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BUSINESS PLAN / PROPOSAL
YOUTH ALIVE MINISTRIES
DUBE YOUTH AND COMMUNITY
CENTRE
INCLUSION OF TELECENTRE
ACTIVITIES
SOWETO, SOUTH AFRICA
MARCH 2001
INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................... 2
PROPOSAL DEVELOPMENT .............................................................................. 3
OBJECTIVES.......................................................................................................... 4
TELECENTRE OBJECTIVES ....................................................................................... 4
ISSUES TO BE ADDRESSED BY TELECENTRE DESIGN............................... 6
PROPOSED ACTIVITIES...................................................................................... 9
DISTINCTIVENESS AND ADDED VALUE....................................................... 11
HUMAN RESOURCES......................................................................................... 13
COMPETITION .................................................................................................... 13
FINANCIAL DATA............................................................................................... 14
REVENUE STREAMS .............................................................................................. 14
CAPITAL EXPENDITURE ......................................................................................... 16
ONGOING COSTS. .................................................................................................. 17
PROFIT AND LOSS.................................................................................................. 17
TIMING ................................................................................................................. 17
PROMOTION AND MARKETING..................................................................... 18
FINANCIAL SPREADSHEETS ........................................................................... 18
Business Plan / Proposal, Youth Alive Ministries, Dube Youth and Community Centre, Inclusion of Telecentre Activities
Soweto, South Africa, March 2001.
Page 1 of 1
I NTRODUCTION
Youth Alive stated as a youth organization to help the churches minister or reach the
youth effectively. It is interdenominational and has been working in Soweto since
1959. In Soweto alone well over 30,000 young people have been members of Youth
Alive in the last 30 years. They have become an established community resource.
Registered as a South African NGO they receive funding from Germany and the
USA. The governing board is entirely South African Africans, as are the managers
and the staff. They have clubs in Soweto, Kwa Zulu Natal, Cape Town and
Zimbabwe. The centre in Kwa Zulu Natal is more “modern” than the one in Soweto
and there is scope for lessons learned to be disseminated beyond Soweto.
In Soweto they own and operate a community youth centre in Dube district. They
also operate youth clubs in 3 other centres around Soweto. They have extensive links
into the community and are networked widely at a grassroots level within Soweto.
They are members of the Youth Association Network – all youth organisations
working in Soweto.
Youth Alive offers a service to local schools. Youth workers run special classes for
Life Issues. Currently there is a strong emphasis on HIV/Aids awareness. Youth
Alive is seen as a professional resource for the educational authorities and during the
visit senior staff were involved in running a workshop for teachers for their in-service
training on HIV awareness. Other life issues dealt with during the visit included drug
and substance abuse awareness. Professional full time youth workers, work
alongside a network of volunteers from the community. Senior youth groups self
organise activities and presentations (on life issues) and the youth worker may or may
not be in attendance as a facilitator.
At the community centre Youth Alive maintain a presence during all daylight hours.
(One of the workers lives on site in a detached house – but due to security use during
evening hours is very restricted). There are a number of formal activities which are
divided into “clubs”. In addition they offer informal services to “latch key” children
and youth.
Youth groups at the Youth Alive Centre Dube –
Young Adults – unmarried adults up to the age of about 27
Senior Youth – Teenagers - the age for senior high school and tertiary education
Junior Youth – High School (11 to teenager)
Children – 5 to 9
In the past they have offered business skills training, although this activity is currently
suspended due to lack of funds.
The YAM managers and youth and community workers had already expressed an
interest in Telecentre before the arrival of the consultants. They had discussed
tentative plans before the visit. One or two members of the Board had worked with
Business Plan / Proposal, Youth Alive Ministries, Dube Youth and Community Centre, Inclusion of Telecentre Activities
Soweto, South Africa, March 2001.
Page 2 of 2
the YAM staff and together they had drafted a proposal. Elements of that proposal
have been included here.
South Africa has suffered greatly in recent years from the ravages of apartheid and
social unrest. Though the future is beginning to offer signs of hope, life is still bleak
for townships and the majority of black young people.
- Violence continues to cause grief and fear
- Schools are massively over crowded and under funded
- Unemployment runs at 94% for all black school leavers
A whole generation of black young people have suffered a lifetime of turmoil and
pain, and face a future without hope.
(from the Youth Alive promotional brochure)
P ROPOSAL DEVELOPMENT
This proposal/business plan was developed after consultation with the community
using the centre at Dube. The details of the consultation are to be found in the visit
report “Consultation Visit to Soweto for KAR R7842 Big World/Gamos Jan 2001.”
The methodology of the consultation was informed by the experience of IDRC.
IDRC guidelines suggested an outline for a Telecentre scoping process. However this
scoping process assumed that there was no existing community centre and so the
methodology was modified accordingly.
In brief the consultation included the following exercises conducted with over 200
youth drawn from the community centre user groups.
• Exercise – Profiling the group
• Exercise - Life events
• Exercise - greatest needs.
