Know-How Exchange : Advertising/PR

Starting a business as a consultant requires a lot of patience and search. The first is to convince yourself that you will not get a lot of business at the very beginning unless you have all the best contacts at the top of the largest companies and your are extremely well known in your area of expertise. The latter is to find where you want to position yourself? Strategy thinker, advertising guru, distribution export, events organizer, an all around adviser? I have been a consultant in the past and it took me some time to position myself and at the end I decided for the communication field where I had a lot of experience. I was a step from becoming an ad agency but decided not to do it. At any rate, try to find a teaching job at a known local college (it gives you exposure) and do not limit yourself to lectures only, write in the marketing section of local newspapers, call people at the highest levels in corporation and make appointments, have a small brochure and hand it yourself after these meetings, follow up with a letter. Never give your service for free. If you know you are good, charge a decent fee. It will make people respect you. Try to associate with an international firm of consultants in your area or become their representative. Having a global name after yours can give you an added value. Besides, these international firms usually have working tools tools that can impress potential clients. Dress always as if you are doing fine (corporation do not like to work with people that look as if they are in the bring of poverty) even if your are just starting and have a shallow pocket. If you can find a local partner that can provide contacts and is also a good professional consider a partnership. Two heads think better than one. Wish you good luck! ...ah one last think keep your good humor always. It helps to keep your head cool!

Dear Ace or Dawi

Please forgive me if I have misinterpreted your requirement, but the previous answers, and they are very sound, concentrate on positioning your company in the local market whereas you seem to be asking about how the gain accreditation for BEE status.

I am familiar with some of this legislation because I have two partner companies in S Africa and they too need to have DDE status if they want big CRM systems for government, agencies and larger client. I will forward your question to them to see if they can offer any insights into the mechanism.

On a slightly flippant note, why don’t you join the ANC or offer advice to Jacob Zuma – being in contact with the real powers in SA will open up a huge number of new channels. I can’t believe that you want “War Veterans” from the apartheid age. (Brave warriors though they might have been} - “Hand me my machine gun” worries me a little about this wonderful country.

On the other hand, their youth movements would give you access to some of brightest people in your country, so marketing a recruitment programme for the DDE sector would probably be best don through personal networking with powerful people who might assist you with your prospective new members of staff.

I’ll come back to you if my Business Partners in S Africa are able to offer local insights beyond the above suggestions. They gain quite a number large contracts and government, so gaining DDE status must be worth the effort. I also have an old school pal who is professor or reader in astrophysics at the local University. I know that he is aware of the DDE regulation, because he has to adhere to it in hiring his technicians and post doctoral workers. If this is too academic to be relevant, please let me know, otherwise I will contact him

By the way, in the 1980’s I was sales and marketing manger of a company which exported to South Africa. The dealer was ahead of his time because he practiced DDE as we now understand it. Our main problem was avoiding arrest and deportation for braking most of the apartheid laws in existence. The local workforce was fantastic, showing a degree of industry and enthusiasm which is unfortunately less common in Europe.


Best wishes

Steve Alker
SymVolli and Xspirt