This is the second in a series of posts identifying and substantiating several ICT projects to stimulate and grow the Garden Route ICT industry.

It is undeniable that the Garden Route offers a superior lifestyle and great infrastructure. This combined with a talented and motivated workforce, strong ICT skills pool and an effective and efficient local government makes it a top investment destination. In fact, two of the Garden Route towns have recently being identified by FinWeek’s as two of the top 10 of SA’s best places to do business.

All the requirements for a strong BPO destination is being met:

• We have a strong pool of english speaking matriculants.
• We have a strong pool of technical skills available to support the establishment and support of BPO operators.
• We have a well motivated and competent local government in place committed to helping grow the BPO industry in the area.
• We have local government incentives in place to help existing BPO operators establish a presence in the area.
• We have fast and reliable fibre connectivity connecting the region to the bigger cities, as well as multiple fibre rings within the George CBD and surrounds. The area is further covered by multiple fast Wireless networks.
• We have quality CBD office space available for quick occupation.
• We offer a productive and virtually crime free lifestyle with a minimal commute and excellent quality of life.
• Labour and property costs are well below those of Johannesburg and Cape Town.

Ask anyone outside the region what the Garden Route is all about and they will tell you it is a place of beaches, lakes, rivers, mountains and forests. Ask them about the business that happens in the region and they will give you a blank stare.

This is the single biggest obstacle the region face in growing the local economy. Overcoming this must be the first step in any economic development initiative planning on attracting more business to the region, even tourism business.

In recent industry workshops run by the George Municipality it became clear that all the key industries in the region (Tourism, Manufacturing, ICT, Agriculture / Agri Processing) want to do better collective marketing and is dependent on business coming in from outside the region.

I propose that we create a single marketing message that goes out with all communication, for example

• marketing material
•  invoices
• quotes
• correspondance
• rates bills
• websites
• email signatures
• etc

Something like “The Garden Route is open for business“ should do the trick.

This statement can easily be backed up by real data on the regional economy, which includes diverse industries such as airplane manufacture, electronics R&D and development, medical research and serious agri processing.

A clear and concise web page with the relevant background can be used to get the message across. Simple, do-able, quick to action and with massive impact.

This is the first in a series of posts identifying and substantiating several ICT projects to stimulate and grow the Garden Route ICT industry.

In a previous post I gave some background as to the startup scene within the Garden Route. The area is full of promise and talent, and serious startups are already operating from the area, with others relocating to take advantage of the superior lifestyle and great infrastructure.

The Garden Route is the ideal place from where to run a software factory. Over R750 million worth of software development work is exported form the Western Cape alone to India and other off-shore destinations. The Garden Route has the skills, capacity and experience to attract a significant number of these currently off-shored projects. The close proximity to Cape Town combined with the skills base and business experience should make the shift from India to the Garden Route and obvious one.

The Garden Route ICT Incubator in George is the ideal place to locate such a software factory. It has the physical space, the required infrastructure and a bunch of highly skilled individuals which can meet any demands.

So what is required to make this happen?

• We need to convince the companies in Cape Town and Johannesburg that currently export software development off-shore that there is a credible alternative right here.
• We need to prove that we can deliver. We start of with a single manageable project from a corporate and we deliver a superior result, in every way.
• We need to work together, to ensure we can deliver. All the skills is here, it is simply a case of creating a project team per deliverable.

We have the will, and we have the way. The next step is an easy one. We must identify the opportunities, and create the capacity to deliver at the scale and quality required.

I suspect that several large ICT companies from Johannesburg and Cape Town will move into the region soon and establish their own outsourced ICT services divisions to serve their own needs, just like some BPO operators are doing already. This will help accelerate the growth of the local ICT industry and will not only create serious critical mass but will also create the much needed credibility of the region as a serious ICT destination.

Over the next year the Garden Route ICT landscape will undergo serious change as it transforms from a place of small lone IT companies into a region of ICT excellence.

Upcoming posts in this series will include the following:

• The Garden Route, the best kept secret of the South African BPO Industry
• The Garden Route as the agri & tourism R&D destination of choice
• The Garden Route as the prototyping destination of choice

The Garden Route is open for Business!

We are seeing this more and more, as the Garden Route evolves from a sleepy holiday destination into a serious player in the economy, manufacturing everything from aircraft to furniture to electronics, and everything in between.

Combining this with a serious skills base we have a highly credible business destination.

We are fortunate that the Garden Route has it’s own pool of talent, both in the technology sector as well as on the business and mentoring side.

