Although unemployment is at an all-time high in South Africa, with the pandemic accounting for even more job losses, we’re also seeing more people building beautiful products and services, starting businesses and creating jobs. According to a Deloitte Digital report from 2021, more than 70% of South Africans are shopping online at least once a month, meaning that business is still happening and transactions are taking place, albeit online. Additionally, a host of businesses have cropped up to respond to the challenges and opportunities presented by the pandemic, with innovations in contactless tech, video conferencing, remote working tools and more emerging.
It’s been a trying time but the small business and startup sectors are buzzing with activity. Now, more than ever, it’s evident that entrepreneurs are the one sure way to inject life back into the economy and they need all the support they can get.
The Heavy Chef and xneelo partnership is founded on the shared belief that entrepreneurs can change the world. Both organisations believe in ground-up change and that provided the right environment and support, entrepreneurs are capable of empowering our economy and ensuring a more sustainable future for all. To this end, they’ve partnered to produce accessible, easy to use resources filled with useful insights for budding entrepreneurs.
Keeping in mind that entrepreneurs are a busy bunch who prefer to learn in short sessions, the Heavy Chef E-Commerce Marketing Guide is succinct and filled with nuggets of insider knowledge on the basics of e-commerce marketing. It digs into the bare-bones basics that entrepreneurs need to know about running a successful business online, from picking the ultimate domain name to establishing a brand presence and growing sales. From SEO and online advertising to customer acquisition tactics and content marketing, it’s jam-packed with e-commerce insights and comments from some of the biggest digital experts in South Africa, including Khaya Dlanga, Jason Bagely, Aisha Pandor, Mongezi Matati, Andrew Smith and more.
“E-commerce is about creating convenient and engaging online experiences for consumers. At xneelo, we’re passionate about enabling South African entrepreneurs with the tools and the knowledge they need to create and grow their businesses,” says Athena Turner, xneelo’s brand manager.
“We’re particularly excited about the collaboration with xneelo because it’s one more way for us to offer value to the entrepreneur community,” adds Heavy Chef Foundation CEO Louis Janse van Rensburg. “A key mandate of the Foundation is to address the challenge of equitable and inclusive entrepreneur education. This book is filled to the brim with insights from industry experts on how to start and grow an online business, and will be made easily accessible to anyone who needs it.”
In keeping with the Heavy Chef Foundation and xneelo’s mission to empower allentrepreneurs with the tools needed to create and build their businesses, the guide will form part of the learning resources for the Foundation’s learning programmes, which are aimed at small cohorts in various communities around the country and will be aligned around specific learning requirements, for example, ‘setting up an online store’ or ‘building an app’. The first of these learning programmes has already kicked off in Khayelitsha, where an exciting group of artisanal business owners get together regularly to empower and inspire each other’s visions.
By purchasing a copy of the guide, the reader will also get free membership to the Heavy Chef Learning Platform for one full year, with unlimited access to 1000s of entrepreneur micro-courses, known as ‘recipes’, and free access to monthly entrepreneur events and a host of other partner benefits.