Lessons from the 5th Nairobi meeting
In our last meeting, Lawrence told us about his business plan for his cheddar cheese production. It was well written out and extensive.There are so many ways of compiling a business plan, and it is easy to find a template that fits your purpose and fill it with your data.
Then you have a bigger or smaller pile of paper – and then what? Let it sit there and collect dust? 
Carry it around and show it off to anyone who is and isn’t interested? 
Even if you are the kind of entrepreneur who has all the plans and numbers in her head, a business plan is still for you.
1. A business plan is a road map - It’s not just about coming up with a fancy story about how your business came into being to impress 
others. A business plan can guide you, motivate you and hold you accountable for the future development of your business.

2. A business plan is a reference - Investors don’t want to read about your dreams. They want to see what you already have done. A business plan can help you with the documentation of your achievements so far and make your business more credible.
3. A business plan is rarely read - At least in Kenya that’s the case, especially when you go to a bank to ask for funding. “Banks don’t want literature,” said Daniel, a DJ. And Zak, organic farmer and teacher, added: “If you want to get money, it’s better to start first, instead of drawing a business plan on paper and then doing nothing.”

Entrepreneur Cafe Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia ~ Cities of the World was very pleased to have Razif Hashim who is an Actor, a TV personality, famously recognized as a TV host for food programs, at local media network station and the Asian Food Channel. In spite of his career in entertainment scene, Razif is also an 'Actorpreneur' who has used his acting skill, knowledge, experience and 'actor-presence' to groom and transform a person, not only to become an outstanding & credible actor, but an empowering entrepreneur!

Razif, who is also creative Founder of TABLEWORK which is an app, functioning as a productivity tool uniquely developed for actors. It will act as an effective tool in organizing an actor's characterization, so that they could have an outstanding performance. He is currently in the midst of completing the app.

Indeed, a talented actor with substance who is also one of Malaysia Startups Mentor under the Malaysia Global Innovation Centre ( MAGIC ) ~ Empowering Entrepreneurship Innovatively.

How it becomes interesting to entrepreneurial part?
As the jobs market become competitive, businesses get so challenging and life becomes so demanding, every companies and individuals will start to seek something different, developing each sections progressively with new fresh ideas and concept, creating empowering image including dynamic personality of the management team.

Dynamic personality is very important asset, image and reputation to any companies employment and businesses. It will enhance the management and drive business towards hi-impact productivity and great SUCCESS!

As the City Mayor for Kuala Lumpur, I am very much excited myself to learn this interesting skill via his coaching class to leverage more of my potential  in improving my business dealing approach.

Sharing his actorpreneurship view along the session with participants, Razif who obtained an Acting Master Degree from a renowned university in UK, had really left a great impact to one of our regular Entrepreneur Cafe participant to re-brand her business to a greater and more innovative concept. In fact, to enrol herself in Razif's coaching class to become more effective entrepreneur in presenting and doing business marketing in convincing way towards sustainable and succesful business!

What put more smiles on my face, the next day after we had the Entrepreneur Cafe, one of Malaysia well-known media icon had spoken to me on hiring those who have been trained by the program done by Razif Hashim. Not becoz he is an actor but the outcome of effective communication (PR) , 'right kind of attitude and personality' required critically by the present job market.

Effective program done by Razif Hashim with Effective result. Awesome!

Sue Kamal
City Mayor Kuala Lumpur
Entrepreneur

Recently AdviceAdda.com started a social media campaign to encourage people to come out and fight against hypocrisy that still prevails in our society, hence the campaign is aptly called #NotAHypocrite. This campaign deals with everyday hypocrisy like judging people around us, not talking about sex, inter-cast marriage, economic divide between people etc , that people still openly propagate in our society. The ulterior motive of the campaign is to encourage people to come out of their shells and stop the hypocrisy around them. This campaign is more like a wave of change that AdviceAdda.com wants to bring in the society by making people more open, inclusive and informed by giving them information through correct sources. A lot of youngsters voluntarily participated in this campaign and made it a huge success. 

According the founder editor of AdviceAdda.com, Mr. Vivek Satya Mitram, “The youth of this country is used as a consumer till now. According to the purchasing capacity of the youth, in the last few years, innumerous website has mushroomed that lure them to buy products. But till now, this country had not a single platform where the youth can visit and discuss his/her dilemmas, confusions, curiosities and problems and get advice on them. AdviceAdda.com is the first step towards solving the problems of Indian youth and teenagers and making their lives better.

Vivek Satya Mitram (who is regular at Entrepreneur Cafe meetings in New Delhi) also added that there has been a significant increase in the number of suicides, depression, teenage pregnancies, and porn addiction amongst the Indian youngsters and teenagers which has brought a major void in their lives. Most of their time is spent in the pretentious world of the internet and they have no one they can talk to when they are in trouble and seek help from them. In such situations those youngsters tend to take wrong decisions and ruin their lives. AdviceAdda.com works as a trusted friend in such situations where you can share all major or minor problems that you cannot share with anybody else.

