e-commerce: A model for developing countries

In 2002, when I was developing the e-commerce platform Sonnegocios.com,  I wrote an article related to e-commerce in developing countries. On this paper I tried to introduce the concepts of e-commerce from the experiences that I found while implementing merchant accounts. Below are the conclusions of the article at that time.  I have been following the advances and success of e-commerce in several countries confirming that these conclusions and suggestions were accurate and they could be still be used.  An updated article is on its way… you can find the document here.

E-commerce

A model for developing countries

Conclusions and recommendations

Tomando en cuenta los factores socios económicos del país las empresas proveedoras de servicios de Internet deben proponer modelos de soluciones de comercio electrónico bajo la modalidad de ASP. De esta manera, las empresas de  países en desarrollo ingresaran a la nueva economía digital.  Este tipo de modalidad es particularmente interesante para el mercado boliviano y  países en desarrollo dadas las condiciones económicas actuales y la falta de inversión y capital de las empresas.

Las ventajas del uso de la Internet son entre muchas otras; que nos permite estar en contacto con nuestros clientes las 24 horas del día, los 7 días de la semana y los 12 meses del año; los costos reducidos que representan a la empresa; la gran audiencia potencial a la que podemos llegar con nuestras estrategias de ventas; nos permite automatizar los procesos; y obtener información sobre nuestros clientes.

Para que la Internet obtenga un mayor desarrollo en nuestro medio debemos implementar campañas off-line que nos permitan educar a la población en el uso de esta tecnología. Si logramos hacerlo los consumidores exigirán al mercado el uso de la Internet para fines comerciales, lo cual beneficiaría grandemente a las empresas.

Debemos enseñar a navegar en el ciberespacio mientras la infraestructura del mercado se va mejorando, así, cuando la población tenga los recursos tecnológicos necesarios ya sabrá como utilizarlos y nuestros negocios serán más accesibles para ellos.

Esta etapa educativa no debe demorar ya que la tecnología está entrando a nuestro país con mucha fuerza y su tiempo estimado para la estabilización no debe ser muy prolongado.

Las agencias de publicidad y marketing deben estar al tanto de lo que ocurra en la Internet ya que son ellas las encargadas de crear nuevas estrategias para las empresas. Deben encontrar formas  creativas de seducir a los consumidores para evitar que se alejen con un simple"click".

El comercio electrónico fue definido como el hacer negocio electrónicamente que incluye una estructura de negocio basado en la información que se obtiene por medios de Internet como son e-mails, Word Wide Web, boletines electrónicos, entre otros, ya sea que realice entre el negocio y los clientes o entre negocios "Business to Consumer" o "Business to Business".

Con los nuevos modelos de negocios se crean nuevos modelos de Marketing que son más difíciles de controlar. Estos sistemas buscan personalizar la compra lo que significa conocer los perfiles de cada cliente.

La administración de las empresas no solo se preocupara por conocer a sus clientes, sino que entablan una relación más estrecha con ellos que es necesario hacerle un seguimiento, surgiendo así La Administración de las Relaciones con los Clientes.

La seguridad es muy importante y se deben considerar cuatro aspectos muy importantes al momento de realizar las transacciones comerciales para dar confianza al negocio.

1. Privacidad:  se  busca  que  la  información  sea  privada,  es  decir  que ninguna persona tenga acceso a ella a no ser solo el receptor.
2. Autenticidad: que la persona que envía el mensaje es realmente quien dice ser. Es decir, el receptor es capaz de reconocer a su emisor sin ningún problema.
3. Integridad de la información: lo que se busca es que el mensaje no sufra ninguna alteración al momento de enviarlo o recibirlo.
4. No repudio: a lo que refiere este punto es que tanto el emisor y el receptor no puedan negarse de haber enviado o recibido algún mensaje. 

Es necesario hacer alianzas con otras empresas asociados (proveedores y clientes) ya que crear una sitio independiente toma mucho tiempo y dinero.  Al mismo tiempo, es importante formar Grupos de Negocio para las pequeñas y medianas empresas que quieran incursionar en el comercio electrónico, ya que para la implementación de esta tecnología se requiere mucho tiempo e inversión que solas no podrían cubrir.  Al compartir un entorno de Internet les permitirá reducir los costos tanto en la implementación como en el desarrollo del negocio mismo y apoyo en las campañas publicitarias.

