Entrepreneurs know that focussing on their core business, keeping costs down and delivering the best service or product they can are all imperative to the success in the early years of their enterprise. Then, you go to market, domestic at first, even though you dream of expanding and exporting later on.
Now you need a local customer base that is prepared to support you, not only once, but with repeat business and/or referrals.
So, if you are relying on people supporting the buy local movement and procuring whatever you are making from you, perhaps you could take the time to review your entire value chain and see where you could similarly support other local businesses.
Start with the set up of your premises. They might need a lick of paint. They will certainly need office furniture – even if it’s one desk and one chair for the CEO, CFO, CMO, all of whose roles you are fulfilling yourself right now.
Then you’ll need some stationery.
You will undoubtledly resort to a strong cup of coffee from time to time to sustain you, so what about your crockery, and kitchen detergents, and even your bathroom cleaning products.
Then you start to grow and are able to employ a modest workforce, and you may need a uniform for them. You need a web design, marketing collateral, business cards, pamphlets and so on.
You see where we are going with this.
We haven’t even mentioned the raw materials or base ingredients to produce whatever it is you are making, just the many other elements that are required to set you up and sustain your business.
Someone else has taken the same leap of faith as you and launched a small local business. They produce paint, they manufacture desks and chairs and cabinets. They make cups and saucers. They produce chemicals for cleaning, and sew overalls and shirts and can embroider company logos to order.
Proudly South African recently held a Supply Chain Transformation Workshop together with the Franchise Association of South Africa and 21 of our members from food and beverage companies to IT and transportation businesses pitched to franchisors as well as franchisees in the hope that their products or services would fit the bill somewhere.
Whether you are starting out, or are already well established, just do a mental audit of all the procurement that you undertake and see where you can adjust your suppliers or service providers to make them local ones. Pay it forward. Think of karma, or reaping as you sew.
Buy local to create jobs. It could be you adding one more person to your workforce because someone placed a big order with you.