I got to attend a meeting of the Cape Regional Chamber this week and got to listen to Prof Wolfgang Thomas from USB chat to us about the challenges of working in a small business in these economic times.

 Here are just a few points to ponder on:

Stay away from businesses in or related to any of the following:

• Motor Vehicles
• Mining Sector
• Tourism
• Building
• High-end specialty services or products

These areas have and will continue to show negative growth for some time.

Get involved in:

• Functional foods and services
• Lipsticks (this is a very interesting one)
• Bottom of the pyramid products

 Action to take:

• Reduce costs at every point of the supply chain
• Improve efficiency
• Maximize production
• Sharpen advertising efforts
• Continue to build value add business channels

 Never:

• Cut back on Marketing
• Cut back on training
• Cut back on education
•  Reduce the BEE programmes
• Stop CSI

 Some interesting food for thought: If you need an explanation on any of these give me a click back and we can chat. Lets build together to survive these times.