• Exercise - Objectives
• Exercise - Technology familiarity
• Exercise - Technology services
• Exercise – acting out a computer
• Wider community consultation
The profile of the group was that they were all local youth, they have had interaction
with the centre either through children and youth activities or have shown a
spontaneous interest. There were three groupings – Children and Junior Youth (60+),
Senior Youth (2*40+) and Young adults (40+). There were a slightly more females
than males.
The YAM managers and youth and community workers had already expressed an
interest in telecentres before the arrival of BigWorld consultants. They had discussed
tentative plans before the visit. One or two members of the Board had worked with
Business Plan / Proposal, Youth Alive Ministries, Dube Youth and Community Centre, Inclusion of Telecentre Activities
Soweto, South Africa, March 2001.
Page 3 of 3
the YAM staff and together they had drafted a proposal. Elements of that proposal
have been included here. The Yam Managers also had the benefit of seeing the draft
output from the Mexico consultation.
O BJECTIVES
Like many NGOs Youth Alive has a wide range of activities. The intention of this
proposal is to support existing objectives not to create a parallel set for a Telecentre.
All Telecentre objectives will be a subset of, and supportive to, Youth Alive’s main
objectives.
•
•
To discover and develop leadership and release or deploy into the
community. (This is to encourage young to be servant leaders in community. )
To develop and/or support strategies and community efforts in fighting
poverty.
The main activities are:• Education support programmes,
• Small Business Development programme
• Women’s Development programme
• Street Children programme
The core of Youth Alive’s objectives are:• Educational opportunities for Children and Youth
• Leadership training of youth
• Personal development opportunities for all the community
T ELECENTRE O BJECTIVES
The consultation exercises identified the two thematic problems, :• Employment – lack of opportunities and lack of capacity
• Education – the cost of schooling puts the children of poor families at a long
term disadvantage (leading to unemployment)
As a backdrop to these points there was a re-occurring theme of lack of money, and
health advice (health issues are one of the biggest consumers of savings). Destruction
of traditional culture was also mentioned.
The problems were reworked to provide the positive, desired conditions.
• Employment – awareness of opportunities and training for capacity
• Education – equal opportunity for education
In line with Youth Alive broader goals the target user group will be the poorest
“people who can not afford the time, money and cost to use the facility which is
meant for them” (Faki Bobide, YAM Director). These are the people who cannot
afford the services of the colleges and more expensive schools. The centre wishes to
encourage the community to use the Telecentre, particularly children from such
poorest families. They recognise the challenge this presents and wish to face it
Business Plan / Proposal, Youth Alive Ministries, Dube Youth and Community Centre, Inclusion of Telecentre Activities
Soweto, South Africa, March 2001.
Page 4 of 4
directly. The poorest surrounding potential client group will require specific
marketing, and facilities will need to be adapted to reach them. Youth Alive plans not
only to announce the new services through the clubs but also to use community
structures such as the Soweto Youth Network (which they co-ordinate), Churches (a
network of over 5000 people) and Schools (YAM has links already through it HIV
training).
Youth Alive subscribes to a strong set of values. They wish these values to be
supported by technology not eroded by it, hence their strong emphasis on content.
As part of the consultation process for the formation of this proposal, visits were
made to other telecentres in Soweto. It was noted that few if any of them dealt with a
range of “content”. Most Telecentres offered training in computer related subjects
such as Word Excel and Cobol. While these skills are valuable the Youth Alive team
felt that these skills alone gave only a limited advantage to the job seeker. They knew
of people who had these skills and remained unemployed. They noted that overall
business knowledge was required to secure lifetime income. (The manager of Digital
Village who has recently added business training to his suite of training courses also
confirmed this).
The team also noted a lack of local language resources. There were no local language
primers available on the web and no telecentres had plans for developing them.
Schoolnet SA and SASchools although intended to support education in South Africa
do not seem to offer Xhosa or Zulu based resources. Afrikaans is used on the internet
but this is of limited use to the people of Soweto. The YAM staff expressed and
interest in getting youth to develop local language resources.
The team also could not identify a local employment resources site. Users of the
Digital Village Telecentre search each company site individually to identify job
opportunities. The YAM team expressed interest in getting the senior youth and
young adults to compile an employment site.
Business Plan / Proposal, Youth Alive Ministries, Dube Youth and Community Centre, Inclusion of Telecentre Activities
Soweto, South Africa, March 2001.
Page 5 of 5
I SSUES TO BE ADDRESSED BY T ELECENTRE D ESIGN
Since the emphasis above is on shared knowledge the following general issues were
raised:The Telecentre should have a Content Led Approach. The heart of the Digital
divide is the recognition that Information is valuable. It is an opportunity for
power. A key objective for Youth Alive is to create a mechanism for allowing the
poor to realise the economic worth of local knowledge and know-how.
Therefore the centre should include:
A Multimedia Content Design Studio as part of Telecentre – triggered when local
understanding and capacity building phases have been achieved.