The ICT sector is particularly active, with well over 100 ICT companies operating from George and surrounds alone. These includes a mix of software, hardware, training and consultancy, providing a nice mix any startup would need in order to succeed. Regular industry get togethers like geek breakfasts result in a well connected network of entrepreneurs.

In a previous post I laid out the case for a local ICT incubator, based in the Garden Route. In the last 6 months this idea has flourished, with committed support from SEDA, provincial and local government, as well as the local industry.  We are on  roll and plan on opening the doors to a permanent incubation / innovation hub in the coming weeks.

Some of the existing successful startups that have their roots firmly in the Garden Route includes AppCRAFT, PlotMyRide, Micket and MiMiles. AppCRAFT and PlotMyRide are both award winning startups, the latter having turned down Google investor funding to rather pursue a more owner influenced route.

The success and number of startups in the region is an indication of the enormous talent pool in the area. This combined with lots of highly experienced semi-retired business skills available in the local economy makes it the ideal breeding ground for startups.

Creating a physical space where entrepreneurs can mingle and grow their businesses will further increase our ability to create the businesses of tomorrow. This space will not only be a technology hub, but also a business mentoring and collaborative marketing space. This will be combined with various training and marketing programs that will enable startups to grow and expand their ideas and operations.

Silicon Cape’s Startup Academy aims to connect startup’s with those that can offer sound advice re finance and getting a business off the ground, based on experience and lessons learnt. We will be introducing something similar, regular startup coffee sessions where local startups can quiz those that are further down the road, and can bounce ideas of experienced business brains. We will also be connecting potential VC’s to promising startups.

Towards the second half of the year we will be hosting a Garden Route technology expo, which will also include a startup competition, with potential prizes including seed funding, business mentoring and marketing exposure. The competition will be along a similar format to the innovation competition currently being run by The Hub Johannesburg. Several VC’s have already indicated interested in coming to the region to participate in this exciting event.

We want innovative ideas, great prototypes and awesome pitches. Anything less belong in the big cities.  Some of the unique strengths of our region lies in the tourism and agri sectors, where innovative high tech startups have a wide open playing field.

The local infrastructure is well evolved and includes a first rate airport, stable power supply, fast reliable fibre connectivity, backed by high speed wireless networks even in the remotest parts of the region. Plans are underfoot to cover George with free wifi, just as Stellenbosch has done. We have a stable and committed local government and business chamber that is actively participating in growing the region as a technology destination. Initiatives are underway that will make it much easier for new startups to do business with local government, regional business and beyond.

All this offerred in a super environment, abundant natural beauty, significantly less crime that the big cities, no traffic congestion, etc. The list goes on and on.

With all this going for the region we expect some formidable startups to emerge and operate from within the Garden Route in the next few years.

The Chamber has enjoyed a very positive term resulting in a growth of membership, an enhanced community profile and services provided for the members. In addition to consolidating its financial position, the organisation has successfully developed its internal capability, providing a strong foundation for continued growth.

Exceeding 300 members was a notable achievement for the Chamber .The growth of the Chamber continues to strengthens our undertaking to be the leading voice of business in the region.
Regular interactions with key people has been, and continues to be, a fundamental necessity.

August saw the George Business Chamber arranging an informal breakfast, for members and interested parties, with Minister Allan Winde, MEC for Finance, Economic Development and Tourism. The intention was create an environment where identified issues that had been identified by local and regional business, could be openly discussed. Minister Winde announced the “Red Tape” initiative which has been a catalyst in the improvement of some businesses that have put this initiative to the test. The “Red Tape” initiative has been put into place so that incidents or matters that hinder the progress of  business’ advancement can be investigated and hopefully removed.

Another milestone has been the formalisation of the Garden Route Business Forum which focuses on regional economic development and enjoys the attendance of representatives from a broad spectrum of key players across the region. I would like to acknowledge MEC Winde and his department for their commitment to working with us and the Regional Business Forum towards strong economic growth for our region.

During the last year our ties with Provincial Government has strengthened significantly, and we now have the commitment from MEC Winde that George is not the step child of the Province, but a key player in the economy of the region. There are several provincial initiatives underway that aim to grow the economy of the region.
I would like to thank MEC Winde for the continued support from him and his department.

We have also had a very successful year in dealing with Local government. Carli Bunding-Venter from the LED department has been co-opted onto our exco and continues to play a vital role in helping each organization understand and work with each other. Some key economic development initiatives from the Municipal side is being fully supported by the Chamber and will be making a visible difference to many sectors of the George business community.
I would like to thank the George Municipality for their visible and continued support of the George Business Chamber.
There have been numerous Economic Development workshops held during the year and the Business Chamber has been involved at these, and provided input on behalf of the members. Various matters are getting attention. (Local tender process etc.)

