Cavazza

In order to succeed in the lsquo;Buzz Industryrsquo; ndash; now by that I mean, the social media business ndash; it is necessary that you find smart and easy ways to market that buzz offline, otherwise how can you grab audiences that donrsquo;t know what the heck is lsquo;Social Mediarsquo; or lsquo;Web 2.0prime;?

Since you can not start a social media school or take them tutorials on social media, here are some tips that will definitely help you become successful with an offline market.

Use Words of Mouth

You know how gossip spreads like wild fire? Thatrsquo;s exactly how gossip about your social media business can spread like a virus. Tell your friends, family members, neighbors, classmates, workmates and anyone you find about your business and the products and services that you offer. Trust me, they will tell other people, who will also tell othershellip;tell othershellip;tell othershellip; That way, you are likely to have infected as many people as possible with your business.

Use Communities

Here, I mean communities such as your school, church, clubs, associations, etc The idea is to reach out to the members of these communities that may need your services. Quick phone calls, brief presentations, or even lunch with these people could simply do the magic.

Use Traditional Media

Your local newspaper can just be what your business needs to get widely known offline. You may contact a friend who works with any of your local print media and get him/her to write about your business. You can also get yourself an interview with the newspaper. Thus, more and more people offline will get to know your brand when they read these papers.

Use Advertising Tools

By this I mean, engage in some advertising and promotional efforts to promote your business. You can use tee-shirts, face caps, etc to market your brand. That way, you can get people offline to engage with your products and services online.

Are there any other offline marketing strategies you have used for your business? How have they worked for you?

Image via: SearchEngineWatch.com

Whether you have launched your startup or you are planning to launch, you might want to put into consideration the location of your business. Why? Because you will have better chances to succeed in a location that is suitable for your online venture.

Since you may have launched your startup before moving to another city, it is critical to consider choosing a city that will provide your business better chances of succeeding. There are a few factors to consider when deciding in what city to create and build your startup business.

Here are top 5 factors to consider:

Potential Clients

You should find out where your potential customers/clients are located. Who is your target market? Who will your product/service appeal to? Of course, your startup business is online, but you also have business to do offline. If your potential customers or target audience are mostly located in a particular city or area it seems natural to get an office space in that particular area.

Office Space

You may not have the money to set up an office now, especially as your startup business is self-funded and the chances of getting VC-backing are slim. Besides, the cost of office spaces in a choice area could be very high, not to talk of the utility bills, transport costs, and other overheads. Don’t be heart broken, friend.

You can still run your startup from your living apartment, University hostel or a decent Internet cafe. If, however, your startup will eventually require an office space in the nearest future, it could make a lot of sense to move to a smaller city where real estate is cheaper.

Software Developers

You will need people who are skilled in software/web development to join your team. Although you can hook up with any of these people online, but what happens if they must meet at a physical location such as an office space? Will they be willing to move to that city?

If you want to build a team around your startup, then you need to make sure the city where you live have the right combination of software developers, graphics designers and other highly specialized skills. You might want to consider moving to a larger city or a city with a nearby local university where you can find your team.

Startup Hub

Perhaps you don’t live in the Silicon Valley-like city that offers special programs and assistance for startups. In the United States, most cities have special programs and assistance for startup companies. In fact, large technology companies such as Microsoft, Sun Microsystems and others have special startup competitions for startup companies.

There are also angel investors, incubators such as Y Combinator as well as Venture Capital firms that provide assistance to early stage startups. Sadly, Africa doesnrsquo;t have a stable support system for startups via funding, infrastructure or technical/training support.

But who says your startup canrsquo;t thrive without a startup hub?

Travel

You should consider travel when you are choosing your startup city. If you will be having a lot of customers coming for meetings, then you should be located in a city that is easy to get to via major airlines. That means that the city should be accessible from other cities within the country. If your customers will be coming from abroad, then you must be located in a city (or nearby city) that has access to an international airport.

Again, your startup business should be located in an area that can be easily assessed via the available transport systems. You should locate your startup in an ideal area where your customers would not experience huge traffic issues.

What are your thoughts about choosing a city for your startup business? Are you planning to move? What are your challenges?

Photo Via Flickr by Benajose

Zoopy, an online and mobile social media community where users upload, share and interact with videos, photos, audio and notes will soon be making its footprints around the African social media space.

Based in South Africa, the company which was launched in March 2007 was selected by Nokia as their Regional Imaging Partner for South Africa in December 2007 and received 40% investment (now increased to 75%) from Vodacom, South Africa’s leading cellular network in June 2008.

According to MyDigitalLife.co.za, Zoopy’s CEO, Jason Elk says Zoopy will leverage Vodacom`s technology and reach into the (African) continent in order to tap into the market.

Elk is adamant there is a large enough market for social media in Africa. (I agree with him). He also points to countries such as Nigeria and Kenya, which he says have burgeoning online communities, not to mention a very huge mobile community waiting to be exploited.

Trust Zoopy, their goal is to target those communities with their suite of mobile broadcasting services. Catch them young, huh!

I recently joined Zoopy and got in touch with Jason, who confirmed to me that (in his words):

We’re starting to explore African markets this year and are just as excited at growing our community into the rest of the continent.

If Zoopy launches across Africa, this could change the face of social media and raise the standards of online communities in Africa. But would that stop Africans from using YouTube? I doubt. Whatever the case, Zoopy could still become a major competitor in the African social media space.

My advice to companies here is to invest in social media communities in Africa. That way, they can easily target audiences that are directly related to or interested in their products and brand.

Is your company moving where the market is going?