A system for rewarding indigenous content
To make the content immediately accessible and obviously appropriate to local people
the service provision to be based on the Life Events approach. (This has some
similarity with the DFID Livelihoods Approach but is presented on a simpler basis
so the community can understand). The Life Events approach goes one step
further than simple problem tree analysis. It was used during the consultation to
draw out the opportunities for supporting poor people in positive expressions of
life as well as tackling their immediate needs. For instance, the challenges of a
wedding and minimising the expenses thereof may not be considered a major
problem, but through the Life Event approach they were identified as a significant
potential problem for families. The will be an ongoing selection and creation of
a local taxonomy of information needs
The initiative should be Youth Led. Even in these poor areas generation Y have been
exposed to computers and accept their potential as the norm. The consultation
showed that many poor children had some, albeit extremely limited, access to
computers, and or saw them on television and understood the significance of their
potential. The ideas of producing local content can be enhanced by letting Youth
be involved. Challenges in this area are:Youth have technical expertise (or gain it very quickly) but may not
have the authority/leadership skills.
The older members of the community may be the repositories of
helpful life experience.
There are opportunities for South-South Co-operation and mutual
capacity building
Business Plan / Proposal, Youth Alive Ministries, Dube Youth and Community Centre, Inclusion of Telecentre Activities
Soweto, South Africa, March 2001.
Page 6 of 6
Where possible build using Open Source Options. The rationale for this lower “per
seat” and life time costs. Open source options also means that local staff are paid
to develop and maintain the software (keeping finance within the community) not
the license holders through their agents (often part of the wealthy elite). Open
source also has the potential allow people to graduate from the Telecentre and
start their own businesses at minimal cost.
For instance:- Operating Systems - E.g. Linux, Office applications E.g. StarOffice, Browsers - E.g. Opera, Open Content, Collaborative
Working Environment.
The Open source approach raises an added issue regarding
employment. The dominance of Microsoft mitigates against this open
source approach. Many companies and personnel departments believe
that Microsoft accreditation on Word and Excel is superior to say a
genuine working knowledge of StarOffice. In practice anyone using
StarOffice can effectively use Word and Excel.
Based on the last comment above, Certificates are important and valued by the
business community therefore accreditation is important. Due to the general
perception of companies in South Africa (and the world), there may be a need to
enhance the open source options with some sort of generally accepted
accreditation in order to maximise employment opportunities.
The possibilities include:-.Telecentre Generated e.g. Induction, Right
to use certain equipment.
Global Proprietary e.g. CISCO EAcademy, Microsoft1.
Generic e.g. International Computer Driving
Licence2
Focus on delivery of services via consumer Alternative Information Appliances
(AIAs). There is an increasing range of alternatives from a standard multi media
personal computer for delivery and gaining basic computer literacy. The
Knowledge and Research project has identified a number of workable alternatives
for delivery of services. For want of a better term we have generically called
these Information Appliances. AIAs again offer lower “per seat” and lifetime
costs. They are often more robust, require only minimal maintenance and are
more affordable. Examples of AIAs for delivery of information include (this is
not an exhaustive list by any means)
Vtech educational laptops3 ; Games Consoles4 ; DVD5 ; Use of
multiformat CDs6
1
Microsoft offers self taught certification for £200 in other countries and may offer this in South Africa.
2
http://www.icdl.org.za/
3
Vtech have been contacted. They have sales outlets in South Africa. They offer a basic children’s educational
tool which looks like a laptop and has word processor with built in educational games. Some of their systems have
the ability to send emails and plug into televisions emulating a PC. Costs of systems vary between £50 to £200.
Business Plan / Proposal, Youth Alive Ministries, Dube Youth and Community Centre, Inclusion of Telecentre Activities
Soweto, South Africa, March 2001.
Page 7 of 7
The AIA approach opens up the potential for significant cost savings
per seat and on lifetime costs. While content is not readily available
(except for Vtech educational programmes), the AIAs offer a possible
cost effective and wide audience for long term distribution of home
grown local content. An analysis of AIAs can be found in the KAR
supporting report.
There is to find the optimal risk adverse approach. It is important to offer security
of data as well as equipment and yet to include a scalable system to allow for
future expansion. There is a need to explore Alternative Networking Strategies.
Most Telecentres seem to built around client server networks which can be very
vulnerable to disruption and expensive to support.
The options include:-Peer to Peer, Client Server, Remote Host, ASP
Key elements resulting from this risk aversion are:Gradual purchase of equipment as human capacity develops7,
Minimise the need for onsite 24/7/365 support and work towards
outsourcing technical support. This has the added bonus of reducing
reliance on any single technical person8.
Important to provide Personal Digital Storage. As well as general security on data it
is particularly important that individuals with possibly only transient access to
ICT services and equipment need a persistent, accumulative, future proof
collection of personal digital assets.
Accordingly the telecentre should offer:- individuals a repository to
store many personal CDs9 (with R/W capability), off-site backup10
4
Games consoles offer a multimedia menu driven experience without the need for keyboard skills. They can be a
robust hardware, which could withstand harsh environments. There are technical problems to using older consoles
such as playstations which retail at between £20 to 80. The new generation of consoles will have connectivity, and
offer basic communication but retail at around £300.
5
DVD is a menu driven multimedia experience. It is an open source format. DVD home systems are being sold
in Mexico for $100, and a similar promotional action may be taken in SA.
6
e.g. http://www.osta.org/ Possible delivery of material via many alternatives. For instance a CD may have
visuals for DVD or Games consoles and yet still play audio on a common walkman.