The EXCO also successfully lobbied the airlines for more flights to and from George and we are pleased to announce that there are now 4 new early flights, per week, leaving at 06h20am from George. This ensures that people can get to Johannesburg and back in a day and not need to stay over.
We will be continuing our lobbying of the airlines in an effort to get the airfares to and from George reduced. Once reduced we should see a strong increased in business and tourist travel, which will make a significant difference to the economy of the region.
It has been a very busy year with many activities promoting the Chamber and serving the members. These activities included the following :

We assisted at the Outeniqua Wheelchair Challenge in 2011 and we’ll be assisting again on the 18th February 2012.

The Business Breakfast in March 2011 was sponsored by Ernst and Young Chartered Accountants. Guest speaker,Prof Matthew Lester, entertained the guests with a simple but comprehensive outlook for the Economic year.
The Annual golf day at Kingswood Golf Estate where some of the funds raised were used to support the PDSA.

The Gala Dinner honoring the Business Person of the Year 2011 as well as Entrepreneur of the Year 2011 was the social highlight of the business year. For the first time there were two runners up per
category and recognition for finalists was given. It was held at the Hyatt Regency Hotel at Oubaai and was attended to capacity.

The monthly networking evenings and “Morning Marketing” events proved again to be very popular and continue to be so.

During the November Business breakfast, sponsored by Airports Company, the guests were reminded of the importance of “Branding and Marketing You” and were motivated by guest speaker, Donna Rachelson – well renowned Keynote Speaker .

The upgrading and modernization of our website have allowed us to further enhance our serve to members.
The arrival of ALGOA FM in the Garden Route has been well received. The move has been a few years in the making and the Business Chamber had a hand in making this happen.

In a drive to be fully representative of business in George the chamber has initiated discussions with the Business School of NMMU. This is to encourage business students, who will be the young business managers/owners of the future as well as the consumers and customers of tomorrow, to explore the different aspects of Leadership and practical experience in Business. These interactions led to the establishment of a youth Leadership group who are called “Pathfinders”.

We realize the need to further strengthen our relations with other business oriented bodies in George and surrounds, and have started on the path to increased integration and representation at all levels within the Chamber and its functions. This will not only help us to better align our effects, but will also result in increased business success all round.

Our aim for the future is to be the leading voice of business in the region, and I am happy to say we are achieving this through continued growth, excellent service delivery and meaningful engagement with other stakeholders in our local and regional economy.

The 2011 – EXCO have all contributed, through their commitment, to achieving and exceeding set goals.
My personal thanks to Koos du Plessis, Dr Willie Cilliers, Ingrid Cronje, Brenda Moses, Madeleine Goldie, Niel de Necker , Neville Prins, Nadia Abrahamse and Carli Bunding-Venter. Also Thank You to Lydia Barrett , who loyally supported the George Business Chamber for 2011 until her resignation at the end of last year.

We would like to welcome Lesley Warner who now holds the secretarial position at the Chamber Offices.
My thanks to a great team who worked to meet the demands of the Chamber and to you, the loyal and supportive members.
We look forward to your continued support during 2012.

Thank you all for your attendance this evening

Imel Rautenbach
President
George Business Chamber
7 February 2012.

Looking at the speaker lineup and focus areas you could easily be mistaken that tech4africa is for high tech city folk alone, but there is another side, which I would like to call “the end of the rural disconnect“.

As a technologist living in the Garden Route I experience on a daily basis the pain caused by poor connectivity, disconnected services and isolated thinking.

Traditional business in the rural economy is based around small free standing business. Whilst this has worked fairly well in the past it is now becoming more difficult for these small businesses to compete against the larger companies that are moving into the rural economies. The economic downturn has also meant that doing business within the local rural market is tougher to sustain.

Now, how does this all relate to Tech4Africa?

This conference is not only bringing creative and technology minds together, it is the platform and becomes the catalyst that we need to get the rural economy into the technology discussion.

Once we realize the incredible potential locked up in the rural African economy we need to start connecting the disconnected. This means breaking down technological barriers & isolated thinking, and start building a new rural economy centered around mobile & cloud based technology.

This is easier than many thinks. In our discussions around the formation of the Garden Route ICT Incubator we have identified countless opportunities that can be enabled by connected thinking.

Agriculture alone is a vast field of untapped potential, where technology can and will make an enormous difference to the entire continent. Imagine increased efficiency, increased productivity, far better management information, better integration of service delivery and much higher yield management. Once conference alone can get us pointed in the right direction.

