A Simple idea of the power of the best export from South Africa, that is South African’s themselves, and creating a well-connected network of Saffa’s (South Africans) across the globe, who would be committed to help build the country and support other businesses, was the foundation stone of the Lekker Network (Lekker in Afrikaans means nice or tasty or great).
A year down the track and it has become a significant network of over 200 people who are in some form or another looking to contribute to building South Africa into a better, more prosperous and resilient country.
Born from a Simple Idea – to Build a Business Building Network
Business Tech Africa, asked co-founders Renier Lombard and Nic Latouf about the journey so far and dug a bit deeper into what the plan is going forward.
Renier says “Well you know it’s it’s a unique situation, because when people joined they asked what are we going to get for this and I told them – we don’t know what you’re going to get, but what you are going to get is the opportunity to help us build this” he comments.
“They joined organically because they were these business owners and risk takers”. “They saw the value in the idea and we didn’t go and get VC or angel funding, we said to the community if you want this support it, come into it and build it with us, and that’s what the community did so we’re building this for the community and they’ve really come up with the massive support and we’re doing it for them Lombard says.
Audacious Approach Using FOMO
The approach was a bold and audacious one that probably needs to go down into the marketing handbook of how you do a fund raise with absolutely no business plan just a solid idea.
The concept of networking the right people to connect and seek out worthy projects that will grow the South African economy is not new, but Lekker network has shown what smart FOMO marketing can actually achieve.
I ask Nic Latouf, the original Concept creator where to from here?
“We are in the creation mode right now”, he says. “we’re building, we’re building the platform we’re building the website we’re building all the value-based incentives that we are going to provide to the network, we’re building the various tiers and the forums that will be localised or geographically based, Nic comments.
It’s very much like a construction zone, Nic says, we’re throwing in the concrete and we’re putting the sinks in the building, and the members are all there helping us do this”
The members, according to Latouf are in the process of attending focus groups and strategy session so it’s not just the founding members who are doing the building.
The 200 members are given the ability to provide input into direction, and to advise on what they like and what they would like to see the Lekker Network achieve.
There is a voting process that ensures all are heard, and according to Renier, it becomes a collective mind and a diverse image of to how they go about things and what the prioritise.
Public Launch – Mid-March
With the official launch planned for mid-March this year and then the plan is to go live with the concept to the public offering that will include multiple membership tiers, where people can even join on a monthly basis.
The Network has access to a wide network of well-established business people, some of whom are looking to fund, others who can offer business input and guidance and others who are simply able to connect members to the right players.
“That’s really the the power of how this actually started because once you have momentum, people want to jump in they want to be part of this building” says Lombard. FOMO is very hard and we were very successful of building a very FOMO effect so people wanted to join there was this massive drive and now they’re in it and it’s just it’s amazing to see how people are engaging and doing business together” he comments.
Committee of 200 People?
I joke that they now have a business concept run by a committee of 200 odd people, that many would say is a really bad idea, and ask Renier and Nic how they are managing that situation?
Renier says, “They’re not part of the board they’re not part of the final decision-making group”. “We have a core decision-making team with the members who are more or less an advisory board and they’re advising us along the way and we can then decide and pick what is relevant and what we need. “The members were told, we know we’re not going to use every idea that you have and we’re not going to do everything you want”.
“We will then also use those individual ideas and values and see if it is a collective and then use that to build” Renier explains.
Why Become a Lekker Network Member
So what is the big attraction to becoming a member of the Lekker Network
Nic explains that there are various value propositions. “One of them is it’s a network of opportunities, so there is opportunity flying around all the time, He says.
Nic reveals that the network has developed an impact tracker. This is a tool where they are able to track impact at any given time, and that they share with the members.
How many jobs were created each week, what deals have been finalised, the amount of businesses that have been started and so on.
The idea that each member can see how belonging to the Lekker Network has contributed to building up the economy is a key value.
“When other members see that happening they also want to take a more active role in making things happen”, says Nic. “And we’re also positioning some of the team to be what we what we call Dot Connectors, so we’ll have people that will literally go and sit with all the businesses that are in the network and go and understand what it is that they’re looking for and what they need” he says.
The key role of the core team is then to approach other members that they know may be interested in the projects and actively connect the members.
“This is not just going to be a network where we sit back and we and we leave everybody to network but we’re actively going to create value and actively going to make connections and opportunities happen”, concludes Latouf.
Future Development of the Lekker Network
There are further plans for developing a development fund to have the ability to invest in a couple of the network’s projects in South Africa and then using the network as an incubator to be able to accelerate these businesses way faster than then then they would if they had to do this on their own.
The model is certainly refreshing and it may just be the type of revolutionary approach that a stagnant economy, plagued by massive challenges needs to spark a revolutionary change and bring business people together to help build a better economy.
Read About the new Payment Provider Association in South Africa – READ HERE