7
It was noted that many other Telecentres fully equip themselves with high specification systems from the start.
By the time the Telecentre is in full use with capable staff, the systems are out of date and the users and staff are
frustrated with obsolete technology. It would therefore seem better to start small and upgrade as capacity
develops.
8
The consultation identified that a common problem in Telecentres is that one person becomes the full time
technical support, they gain experience and confidence and then either command a salary which is considerably
higher than the equivalent community worker, or they leave to find a well paid job. YAM wishes to train people
for jobs in the city and therefore does not itself want to be reliant on a particular in-house technical support
individual.
Business Plan / Proposal, Youth Alive Ministries, Dube Youth and Community Centre, Inclusion of Telecentre Activities
Soweto, South Africa, March 2001.
Page 8 of 8
There should not be an assumption of 24/7 connectivity with the global community.
It is important to explore Alternative Connectivity Options. The last mile is the
most difficult part of the network in areas with low infrastructure and low
consumers spend.
Alternatives explored as part of this proposal include:- Wireless LAN
PSTN, Lease Line, Radio Internet, Satellite, Terrestrial Set-top boxes
Finally, an idea raised in the Mexico consultations that might be adopted by Youth
Alive is that the Telecentre should be membership based to develop a stable clientele
that would contribute to the main objectives. An approach for this would be a
Vouchers system that would allow free trials and then work towards Training. This
offers the possibilities for a PR and Marketing Tool for the most marginalised based
on yield optimisation techniques.
P ROPOSED A CTIVITIES
Given these underlying issues and decisions, the consultation took the youth through
the process of designing a menu for a telecentre.
Initially the groups were aware of only basic computer activities such as word
processing and sending emails. The team discussed learning programmes for children
and the various opportunities presented by peripheral technology (eg web cameras).
The emphasis was on ICTs ability to SHARE KNOWLEDGE in both synchronous and
asynchronous manner. The discussion included an educational component making
people aware of what technology can currently do, and what it might be able to do in
the near future.
The key elements are:Advisory services –
Training (education and job incubation) –
Content services –
“Me helping myself”
“Me improving myself”
“Me helping others”
The three elements are of course interwoven – learning how to develop an advisory
web site may also be a future job skill and the author may gain helpful advice during
the development process.
9
Floppy disc have been shown to be vulnerable to harsh environments. The CD offers a robust environment for
long term storage
10
Opportunities exist for storage off site thus mitigating security threats. E.g. idrive.
Business Plan / Proposal, Youth Alive Ministries, Dube Youth and Community Centre, Inclusion of Telecentre Activities
Soweto, South Africa, March 2001.
Page 9 of 9
The consultation generated a possible menu of services and activities to be carried out
in the Telecentre. The service product list is given below.
Some services will have alternatives of presentation and filtering according to the age
groups. The numbers (1, 2 & 3) denote either a restricted level of access with heavily
filtered content or a differing style of presentation for that service. In brief the
required products are as follows: Service menu
Children (<11)
Junior youth
High School
(12 – 17)
Senior youth
17 - 25
Adults
Library resources
Learning programmes
(school curriculum)
Basic Computer Skills
learnt through doing.
Training in specific work
related skill
Training in Computer
skills
Careers advice
Issue based advice (e.g.
Drug abuse)
Connectivity to global
community
Technical Support services
Design studio
Business incubation
1
1
1&2
2
2
2
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
1
2
1&2
3
1&2
3
1
2
2
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
1
X
Clarification
Library resources will contain two levels of access. 1 & 2. Content will be filtered
for age group and mainly used on site. It is possible that AIAs will be available for
loan and use at home.
Learning programmes will contribute to school curriculum at two basic levels. 1 &
2.
Training in specific work related skill. As specific needs are identified, content will
be sourced and developed for self tuition on the computers with group discussions.
Training in Computer skills. Self study programmes are available. Staff training of
personnel is not envisaged although peer to peer assistance among the community is
expected.
Careers advice will be at 3 levels. 1 Generic (but contextualised) offline advice for
youth. 2 Specific work related opportunities (including employment and training).
Advisory service for Issues will need to be targeted at the age appropriate level.
Connectivity to global community. 1 will be restricted to school to school
communication. 2 will allow free access but probably batch emails and filtered
internet surfing.
Support services will include printing, scanning, etc. Where these services have
significant consumable costs (eg printing) there will be controlled access.
Design studio. Development of local content is the key added value of this
telecentre. Key community members, both youth (who have technical skills) and
Business Plan / Proposal, Youth Alive Ministries, Dube Youth and Community Centre, Inclusion of Telecentre Activities
Soweto, South Africa, March 2001.
Page 10 of 10
adults (who may have better editorial skills) will be encouraged to develop local
content and edit global content for offline use.
Business incubation. The community may explore the possibilities of business
incubation. The knowledge based services generated within the Telecentre may have
markets in South Africa and the world. In the survey conducted by the KAR team, no
significant Zulu or Xhosa language resources were identified. Both have software for
teaching the language to an English speaker, but neither seem to have their own
language primers for use by native speakers. The YAM youth suggested that there
are paper based primers that schools would be willing to purchase if they were in an
electronic format.