If you too are going through hardships in life then immediately log in to www.AdviceAdda.com and get free expert advice because now you have the most reliable online option available for you to get out of all your problems and troubles. Also you don’t need to burn a hole in your pocket to get consultation and advices from well known experts without revealing your identity. Remember, if we ignore our problems and let it persist then one day they will turn into an everlasting trouble that can never be resolved.

Bangalore prepares itself for the celebrity night on 26th March. Before that the updates from the last meeting.

It was a good gathering with some new folks joining with lot to share on varied domains such as Journalism, online sports, Sports and fitness ventures, healthcare.
A few good takeaways from the last meeting were
1. Josy's 53central.com is a unique venture. Must have been launched this week if I am correct. Josy share some pics of the launch party :) 
2. Dheeman's www.thebetterindia.com is another journalism/CSR based startup and also received good funding
3. Sport365 - Aashutosh's venture in sports and fitness domain and 53centrals and sports365 seem to have lot of synergies
4. Jai is driving his healthcare startup and definitely looking for right folks to partners and also to join.
5. Exchanged ideas on UI/UX screens. There is good website thethemeforest.net, which provides initial basic contents to develop a good UI.
6. Lisa Maheshwari shared a good idea to maintain the entrepreneurs details in centralized list for easy access and also a form to capture what entrepreneurs are looking to share and learn. Vikas has already created the google form and shall share with all
7. Discussed about an idea on building incubation centre in Prestige Shantiniketan.

Next week, it would be celebrity event. Please checkout the details in 

http://www.entrepreneurcafe.org/celebrity-night---26-march.html

Please come and learn from these folks who already walked the hot path and successfully built their startups on 26th March, the same venue.

Regards
Subranil

Earning money online, in Kenya and around the world

It almost sounds too good to be true: making money online while you sleep. For the entrepreneurs in Nairobi, the internet has at least become a helpful tool for their ventures. Esther who designs fashion, has an app installed on her Facebook page. It works like an online shop. She also collaborates with fashion bloggers. She sends them her pieces and they write a post about it. In that way she can get interested customers coming back to her page. George helps small business owners with expertise on a monthly subscription basis.  He just assisted a client with Google and Facebook ads. They didn’t only advertise for his client’s products, but also made his website rank higher.There are one billion possibilities the internet is providing, and it can be overwhelming. One simple guideline: be true to yourself. Present yourself in a personal, honest manner. Yes, you need to go out of the comfort zone and dive into the web’s opportunities. That means  reacting quickly and being available around the clock. But remaining yourself will enable you to make the internet work for you – and not the other way round.

The third meet in Hyderabad, held on March 12th ’15 witnessed an insightful discussion among young entrepreneurs who pitched their business ideas and also talked about generation of ideas and sources. We had entrepreneurs coming from diverse backgrounds, someone having a graphic designing & corporate branding venture, someone with an internship consultancy, someone owning a media & marketing venture, someone who wishes to launch an online confectionary business and others who were attending the meet to learn from other entrepreneurs and grow their professional network.
The meeting started with attendees introducing themselves and exchanging business cards. We then moved on to pitching by three entrepreneurs.
Krishna Ch, Founder of Edityx pitched his idea first. He explained the concept behind his venture and the customer base that it benefits i.e. the start-up companies and internship seekers. It has tie-ups with several start-up companies and helps them meet their growing demand of interns by providing them with a bunch of college grads that meet their requirements. It also benefits the students that are looking for internship opportunities.
Tata Teja is another aspiring entrepreneur who wishes to launch an online confectionary business. He wants to provide door-to-door delivery of cakes and to achieve that, has tied-up with several local bakeries in Hyderabad. He also mentioned that he is looking for a Co-Founder for his venture and hopes to find one through Entrepreneur Café.
Karan Shah, the founder of 8FX also pitched his business idea. His venture provides user friendly web development and design solutions to organizations or individuals. It also helps corporate companies in creating their brand mark, does online marketing and creative content writing for them.
While these entrepreneurs were pitching their ideas, there were questions raised by other attendees on aspects like generation of sources, increasing profitability of their business, challenges faced (or could be faced) by them, and business plans of further expansion. It was a really inspiring and fruitful meet for all of us as we got to learn a great deal from each other’s experiences. Thus, fulfilling the very purpose of Entrepreneur Café meetings! J
A big thanks to all the attendees for making this successful. We are eagerly looking forward to see you all in our next meet on March 26th  which will be all the more knowledgeable and insightful because of our ‘Celebrity Speakers’, some of the most successful entrepreneurs who would be sharing their valuable experiences and insights. It’s a rare opportunity that shouldn’t be missed!

Cheers!

