Bread brand Blue Ribbon has launched the Mmmm Yum Kidz Tuckshop, an entrepreneurship programme to teach learners the practical fundamentals of business practice.
For eight weeks, handpicked schools in the Western Cape region will become a bustling business hub, as the pupils run fully functional sandwich businesses. Pupils will set up their own fully stocked pop-up tuckshop at their school. From the grassroots level of establishing business objectives, handling staff, implementing marketing strategies to calculating turnovers, the students will gain first-hand experience in the world of service trading.
Launching in Cape Town, junior schools from Paarl, Kraaifontein, Phillipi, Kuyasa, Heideveld, Retreat and Strand have been selected to roll out the first of its kind initiative.
To facilitate all of this, Blue Ribbon sought the expertise of personal wealth guru, financial commentator and CEO of TNC Wealth Partners Samke Mhlongo. The self-professed ‘frugal kugel‘ is an advocate of financial literacy and was responsible for compiling the workbook from which the students will base their curriculum over the 8-week period.
“We are thrilled to be launching such an initiative at such a pivotal time in the country. It is imperative that we teach the leaders of tomorrow the skills that will serve them, the nation and our economy as a whole. Cape Town has a rich legacy of birthing talents that have soared as entrepreneurs and business people and we are honoured to have some of the best working with us to mentor these students,” commented Blue Ribbon’s marketing executive bakeries Noleen Ballard-Tremeer.
Joining the campaign are some of Cape Town’s own born, ‘bread and buttered’ personalities including Ready D, radio DJs Kyeezi, TK, Kia Johnson, dancer and entertainer Blake Williams and hip hop first lady Patty Monroe. (via Bizcommunity)
Delivery Service App, Mr D Food, Forecasts Major Growth In The Next 6 Months
Delivery service app, Mr D Food announced that the app has been downloaded more than 200,000 times in the last six months, and that expects this number to double over the upcoming half a year.
Mr D is 100% owned by Takealot.com and backed by Tiger Global and Naspers. The latter has invested more than half a billion dollars into online food delivery businesses since May this year, with $425 million going to Germany’s Delivery Hero and $80 million into India’s Swiggy. Online food delivery presents a large opportunity and the industry has experienced strong growth globally with Morgan Stanley estimating that food delivery in the US alone is worth $30 billion.
Devin Sinclair, head of Mr D Food, says, “We are currently taking over 100,000 orders per month through our app. We have a network of more than 1,400 restaurants, hundreds of drivers and we deliver to over 1,900 suburbs around South Africa. With projections that there will be 20 million smartphone users in South Africa within the next three years, we anticipate continued exponential growth and are forecasting that the number of customers using our app will double in the next six months.”
According to the press release, those expectations are supported by growth prospects for the South African industry.
“According to Euromonitor, less than 1% of food ordering in South Africa in 2015 took place online. That can be compared to penetration rates for online food delivery in more developed markets, which McKinsey & Company has estimated could reach as high as 65% per year. “So we are ripe for growth and our scalable business is ready,” adds Sinclair. (via Bizcommunity)
iflix Secures Additional $133 Million Funding, Led by Hearst
iflix, the Subscription Video on Demand (SVoD) service for emerging markets, today announced it has completed a $133 million funding round as it continues to deliver on its vision of bringing the world’s best entertainment to its audiences.
The funding round, which attracted significant interest from both new investors and existing shareholders, was led by Hearst, one of America’s largest diversified media, information and services companies, and also included additional new investors Singapore-based EDBI and clients of DBS private bank. Existing shareholders Evolution Media, Sky PLC, Catcha Group, Liberty Global, Jungle Ventures and PLDT Inc. also increased their investments.
The service which went live in May 2015, has over the last 12 months, seen extraordinary growth across all segments of the business, expanding from four markets to 19 across Asia, the Middle East and Africa. The company has additionally built deep integrated distribution partnerships with 27 leading telecommunications operators to bundle the iflix service with customers’ mobile and data subscriptions, all sponsored by the telecommunications provider.
The new round brings total funding raised by iflix this calendar year to an excess of $220 million. Proceeds from the round will be used to invest in its local content strategy.
iflix co-founder and Group CEO Mark Britt said: “We are thrilled to welcome Hearst President and CEO Steven Swartz and Hearst Entertainment & Syndication President Neeraj Khemlani to the iflix family. As iflix continues to grow and pioneer new ways for consumers to enjoy entertainment on their terms, we were looking for a partner who could bring additional expertise and knowledge to our business. Hearst is a leading investor and has many of the world’s most innovative and iconic video brands, including ESPN, A+E Networks, Vice, AwesomenessTV, Complex and more. This collaboration significantly deepens our bench of experts with our longstanding partners Evolution Media, Sky and Liberty Global to help drive iflix’s continuing growth.”