D ISTINCTIVENESS AND A DDED VALUE
The Youth Alive Telecentre will stand out from most (if not all) other South African
Telecentres by being:• Focussed on a very poor community
• Designed and run by individuals (youth) drawn from the local community
• Contributing to an ongoing established locally driven ongoing project rather
than being set up as a new venture
• Content led rather than technology led with active encouragement to design
and publish local content
• Create and use computer based learning for subjects beyond computers
• Based on an integrated approach towards livelihoods rather than set up purely
as an information and communication centre
• Risk aversion by utilising technology in a strategic way - Alternative
Information Appliances, Open source software, Alternative Connectivity
Options
Business Plan / Proposal, Youth Alive Ministries, Dube Youth and Community Centre, Inclusion of Telecentre Activities
Soweto, South Africa, March 2001.
Page 11 of 11
Strengths
•
•
•
•
•
•
Weaknesses
•
Youth with technology skills
•
Support from nearby private sector
through Board
Content led approach
Open source foundation for cost
effectiveness
Alternative Information Appliances
ISDN available
50 seater bus for transporting whole
classes from schools
•
•
•
•
•
Opportunities
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Local NGO – African staffed
Established community connections
Physical asset of community centre
More than 30 years experience of
management of centre
Experience of public (membership) use
of equipment including books (ie lending
services)
Financially operational
•
•
Current human technical skills limited19
Current setup financially dependent on
donors20
Accommodation and space need some
adaptation
Security – two computers stolen 6
months ago21
Threats
Production of local language primers and
life event information
Production of video and audio backed
material
Storage of cultural knowledge
Storage of advice knowledge
Employment data service
Training for non computer related
employment
Training for computer related
employment
Shared knowledge
South - South co-operation
Accreditation opportunities
Risk aversion strategy possible
•
•
•
Computer related training (CRT) on its
own of limited value22
Private companies setting up shop
nearby23
Security – possible that thieves may feel
worth targeting24
19
Being and will be addressed by training
20
But Telecentre will be planned to be financially sustainable
21
mitigated by hiring security response
22
But total effect of this small because mitigated by CRT not emphasised or sole revenue in this plan
23
limited threat due to nature of content
24
mitigated by connections to community and types of equipment, plus offsite storage of data
Business Plan / Proposal, Youth Alive Ministries, Dube Youth and Community Centre, Inclusion of Telecentre Activities
Soweto, South Africa, March 2001.
Page 12 of 12
H UMAN R ESOURCES
The human resources available to the telecentre are as follows:YAM Board – some members of the Board (who are ex YAM youth from Soweto)
have links into the South African IT industry. It is possible that they can obtain
hardware, software or if necessary technical support and strongly discounted rates.
YAM Management – Faki Bodibe, the director, has a basic working knowledge of
computers. He operates his own personal computer, demonstrating an average
knowledge of connectivity and software.
YAM Staff – have variable basic knowledge of computers. Some can operate word
processing and accounting packages. Training would be required.
Community support:The youth that currently attend YAM centres are above average in their IT knowledge
for within Soweto. By definition, the centre attendees tend to come from families that
have thought through life issues and have opted to spend a disproportionate part of
their income on education. They use the centre facilities to encourage their children
to work their way out of the poverty trap. They have often sent their children to
slightly better schools. On average the current clientele of the centre have access to a
computer for a half an hour each week. The older youth have considerable basic
computer literacy.
The team envisages that the current youth could form into an editorial and training
committee where they can work together on “publishing” opportunities and help each
other and their less fortunate classmates on learning exercises.
There is general support for the scheme from the wider community and further key
human resources are expected to develop as the telecentre unfolds.
Technical expertise
As described above there are members of the community at various stages of
technical competence. The design of the Telecentre will attempt to reduce the need
for specialised technical competence as much as possible. When second level
maintenance or repairs are required technical expertise will, if necessary, be brought
in on a commercial basis.
C OMPETITION
There are a number of opportunities within Soweto for gaining computer literacy.
Digital Village was set up with a grant from Microsoft and its associated companies
in South Africa. Details can be found in the visit report. It is beginning to be more
Business Plan / Proposal, Youth Alive Ministries, Dube Youth and Community Centre, Inclusion of Telecentre Activities
Soweto, South Africa, March 2001.
Page 13 of 13
content orientated (Business skills). However, Digital village is more than 6km from
the YAM centre and Youth attending it would require a bus ride to get there. Costs of
use will be similar. Youth in the Dube area were not aware of the existence of Digital
Village. (It had a centre nearer Dube but this was recently stripped of all equipment
by theft and is unlikely to start again.)
Charges at Digital Village are standard for public internet surfing with an option to be
a member with unlimited use. Registration/Membership Fee R300 plus Monthly Fee
R300 Training Courses, Fee R1200, Additional Services, Office Services CV (5
page max.) R30, Typing (per page) R7, Printing (per page) R5
Private schools. Dube shopping centre hosts two private computer training schools.
One runs on a semester regime and the other offers self-paced personal learning.
Both are fully subscribed. Charges are given in the Visit report and are approximately
4 times the costs proposed by YAM.