Akanksha
City Mayor, Hyderabad

The third meeting of the Entrepreneur Café in Nairobi brought people from the most different fields. 
We had someone running a cleaning business, a cheese producer, a graphic designer, an entertainer and DJ and an investor. Others, whom I like to call “regulars”, had attended an earlier meeting and came back.
Challenges we have in common
Among the common struggles we discussed are a low awareness and therefore a low market for things like organically produced food. Entrepreneurs also struggle with the local bureaucracy, which caused loans to be cancelled for one attendee, and very limited access to funds. 
Another problem is come out even. After getting a contract, for example for designing and printing T-shirts, and investing money, time and brain juice in it, the incoming money will just cover the expenses.

Learning from each other
However, we are now taking initiative and opening Entrepreneur Café up to learn from each other. The next topics will be online marketing and web design (on March 12), and on March 26 we will get to know someone’s successful and approved business plan and hear the story on how he came up with it.
Why Entrepreneur Café is unique
There is a lot of general entrepreneurship talk and networking going on in town, especially on Thursdays, funny enough. However, Entrepreneur Café remains free and open to anyone. We have no prestigious experts, gate keepers or influencers among us. And we don’t wear ties for the occasion. Nor high heels. 
Mostly we are having fun for one hour, and encourage and learn from each other. That is what Entrepreneur Café is all about.

Honestly, this week is really a hectic week for me.
3 days before the Entrepreneur Cafe took place, I was really having around the clock 'back to back' meetings and occasions. Till the day of the Entrepreneur Cafe, I was rushing from an important meeting to meet the participants.

Actually to my surprise, those who attended the last 2nd Entrepreneur Cafe meeting were those who eager to come back without I even reminded them. I could see their HAPPIness to come back and gather at the cafe, were at their own will and initiative.
I think my concept of making the Entrepreneur Cafe a HAPPY, fun, sharing ideas and stay connected at one's free-will, have made an impact to participants :-)

In the video we took spontaneously, I would like to introduce ( following clockwise ) :

Mazni Noh, a lovely wife, mother and entrepreneur who runs a premium confectionary business in Kuala Lumpur with a motto ' Made with Love'. How awesome! .. A very passionate motto that shows her deep interest and HAPPIness to the world, in making custom-made premium cakes, delicious bakery, desserts etc.

Dr James Omps, The President of International Entrepreneurology University, founded in USA. 
Dr James is an awesome man with a prominent knowledge and lots of life experience on how the world should see and understand Entrepreneurology in correct way.
His passion in the world of entrepreneurship has made him realized how important those who want to involve in business, need to love what they do, see the clear path what they are going to explore, ready and embrace for the risk!
Coz thats what Entrepreneurship is all about  :-)

Me, Sue Kamal..The City Mayor of Kuala Lumpur Entrepreneur Cafe :-)

Last but not least....

Dr Pauline T. Crawford, The President of WAVE  International ( The World Association of Visioneers and Entreprenologist ) & CEO Corporate Heart Ltd UK which act to unlock potential and passion to achieve outstanding success.
Being with this energetic lady, you will always get so inspired to the top! :-)
It is not only about being inspired but the mind will start seeing and creating progressive ' road' you never know you are capable to do it! ...awesome, right?!
Thats her expertise in unleashing the potential and the mind of every each of us in seeing life on what we do.

Dr Pauline and Dr James will be doing program together with me..and now you guys must understand why our Entrepreneur Cafe meeting in Kuala Lumpur, can never be finished within 1 hour coz I have interesting people with me, with interesting ideas, issues, knowledge, stories to share :-)
It is like having full-packed of audience to be answered their curiousity in one time hehe..

Thank you to those who come with full of HAPPIness, Fun and Laughter :-)
I deeply honored and looking forward to see u again next time.

Sincerely,
City Mayor Kuala Lumpur Entrepreneur Cafe

Five Entrepreneur’s attended our  meeting.
We had a lot to discuss since the previous meeting, so we kept the pace of the meeting moving quickly.
After introducing each other, naming their business and passing business cards we had a quick ‘catch up’ discussion.
Gerry (MLM Company) had made contact with some of the eCafe members in India and reported back on how positive he saw the potential benefit of that connection.
David (High End SEO and Lead Generation Services) has started getting word out about the Entrepreneur Cafe so as to build our network even stronger.
Rita (Turning Recyclables Into Clean Energy) outlined some of the challenges she was experiencing in her business and we helped with some suggestions to combat them.
Katja (Own Range of Beauty Products) has also started promoting eCafe in one of her Twitter business groups. We had an extra visitor this week as a result of that.
Justin (www.shadowmarketing.ie) described his business and where it was located etc. He is part of other different networks and he is going to promote eCafe to those. (He said that the eCafe concept was excellent)
We then discussed a new initiative from the Irish Government which is focused on attracting companies to Ireland in order to generate more employment in the country. We quickly realized that we all had some major contacts all over the world which we could draw on.
We focused at the end of the meeting on how best to promote eCafe in our local area. This discussion was very productive and will definitely help to build our network stronger.
A great meeting with great discussion is how I’d describe it.... J
Special thanks to James & Jack of J&J’s Restaurant for the use of their premises. It’s very much appreciated.
John Hayes