Innovative ways to reduce poverty and unemployment: from the townships to the shopping malls

I wrote this article while volunteering in South Africa in 2008. It was published in M&D (Management and Development) a publication of MBAs without Borders.

Unemployment is the major hurdle facing South Africa, leading to numerous other social ills in the form of crime, poverty and the hampering of community growth and development. Despite the efforts of the new government, the situation did not change significantly since 1994, and like any other developing country, the people have been forced to develop a huge informal economy in order to try to generate income.  In the major cities of the country there has been considerable growth in the developing of African hand made Craft, including; woodcarvings, hand made jewelry, ethnic furniture and toys. While the origin of this traditional craft is not known, most likely, it developed in Maputoland and Zululand in rural Northern Kwazulu-Natal, in the northeast corner of South Africa.

Wire art is a cottage industry based o hand-craft production and with the products mostly being sold from open street markets and some formal tourist orientated shops and art galleries. Wire art involves crafting art out of wire, beads, tin cans, plastic, paper, and other found recycled items. The young boys of these regions lacking of resources to buy toys, fashioned their own out of discarded hangers, used chicken wire, tin cans and whatever else they can get their hands on to make ingenious toys. In villages and townships today, one can see boys playing with model cars they made entirely from discarded materials. Recognizing children's ingenuity and the products’ market potentiality, older inhabitants of the area began making their own wire creations and selling them to tourists on the streets of the cities. Today, ‘wiremasters' sell their creations not only on street corners and at craft markets, but also in upmarket shops and galleries around the world.  

Starting on the year 2000 a few South African Businesses started to create opportunities where previously none existed, mixing innovation, creativity, marketing, and enthusiasm. Their main objective was to create sustainable, meaningful long-term employment for as many unemployed and needy South Africans as possible. The companies provide craft artists with a workplace, permanent employment, a sense of purpose and access to resources like skills training and personal development. This enables the artists to channel their natural creative abilities into the most African of all art forms. In order to achieve their objectives they had to invest their own personal funds; developing production models, searching for new markets, and advertising their products worldwide to assure a certain amount of monthly orders.

This is the case of a visionary entrepreneur, who started a small company in 2000 with the main idea of giving an opportunity to help unemployed men and women in Cape Town. Streetwires was founded with 2 artists and 3 founders, and has demonstrated to contain a most unusual combination of a profitable commercial organisation with a social development core. Streetwires is a business with a social mission that is tackling the problems of unemployment and poverty in South Africa.  The foundation of the company lies on the four cornerstones of job creation, craft innovation, sound business practices and human capital development. On the one hand, it’s doing the work of a non-profit organisation, providing jobs for local wire-and-bead art craftsmen and women. On the other hand, it’s a thriving business with a healthy financial situation and their list of clients includes Anthropologie, Isandi, Eza, and Claro are some of the overseas customers, in South Africa their customers include @ Home, Woolworths, Tigers Eye and Charles Greig Jewellers among others.  

Using the core tenets of upliftment, sustainability and innovation as their guide, Streetwires is seeking to bringing their diverse skills together and working to build their future and the future of South Africa. Part of the company’s success lies in the fact that it has created specific product ranges for different markets. The primary materials used are wire and beads and the artists create anything from simple key rings to the most extraordinary one-off sculptural pieces – all based on orders received. Streetwires produces small custom ranges for events and corporate branding as well as ranges for retail that provide the mainstay of the company’s income. The Streetwires design collection sells to the high-end design and décor market. The company is establishing the names of its best artists through the Signature range. The Fine Art collection enables top artists to have solo exhibitions where they showcase collections under their own names.

Like their people, each hand-crafted piece is special in its own way, and each one has its own story to tell, while the scope for training, development and upliftment is enormous. In addition, most wire art lends itself readily to being branded, thereby increasing the appeal of these products for promotional purposes and corporate gifts, an area that Streetwires has pioneered.