Information Centres. Within 300m of the Dube centre, the Catholics run an
information centre for the community. They recently (Jan 2001) added five PCs for
use by the community. They envisage people using them for self-learning at their
own pace. Charges will be comparable to YAM centre. Both parties have discussed
co-operation between the two centres.
Beyond Soweto in Johannesburg there are many Telecentres of various forms. The
most common is the Internet Café. Charges are vary slightly but are of the order Per
hour use of the internet R20, B/w page printout R1.5, Colour, R3
F INANCIAL D ATA
R EVENUE S TREAMS
A spreadsheet is given for the mix of income expected.
The consultation group giving an indication of Willingness To Pay (WTP) offered
indicative prices for use. Based on these figures the management and the consultants
worked on the final product targets and the input required to fulfil them.
There are four categories of user:• Local Schools (Classes to use the YAM bus to get the Telecentre)
• Students who are members of the community centre.
• Adults who are members of the community centre (i.e. who will pay a
membership fee)
• Adults who are casual visitors to the Community centre.
The consultation suggested that each of these groups would be charged at different
rates. Based on the above concepts and competitive figures (and the responses from
Mexico) the following service menu is suggested.
In South African Rand
Business Plan / Proposal, Youth Alive Ministries, Dube Youth and Community Centre, Inclusion of Telecentre Activities
Soweto, South Africa, March 2001.
Page 14 of 14
Service menu
A
B
C
Unit
Library resources
Learning programmes (school curriculum)
Basic Computer Skills learnt through doing.
Training in specific work related skill
Training in Computer skills
Careers advice
Issue based advice (e.g. Drug abuse)
Free if disadvantaged or emergency
Connectivity to global community
3
3
5
10
10
3
3
5
5
15
15
Per hour
Per hour
In the above
Per course
Per course
Per session
Per session
3
3
1
5
5
1
10
20
3
% of
profit
% of
profit
Not
available
Not
available
Technical Support services
Design studio
Business incubation
Per email
Per hour
Per piece
printed
Given these product prices the accompanying spreadsheet works backwards from
“seats available” to generate possible revenues. Given the level of interest expressed
by the community, and the current commitment to the Community centre we may
reasonably expect full occupancy of the equipment during daylight hours. However,
much of this might be community centre members (students) who are scheduled to
pay reduced fees.
The base business plan has been made on the following assumptions:• Since the target is youth, schooling may prevent use of many possible working
hours. (See below - To create an effective use of the Telecentre, the existing
50 seater bus will be used to bring classes from co-operating schools to the
Telecentre during school time). Therefore capacity for general use is assumed
to be on average only 4 hours per day.
• Also due to technical and logistical reasons the centre can only achieve total
occupancy at only 60% of total capacity. This has been assumed to allow for
maintenance and repair, and any development difficulties.
• That sizeable proportion of total occupancy is from discounted members.
• That numerically a greater number of seats is made available for AIAs and
therefore sizeable proportion of discounted members are students
The total income from seat occupancy can be expected to be in the region of
US$6,000 per year.
The plan is sensitive to the assumed number of operating hours. Youth Alive has a 50
seater bus. One concept suggested is to offer a service to surrounding schools to pick
up a class and bring them to the centre for a session of tuition. Initial reactions from a
head of a primary school were very positive. If this can happen then operating hours
may increase to 6 to 8 hours a day average.
If this is achievable the income may be of the order of $3000 per year to the centre.
There is an assumption that no profit will be made from printing or auxiliary services.
Business Plan / Proposal, Youth Alive Ministries, Dube Youth and Community Centre, Inclusion of Telecentre Activities
Soweto, South Africa, March 2001.
Page 15 of 15
Design Studio (publishing house)
In addition to the seat occupancy income, Youth Alive has expectations of using the
design systems to create local content. This content will be offered beyond the
confines of Soweto.
Local language lesson plans – This has yet to be detailed. However there are
numerous languages in South Africa, many of which are spoken by some people in
Soweto. Product - Making primer web pages in these languages could provide
material for schools and for interested persons (students of culture in other countries).
Assume production takes 5 days. US$2 per lesson accessed through download from
ecommerce site (i.e. no distribution costs). Customers – schools in South Africa
(assume 150 sales), novelty sales to global schools (assume 100). Potential income
US$500 per lesson.
Employment site. Currently no employment web site exists for low to middle
income work. YAM could use its contacts throughout the city to get companies to
contribute their job vacancies to a single searchable run by the Youth. Payment could
be through advertising, through “per search” or by percentage payment for every job
filled.
Advice sites. Youth Alives key concern is for the health of family life in Soweto.
The Youth are currently developing material on drug abuse. These could be digitised
and sold as contextualised material for African youth throughout Southern Africa.
Indigenous knowledge. Youth Alive can work with its other centres and the local
community to identify indigenous knowledge that needs to be shared on a
ansychronous basis. Revenue from this (music, culture, art) is unpredictable.
Many of the revenue streams considered by the communities are at a concept phase
only. Nevertheless some of them show real potential. The possibilities of local
content by a mixed community like Soweto has not yet been explored by other
telecentres in South Africa or even around the world.
A reasonable assumption for the two design systems is generated income of $2-3000
per year for the centre.