Tech4Africa has the right mix of people with vision, and can be the platform that starts the conversation that unlocks our rural potential. I urge everyone that sees the potential and shares the vision to attend (Jhb, 27-28 October) so the conversation can begin.

Now it is time to take it one step further. By creating an ICT incubator we can use economies of scale to help these startups get their products designed and developed for less, get to market easier, etc. Collective design, manufacturing, procurement, marketing, and admin makes great economical sense.

Combining this with the idea of actually establishing an ICT nucleus of excellence in the region means it not only makes economical sense, it now also makes sense from a training and sustainability level. The region has the experts to do the training, a large student base to be trained, and the enablers to facilitate, fund, employ and grow the ICT startups that pass through the incubator’s doors.

The idea is rather simple, and as follows:

• Create a facility where ICT players can share space, equipment and knowledge.
• Appoint a board of visionaries and industry to leaders to oversee the process.
• Provide mentorship to help these startups grow and prosper.
• Identify and train new members form the local communities.
• The partners provide projects which not only fund the training, it allows the trainees to actually become strartups themselves, by delivering real services back to the funders.

A simplistic example would be as follows

• The George municipality wants to make it easier for SMME’s to do business with local government.
• The ICT incubator identifies and scopes the project and  identifies one or more potential entrepreneurs or an existing startup.
• The entrepreneur develops a solution (a straight forward web database in this case) with the support and mentorship of the ICT incubator.
• Once the system is completed the  entrepreneur ends up running the project as his own long term startup.

• Local government wins, it gets a service and it creates a new skilled job at the same time.
• The entrepreneur wins, as he/she now has a viable business model, backed by a group of business and technical mentors.
• The region wins as the the local ICT skills base is increased, more jobs are created and work stays within the region.

We have  the infrastructure, the people, political will and the ability to make it happen.

The Bandwidth Barn in Cape Town is a successful model that can be adapted for our regional situation.

Already on Board

The following partners have already indicated there willingness to support this initiative:

• SEDA is well positioned to assist the incubator with mentoring, funding and partnership initiation. SEDA has the experience of getting several incubators off the ground at a national level, and have shown keen willingness to be part of this process.

• George Municipality is aiming to get George marketed as a business investment destination. The municipality’s LED department is ready to get involved in this incubator, and will be a key enabler.

• The George Chamber of Business understands the importance of repositioning the region as a business investment destination.  It is already facilitating meetings between government and local business to make this happen.

• The Garden Route IT Consortium is leading the way in bringing the local IT industry together and joining forces with local, regional and provincial government to market the region as a technology destination. The IT Consortium is  attracting new technology business to the region by allowing multiple local companies to pitch for national business as a cohesive unit.

• Digital Village is creating the next generation wireless backbone that will service the entire region and enable innovation and entrepreneurship to flourish.  As a non profit section 21 company it is already connecting the region’s schools and communities to the Garden Route’s ever growing wireless network.

• Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University (NMMU) is not only able to supply potential recruits, but also strong mentoring and support. NMMU is committed to growing the region as an educational centre, which strengthens the potential recruitment base.

Other potential key players

• The LED department of Eden district Municipality will be able to assist on a regional level, ensuring training and empowerment happens at a larger scale.

• Western Cape Provincial Government‘s Economic Development department  is already working with the Garden Route IT Consortium to explore various initiatives that will promote and strengthen the region’s technology focus.

• The newly formed Economic Development Agency is tasked with re-aligning the Western Cape’s business landscape. The Garden Route has been neglected to date, now is the time to bring much needed energy and vision to the region.

• The Department of Science and Technology has a key role to play in economic development and regional and national competitiveness.

Update: Had further discussions with various parties, including MEC Winde from WC Govt, Prof Fabricius from NMMU, Paul Hoffman from SEDA, Carli Venter from George LED.
Now have real momentum and real backing. This is our chance to make a real, meaningful and permanent difference to the business landscape in George.

As a result I decided to write a small set of scripts to monitor and display bandwidth usage of radius manager accounts.

The radius manager database does not contain granular usage records since radius manager does not keep uniform time period records. Each time a session is disconnected a new record is created in the radacct table. Since the time-span of this record depends on the actual connection duration it could span from a few seconds to more than a day.  This means that it is impossible to get granular hourly or daily stats from this table.

My solution is simple. I use a Perl script to process the radacct table on a regular interval. When I read the table I gather the sum of all in and out bytes for each user, irrespective of how many sessions they initiated since my last check.