The craft industry is traditionally seen as a charity sector, notorious for poor systems and a lack of management and marketing skills. But a visit to Streetwires' buzzing Cape Town studio reveals a business based on systems and quality control. A design team works on creating new wire art designs and once these are approved, templates are passed on to the wire crafters who work in teams to reproduce the product. A team leader ensures the template design is adhered to and the products pass through quality control before being released. 


The business is divided into units based on the different sectors of local retail, such as key accounts, small stores, corporate and export. Streetwires has a unique sales strategy for each sector. This model is giving the opportunity to the team leaders to acquire the fundamentals of business, observe due dates, quality and product development.  Another unique model that the company is using is the ‘co-operative management, allowing the four managers to share the responsibility of a General Manager, guiding the company forward.

Streetwires is the recipient of numerous awards. Schofield won the Cape Times Editor’s Choice Business Personality of the Year award and the 2008 Social Entrepreneur of the Year Award, while the business won the Proudly South African Bridging the Gap award, and the Craft Icon award from the Cape Craft & Design Institute.

The dreams and wishes of hundreds of artist are behind these products, the hope for a better future and prosperity is enclosed in each one of the beads that create a whole and wonderful product. These visionaries have mixed design, art, and old African craft techniques to match the needs of a demanding international market, giving an opportunity to demonstrate to the rest of world that business can do amazing things.

Innovative ways to reduce poverty and unemployment: from the townships to the shopping malls

I wrote this article while volunteering in South Africa in 2008.

Unemployment is the major hurdle facing South Africa, leading to numerous other social ills in the form of crime, poverty and the hampering of community growth and development. Despite the efforts of the new government, the situation did not change significantly since 1994, and like any other developing country, the people have been forced to develop a huge informal economy in order to try to generate income.  In the major cities of the country there has been considerable growth in the developing of African hand made Craft, including; woodcarvings, hand made jewelry, ethnic furniture and toys. While the origin of this traditional craft is not known, most likely, it developed in Maputoland and Zululand in rural Northern Kwazulu-Natal, in the northeast corner of South Africa.

Wire art is a cottage industry based o hand-craft production and with the products mostly being sold from open street markets and some formal tourist orientated shops and art galleries. Wire art involves crafting art out of wire, beads, tin cans, plastic, paper, and other found recycled items. The young boys of these regions lacking of resources to buy toys, fashioned their own out of discarded hangers, used chicken wire, tin cans and whatever else they can get their hands on to make ingenious toys. In villages and townships today, one can see boys playing with model cars they made entirely from discarded materials. Recognizing children's ingenuity and the products’ market potentiality, older inhabitants of the area began making their own wire creations and selling them to tourists on the streets of the cities. Today, ‘wiremasters' sell their creations not only on street corners and at craft markets, but also in upmarket shops and galleries around the world.  

Starting on the year 2000 a few South African Businesses started to create opportunities where previously none existed, mixing innovation, creativity, marketing, and enthusiasm. Their main objective was to create sustainable, meaningful long-term employment for as many unemployed and needy South Africans as possible. The companies provide craft artists with a workplace, permanent employment, a sense of purpose and access to resources like skills training and personal development. This enables the artists to channel their natural creative abilities into the most African of all art forms. In order to achieve their objectives they had to invest their own personal funds; developing production models, searching for new markets, and advertising their products worldwide to assure a certain amount of monthly orders.

This is the case of a visionary entrepreneur, who started a small company in 2000 with the main idea of giving an opportunity to help unemployed men and women in Cape Town. Streetwires was founded with 2 artists and 3 founders, and has demonstrated to contain a most unusual combination of a profitable commercial organisation with a social development core. Streetwires is a business with a social mission that is tackling the problems of unemployment and poverty in South Africa.  The foundation of the company lies on the four cornerstones of job creation, craft innovation, sound business practices and human capital development. On the one hand, it’s doing the work of a non-profit organisation, providing jobs for local wire-and-bead art craftsmen and women. On the other hand, it’s a thriving business with a healthy financial situation and their list of clients includes Anthropologie, Isandi, Eza, and Claro are some of the overseas customers, in South Africa their customers include @ Home, Woolworths, Tigers Eye and Charles Greig Jewellers among others.  