C APITAL E XPENDITURE
The spreadsheet documents the full cost of the proposed equipment.
Youth Alive discussed this initiative prior to the research project taking place, but
were uncertain of how to identify the resources required. However we are hopeful
that the design and technical support offered through the DFID research contract will
help Youth Alive to implement this plan.
The research project material support finance will be used to purchase the design
systems only. Other systems will be obtained through normal donating channels.
Business Plan / Proposal, Youth Alive Ministries, Dube Youth and Community Centre, Inclusion of Telecentre Activities
Soweto, South Africa, March 2001.
Page 16 of 16
We have not made detailed technical specifications for the equipment as these change
month by month. We hope the BigWorld project team will assist us to get the most
suitable equipment at the time of purchase. The capital expenditure on the
spreadsheet is therefore specified in generic terms.
O NGOING COSTS .
The spreadsheet shows the expected operational costs for the telecentre. These
are framed on the IDRC guidelines and use local costs.
Security will be a difficulty to be overcome. The Centre was considering
purchasing “armed response” security having been robbed 6 months ago. If the
telecentre goes ahead it will reinforce existing bars and hire “armed response”.
P ROFIT AND LOSS .
Given the income of US$8 to 12,000 (US$6-8000 from seat occupancy and an
anticipated US$2-4000 from the design studio), the Telecentre should be able to fully
replace its equipment within two years, and/or expand its services.
We note that the sentence above standing on its own may seem optimistic given the
current track record of telecentres in South Africa. However, we believe that all the
financial assumptions have been made on a conservative basis and that the difference
is that this telecentre is bringing added value to an existing successful community
centre and is not starting from scratch.
We also believe that our sustainability will be supported by two specific aspects of
our distinctiveness i.e. :• Contributing to an ongoing established locally driven ongoing project rather
than being set up as a new venture
• Content led rather than technology led with active encouragement to design
and publish local content
• Based on an integrated approach towards livelihoods rather than set up purely
as an information and communication centre
T IMING
As described above, some actions have already started.
The Dube community centre is an ongoing project with staff and an ongoing clientele.
If this proposal is part funded as part of the DFID KAR project, the equipment will be
purchased and the project will proceed. It is hoped that DFID will reach a decision by
the end of May at the latest.
Equipment acquisition and placement should occur in June 2001.
Business Plan / Proposal, Youth Alive Ministries, Dube Youth and Community Centre, Inclusion of Telecentre Activities
Soweto, South Africa, March 2001.
Page 17 of 17
As part of the DFID contribution, the field visit to undertake set-up and training in
the month of July.
The formal opening for the project will happen when the design studio is in place.
We have noticed that many Telecentres obtain high specification equipment at the
start of their programme. They then take a while to develop the human capacity (both
marketing to clients and technical support) to utilise that equipment to its fullest
extent. By the time the human element has caught up with the potential equipment
use, the equipment is out of date and users become frustrated with obsolete
technology. We therefore propose to purchase a variety of systems AIAs, low
specification PCs and few high end specification PCs. We will purchase new
equipment in smaller steps than the average existing Telecentre.
P ROMOTION AND MARKETING
The community centre is well connected to the surrounding community. It is unlikely
that special marketing will be required to attract everyday use of the Telecentre.
YAM is connected to the Youth Network of Soweto. It meets regularly with other
youth leaders and a single announcement at their joint meeting is likely to cause more
demand than can be catered for. If “word of mouth” and the voucher system proposed
does not produce sufficient interest then special measures will be undertaken.
Promotion of the content from the design studio will be required. Depending on the
output, specialist forum for promotion will be identified. Educational materials can
be promoted through educational authorities.
F INANCIAL S PREADSHEETS
Business Plan / Proposal, Youth Alive Ministries, Dube Youth and Community Centre, Inclusion of Telecentre Activities
Soweto, South Africa, March 2001.
Page 18 of 18
Expenditure on Youth Alive Telecentre
Expenditures
Units
Cost figures in US Dollars
One off
Per year
total
8400
price
Capital technology equipment
Authoring systems - Full Multi media with connection
Vtechs
DVD players
Consoles
Televisions
PC pentiums with Word, excel and CD
printer
peripherals (scanner, camera, etc)
Proxy server
1
8
5
1000
200
200
2
6
1
1
1
300
400
300
1000
500
Other one off start-up costs
Installing power supply,
telecommunications
Installing security equipment
Equipment and furniture costs (purchase, down payment)
Software, supplies, reference, training manuals
Training costs
Specialist training on "content"
1000
1600
1000
0
600
2400
300
1000
500
available
1000
1000
available
2000
1000
1000
Total Start-up costs including equipment
14400
Operating costs
Site and building (rent, maintenance)
Insurance, security operating costs
Building, furniture (lease, amortization costs over time, maintenance costs)
Upgrades to equipment and software
plus the capital costs
Communication costs (fees fixed, per use)
Staff costs (salaries, benefits)
Training costs
Outreach, promotion
TOTAL OPERATING COSTS
equivalent interest payments
equivalent recovery of capital
1000
1150
in rent
500
500
1280
500
500
5430
Interest
Years
7%
3
Total annual operating costs including cost recovery
Business Plan / Proposal, Youth Alive Ministries, Dube Youth and Community Centre, Inclusion of Telecentre Activities
Soweto, South Africa, March 2001.
