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BulkSMS.com launches support programme for entrepreneurial firms

16 February 2011

Home-grown global SMS messaging provider BulkSMS.com announces the launch of an entrepreneurial support programme for clients to stimulate the transformation and greening of South African businesses.

BulkSMS.com has launched a business support programme for entrepreneurial firms within its South African client base. The BulkSMS Entrepreneurial Incentive Scheme is an enterprise development programme that aims to add value to selected emerging or growing businesses that use the BulkSMS.com messaging platform for sending or receiving business communications or running SMS services.

Building on last year’s successful SMS messaging awards celebrating 10 years in business where three winners received significant cash and SMS credits as prizes, this entrepreneurial support programme seeks to recognise the benefits BulkSMS.com received in getting started as a business venture through the Cape IT Initiative (CITI) and its Bandwidth Barn business incubator programme.

“The Entrepreneurial Incentive Scheme is part of our giving back to entrepreneurial firms who see SMS messaging as an important part of their business communications or integral to their business model,” says Dr Pieter Streicher, managing director of BulkSMS.com.

The programme offers entrepreneurs a means of accessing BulkSMS.com resources in support of their own ventures. Dependent on business needs, assistance may include sponsored SMS messaging credits, preferential pricing packages, financial grants, public relations exposure, access to information and training on the use of SMS messaging, as well as business networking opportunities.

According to Streicher, “This approach to entrepreneurial business support draws on existing methodologies to harness the potential of a growing mid-sized ICT firm such as ours to strengthening our internal value-chain and enable entrepreneurial firms to grow in their markets.”

Taking up industry imperatives in South Africa, the programme has two primary areas of focus. In supporting the transformation of the ICT sector in the country, and those sectors that use ICT as a core part of running their business communications, the Entrepreneurial Incentive Scheme is geared to maximise the value of preferential procurement relationships with small black-owned entrepreneurial firms.

The other key programme area, which may include businesses that fall into the above category, is to stimulate entrepreneurial firms who are in the green sector or service providers to the green sector. The greening of industry by stimulating entrepreneurial activity is seen by BulkSMS.com as a crucial step in creating locally responsible and environmentally aware businesses that drive the future of the global economy. The Entrepreneurial Incentive Scheme is designed to run through 2011 with a view of expanding the programme into the following year dependent on the outcome of an evaluation of the programme and its direct and indirect benefits to beneficiary firms.

Entry Criteria for the Entrepreneurial Incentive Scheme

Category of Beneficiary Firm Criteria for Inclusion in Programme Documentation Required
  • A. Business Communicator
  1. The firm is a registered business in South Africa and client of BulkSMS.com.
  2. The firm has been in operation for between 2 years and less than 5 years.
  3. The firm purchases 1,000 SMS credits per month on average for use in sending promotional or other business related SMS messages.
  1. Copy of company registration documents.
  2. Motivation for inclusion in the programme.
  3. Description of how SMS messaging is used.
  • B. Business Innovator
  1. The firm is a registered business in South Africa and client of BulkSMS.com.
  2. The firm has been in operation for 1 year.
  3. The firm uses SMS messaging (API, premium rate shortcodes, or both solutions) as a core component of their business model.
  1. Copy of company registration documents.
  2. Motivation for inclusion in the programme.
  3. Description of how SMS messaging is used or SMS service is run.
  • C. Business Transformation Advocate
  1. The firm is a registered business in South Africa and client of BulkSMS.com.
  2. The firm has been in operation for between 2 years and less than 5 years.
  3. The firm is 25% plus black owned and has a level 1 to 6 B-BBEE status.
  1. Copy of company registration documents.
  2. Valid B-BBEE certificate.
  3. Motivation for inclusion in the programme.
  4. Description of how SMS messaging is used or SMS service is run.
  • D. Business Empowerment Enabler
  1. The firm is a registered business in South Africa and client of BulkSMS.com.
  2. The firm has been in operation for between 2 years and less than 5 years.
  3. The firm is a 50% plus black owned firm, which would qualify as a QSE or EME in terms of B-BBEE accreditation.
  1. Copy of company registration documents.
  2. A letter from an accountant stating that the percentage of black ownership.
  3. Motivation for inclusion in the programme.
  4. Description of how SMS messaging is used or SMS service is run.
  • E. Green Business Enabler
  1. The firm is a registered business in South Africa and client of BulkSMS.com.
  2. The firm has been in operation for between 2 years and less than 5 years.
  3. The firm operates in or supplies primarily to organisations in the green sector* (i.e. with 50% or more of it turnover derived from this sector).
  1. Copy of company registration documents
  2. Motivation for inclusion in the programme.
  3. Description of how SMS messaging is used or SMS service is run to support the green sector.

*Note: the green sector may include businesses focusing on: renewable energy, green construction, eco-labelling, recycling, or local food production. The sector may also include firm with the following focus areas: pollution control (end-of-pipe solutions), cleaner production (modifying products and production methods), eco-efficiency (environmental monitoring and management systems), lifecycle thinking (extending environmental responsibility to supply chain management and corporate social responsibility), closed-loop production (minimising or eliminating virgin materials), and industrial ecology (integrating systems of production to form environmental partnerships or eco-industrial parks).

How to Apply

Entrepreneurial firms based in South Africa who are clients of BulkSMS.com and meet the entry criteria for the Entrepreneurial Incentive Scheme are encouraged to apply by sending an email to info@bulksms.com with the subject line: Entrepreneurial Incentive Scheme for the attention of Glen Thompson, the programme manager. The email will need to include:

  • The category or categories applied for, as a firm may meet one or more of the listed categories of beneficiary firms to be eligible for selection to the programme.
  • Supporting documentation per category (attach relevant documents to the email).

Closing Date for Applications to the Programme

Applications to the Entrepreneurial Incentive Scheme close at 16h00 on Thursday, 31 March 2011. Applications after this date may also be considered at the discretion of the management team.

Applicants will be notified by Monday, 18 April 2011 as to whether they were selected for the Entrepreneurial Incentive Scheme.