Using the core tenets of upliftment, sustainability and innovation as their guide, Streetwires is seeking to bringing their diverse skills together and working to build their future and the future of South Africa. Part of the company’s success lies in the fact that it has created specific product ranges for different markets. The primary materials used are wire and beads and the artists create anything from simple key rings to the most extraordinary one-off sculptural pieces – all based on orders received. Streetwires produces small custom ranges for events and corporate branding as well as ranges for retail that provide the mainstay of the company’s income. The Streetwires design collection sells to the high-end design and décor market. The company is establishing the names of its best artists through the Signature range. The Fine Art collection enables top artists to have solo exhibitions where they showcase collections under their own names.

Like their people, each hand-crafted piece is special in its own way, and each one has its own story to tell, while the scope for training, development and upliftment is enormous. In addition, most wire art lends itself readily to being branded, thereby increasing the appeal of these products for promotional purposes and corporate gifts, an area that Streetwires has pioneered.

The craft industry is traditionally seen as a charity sector, notorious for poor systems and a lack of management and marketing skills. But a visit to Streetwires' buzzing Cape Town studio reveals a business based on systems and quality control. A design team works on creating new wire art designs and once these are approved, templates are passed on to the wire crafters who work in teams to reproduce the product. A team leader ensures the template design is adhered to and the products pass through quality control before being released. The business is divided into units based on the different sectors of local retail, such as key accounts, small stores, corporate and export. Streetwires has a unique sales strategy for each sector. This model is giving the opportunity to the team leaders to acquire the fundamentals of business, observe due dates, quality and product development.  Another unique model that the company is using is the ‘co-operative management, allowing the four managers to share the responsibility of a General Manager, guiding the company forward.

Streetwires is the recipient of numerous awards. Schofield won the Cape Times Editor’s Choice Business Personality of the Year award and the 2008 Social Entrepreneur of the Year Award, while the business won the Proudly South African Bridging the Gap award, and the Craft Icon award from the Cape Craft & Design Institute.

The dreams and wishes of hundreds of artist are behind these products, the hope for a better future and prosperity is enclosed in each one of the beads that create a whole and wonderful product. These visionaries have mixed design, art, and old African craft techniques to match the needs of a demanding international market, giving an opportunity to demonstrate to the rest of world that business can do amazing things.

Innovative ways to reduce poverty and unemployment: from the townships to the shopping malls

I wrote this article while volunteering in South Africa in 2008.

Innovative ways to reduce poverty and unemployment: from the townships to the shopping malls

I wrote this article while volunteering in South Africa in 2008. perhaps this was the time

New Hope for a new country

I wrote this article while in South Africa. This is sample of my first steps on Design Thinking. Joseph: New hope for a new country As a member of an International Organization, part of the United Nations, I am still trying to figure out “who” is my user. Taking on consideration that all our work is centered on providing support to governments to achieve national and global goals on a “by demand” approach. Clearly our user will be government officials, whom we try to support with capacity enhancement programmes and advisory services for new policies formulations. But, after DTBC my concept has started to change, and personally I think that our efforts (especially mine) should move beyond this concept and start thinking on the final users, who are the actual citizens of any country. Design thinking is helping me to understand this much better and to be able to focus my attention to the users that really needs our help and support.

Let me introduce my user. Joseph. He is a 34 years old man who was born in Limpopo Province (Limpopo is one of the poorest provinces in South Africa) and migrate to Gauteng (one of the wealthiest provinces) in 1997, three years after the end of Apartheid. He is married and has two kids (6 and 2) and lives in a township close to Pretoria, 30Kms away from his workplace (in South Africa the lack of public transportation makes it very difficult and expensive to move around, especially when you are in a budget). Since 1994 South Africa has been working towards reducing inequalities and social imbalances in the country. 18 years after the new government took the leadership of a unified country, huge divisions of wealth and imbalances are easily identified in all segments of society. Joseph’s dreams when he was young coming to the capital of the country are gradually fading. The country is not offering young people opportunities to growth and to improve the quality of life. Every year new universities/colleges graduates are ending working at the hospitality industry, hence reducing their hopes and dreams of a new life. So, the issue is how all the international agencies, corporates, and civil society organizations that work in developing countries in Africa could contribute to a change and make an impact on lives of the these young dreamers.