Page 19 of 19
1008
4800
11238
Students
Adults
Public
Public
Units
Adults
Discounted
5
3
8
5
1
1
with training premium
AIAs
AIAs
Proxy server
Design Studio
60%
720
720
3600
5760
3240
2160
10000
5000
101484
Toatl annual income in US Dollars
Total annual income
3240
13824
1944
1296
NA
20304
40%
0%
30%
30%
D Adult
See revenue stream below
NA
30%
80%
20%
20%
proportion
D Student
21420
10080
0
6804
4536
Business Plan / Proposal, Youth Alive Ministries, Dube Youth and Community Centre, Inclusion of Telecentre Activities
Soweto, South Africa, March 2001.
Page 20 of 20
12648
126484
5000
1200
1200
6000
9600
5400
3600
5000
Capacity
Occupancy
Advisory site
29520
19584
31428
20952
Total income
Annual
All costs in South african RAND
Employment site
Indigenous knowledge and culture CDs
Local language primers in tribal languages
Concept additional income streams
Total income from "seats available"
3
1.5
20
Basic computers
Equipment available
Adde value training
3
Students
Discounted
7
5
240
Sessions per day
Days per year
Income assumptions for YAM Telecentre
NA
10%
20%
20%
20%
P Students
12960
1800
5760
3240
2160
NA
20%
0%
30%
30%
P Adults
46800
14400
0
19440
12960
Cash Inflow/(Outflow)
Cash balance b/fwd
Cash balance c/fwd
Total cash outflow
Installing power supply,
telecommunications
Installing security equipment
Equipment and furniture costs (purchase, down payment)
Software, supplies, reference, training manuals
Training costs
Specialist training on "content"
Authoring systems - Full Multi media with connection
Vtechs
DVD players
Consoles
Televisions
pentiums with Word, excel and CD
printer
peripherals (scanner, camera, etc)
Proxy server
capital repayments
interest repayments
Upgrades to equipment and software
Communication costs (fees fixed, per use)
Staff costs (salaries, benefits)
Training costs
Outreach, promotion
Cash Outflows
Site and building (rent, maintenance)
Insurance, security operating costs
Total cash inflow
Seats available
Additional revenue streams
Other income
Loans taken out
New capital
Cash Inflows
Cashflow forecast
Period - Monthly
96
0
42
42
107
42
42
0
42
42
107
42
42
453
42
42
107
42
42
0
96
83
846
846
Actual
Apr-02
0
0
453
42
42
107
42
42
0
96
83
846
846
Budget
May-02
Actual
0
0
May-02
4800
1008
500
1280
500
500
0
1150
1000
0
1180
0
0
1573
1180
0
0
2466
1573
0
0
0
393
2859
2466
0
0
0
393
3252
2859
0
0
0
4646
3252
1393
0
0
0
393
5039
4646
0
0
0
Business Plan / Proposal, Youth Alive Ministries, Dube Youth and Community Centre, Inclusion of Telecentre Activities
Soweto, South Africa, March 2001.
Page 21 of 21
786
786
893
5432
5039
393
0
0
0
5825
5432
393
0
0
0
1410
5825
-4415
0
0
0
34862
33451
1410
0
0
0
393
393
393
0
0
0
0
393
393
25638
0
14853
0
1000
1000
393
1000
1000
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
2000
1000
1000
2000
0
1000
1000
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
27048
0
0
0
14400
0
0
0
1008
6261
Total
Actual
2500
10148
4800
0
0
Total
Budget
500
Actual
Jun-02
42
42
107
42
42
0
96
83
1846
1000
846
Budget
Jun-02
500
0
0
Apr-02
Budget
500
453
42
42
107
42
42
0
96
83
846
Actual
Mar-02
1000
0
0
846
Budget
Mar-02
1000
453
42
42
107
42
42
0
96
83
1846
Actual
Feb-02
300
0
0
1000
846
Budget
Feb-02
300
453
42
42
107
42
42
0
96
83
846
Actual
Jan-02
2400
0
0
846
Budget
Jan-02
2400
453
42
42
107
42
42
0
96
83
846
Actual
Dec-01
600
0
0
846
Budget
Dec-01
600
453
42
42
107
42
42
0
96
83
1346
Actual
Nov-01
0
0
0
500
846
Budget
Nov-01
0
453
42
42
107
42
42
0
96
83
846
846
Actual
Oct-01
1000
0
0
Oct-01
Budget
1000
Actual
Sep-01
1600
453
42
42
107
42
42
0
96
83
846
846
Budget
1000
0
0
#####
Sep-01
1600
Actual
Aug-01
to
1000
453
83
846
96
0
846
Budget
Aug-01
83
15246
14400
846
Actual
Budget
#####
Jul-01
Jul-01
from
Business Plan / Proposal, Youth Alive Ministries, Dube Youth and Community Centre, Inclusion of Telecentre Activities
Soweto, South Africa, March 2001.
Page 22 of 22