I then compare the new totals to the previous totals. Since I run the script at a regular interval, say 5 minutes, I thus know how much bandwidth this user has consumed in the last 5 minutes.

I then summarize this data into my own set of tables where I keep hourly, daily and monthly totals for each user. This script is called from a cron task so runs every five minutes, ensuring I have accurate and consistent statistics.

I then wrote some HTML (with some PHP and jQuery) to give me a summary of each user’s usage for a given period (hour, day or month). I then allow the end user to sort this by various columns.

To make the data retrieved more relevant I also read the service details from the rm_users and rm_services tables. This allows me to show what the user’s monthly limit is, and to then show a % used value in the results. User rows that are over a certain threshold (ay 90% used) are then highlighted in a different color.

I also wrote a graph component which will show a highlighted user’s usage at an hourly level over any given day or at a daily level for a given month.finally I show the actual session usage records from the radacct table below the graph

This allows users to monitor their own usage. From an ISP management perspective this view allows admins to quickly bring up usage history for an individual account, and to zero in on accounts about to be capped, etc. Both hotspot and PPoE accounts are monitored, and can be reported on.

How can this ever widening gap be brought back under control?  Why should we even care?  What has this got to do with ICT?

South Africa is compromised of large multinationals, corporations, SMME’s and countless formal and informal entrepreneurs.  It is especially the last category that is found predominantly in the rural areas. This is not often out of choice, but due to necessity.

This large group of active contributors to the economy is still only the tip of the potential iceberg. Imagine if we can double, triple or even quadruple the number of active entrepreneurs in our rural landscape.

If we can somehow enable those that are willing but unable we can turn around unemployment in the most hopeless of places, our forgotten and often overlooked ‘platteland’.

Now where does ICT come into the mix? Often local suppliers of services (informal entrepreneurs) are overlooked simply because they are not aware of the opportunities that arise. Another hurdle is the red tape before one can even be considered to be fulfilling all the criteria of a service provider. There are countless others.

• Imagine if people in the middle of back and beyond could create products and offer services, and match these with people that actually wants or needs it.
• Imagine if we could harness the idle capacity of the rural workforce, and match it with the ever growing demands of the bigger world.
• Imagine if people could shrug of the cloud of despair and hopelessness and swap it for a feeling of optimism, knowing that they could make something, sell it, earn a living, or make a meaningful contribution in another way.

Sure, we can create databases, websites, wireless networks and all sorts, but how will this help the people that do not have an education, electricity, access to phones or transport? There are other big issues that are holding up progress, like alcohol addiction, drug addiction, lack of basic services, poor educational services, poor access to health services, etc.

How can ICT ever hope to make a difference in these people’s lives, let alone turn it around?

I do not have the answer yet, but want to find it. The journey to get to there will require lots and lots of research, experimentation, patience and determination.

The Garden Route is well suited to being the right location to get the ball rolling. We have all the ICT we could ever need, we have the rural landscape, the unemployed and the hopeless, the informal entrepreneurs and the people that can make the difference and possibly find a way to unlock the vast hidden potential.

My answer to this question often depends on the sophistication of the audience.

Before I answer this one let me clarify something quickly. I operate in George,  which is in the Garden Route, where the typical web design student is a small business owner that sells to real people within the local area, and not to online customers.

In George the typical small company either has a website or wants to get a website. That’s pretty much as far as it goes. There is no strategy around most websites, it is simply used as a shop window or brochure stand. Convincing these SMME’s that a web presence is about a two way dialogue with your customer is hard going, let alone trying to explain the importance of keeping the twitter discussions flowing.

For me the crux about having a online presence is having the opportunity to open a conversation with your market. This means having the ability not only to push out content to potential customers, but also to hear back from them, and to gauge the market response to your initiatives and offers.

Together with SEDA we are running an e-marketing course that helps SMME’s find their way around the online world.  It covers blogs, twitter, facebook and many more topics. I try to make it clear that online marketing is not about pushing brochures out via web pages or unsolicited mail, but rather opening a dialogue, listening and responding.

This is all fine and well I hear you say, but often this strategy falls flat simply because companies do not take the conversation seriously. It requires constant attention and focus. Shouting without listening is as pointless as listening without acting.

Maybe it is time for the Garden Route small business sector to realize that there is a bigger market out there, that it is worth pursuing, and that the effort and investment needed to go there is worth it. Problem is most of these small businesses are so busy running their business they do not have the time or ability to drive their online conversation.

How about the idea of a social media agency that manages your online reputation on your behalf? Are there any online players in the region willing to take on such a mentorship / curatorship role? I think this could be a great additional service for those small companies only now emerging into the online world.