Blueberry trial in Port Elizabeth, South Africa. Part 2

10 months have past, since I planted my blueberries from the nursery in 20 liter black bags. I planted 5 plants of each variety in: 50% Compost 20% Perlite 20% Woodchips 10% Sphagnum moss I planted 4 plants of each variety in: 30% Compost 30% Perlite 30% Woodchips 10% Sphagnum moss Finally, I added one teaspoon of Aluminium Sulphate to keep the soil Ph between 4.5 and 5.5. It is too early to draw any conclusions on the viability of a blueberry project in the Port Elizabeth region. It is impossible to see which varieties...

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Blueberry trial in Port Elizabeth, South Africa. Part 1

I love walking through orchards. They are beautiful. An orchard seems to be a place where a heart finds rest. I know very few people who don't love the beautiful rolling hills with vineyards, or the pleasing sweet smell of an orange orchard in full bloom. From a business point of view, orchading poses exciting opportunities. The economics of most...

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The story of our heart

We study degrees. Get engaged. Get married. Go to school. Find a religion. Have children. Buy a car. Open bank accounts. Invest money. Buy houses. Get jobs. Change jobs. I have done many things in my life. Not good nor bad. Not right nor wrong. I just did them. Lately I wonder out loud why I do what I do. I have done a lot because it was the cultural, had religious approval or met my family's expectations. I supposedly 'pleased' them (them we refer to when we are not too sure who). The truth however is that none of those 'them's' are pleased....

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Where do you start fundraising?

Finding investors for you next world changing idea is not easy. Yes we have all heard the story of the guy doing a fundraising round in Silicon Valley and getting 50 Million dollars in 1 session That story leaves out the hard work that was put in the fundraising project in the years beforehand. We never hear the stories of the businesses which failed to raise any money - because you guessed it right: They failed. Nobody likes a failing story. So where do you start? Firstly: Put your own neck on the line. Don't expect other people to...

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What is a fair salary?

I started two businesses in the past seven months. I employ seven people. These people depend on my businesses to feed their families. In African terms this means that 70 people depend approximately on my businesses. A big responsibility. Deciding on a salary has been a real challenge. My social side wants to pay as much as possible, but my entrepreneurial side wants to pay as lot less to keep costs down. Is paying the minimum wage enough? Legally it is, but is paying the minimum wage right? I pay my staff R200 per day which is about...

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Square One

July first is less than a week away. Halfway 2015 Hard to believe. My main New Year's resolution was to look better after myself. It hasn't really worked out the way I intended it to go. I started anti-depressants just before the turn of the New Year. I needed to take the edge a bit of my border case living. I needed to find some peace and space in my head. I wanted to create a place where I could start dealing with some of the challenges in my life rather than fight the symptoms.  It worked for a couple of months. Afterwards,...

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'Failing'

Last week I wrote a blog about trying to live for a month on the South African minimum wage. I failed. I lasted for about 24 hours. I thought this would not be too hard. I have completed some challenges: I did abstain from chocolate for a whole year during 2014. I finished my degree correspondence. I lost 30kg's in 6 months....

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Living the minimum wage life

South Africa, my country is second on the gap between rich and poor list in the world. I employ six staff. I pay them salaries. So I looked into minimum salaries as proscribed in the South African law. They are low, very low. You might be pleased to know that I pay my staff substantially more than the minimum wage, but I am sure there are...

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My South African startup

Six months ago I joined the legion of people who gave up on a salaried job to start following their own business dreams. Today I am taking some time to reflect on the past six months. It's been hard, it's been fun, it's been stressful... It has been an emotional rollercoaster, but above all it has been rewarding. I am not saying this is the road...

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Welcome to my street

On Friday evening, I decided to go and spend time volunteering at a soup kitchen in Port Elizabeth. It is called the City Feed, run by a charity called 'Love Story'. I have realised that I love being with the homeless. Every time I want to go I still find it a struggle to go out - I blogged about this before in My Couch. I parked my vehicle....

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