I'll rather go to Stanlib...

T

Tjorriemorrie

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At the bottom of the article:

Meanwhile, the far smaller internet service provider iBurst has ambitious dreams of opening 20000 internet cafés by 2010, a cracking target of almost 120 a week. CEO Thami Mtshali told the online news service ITWeb that it would begin next month with 100 cafés in Soweto. Each would have up to 30 computers and charge R5 for 30 minutes. International voice-over-internet phone calls would be offered from 40c a minute.

Mtshali said the project would run in partnership with internet service provider Tradepage, but it hinged on finding entrepreneurs with at least R30000 to invest.
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With the service they provide, these 'cafes' is going to be a joke! At least you will be able to hit someone when you're plssed off. There is no way I'll invest a minimum of R30k...
 
bwhahahahahaha ..

lemme think again ... bwhahahahhahahahaha


hmmm are they sure ???

bwhahahahahahhahahahaha

piece of horse-Shyte joke ......

im with you Tjorriemorrie
 
I'm not sure what you guys are seeing wrong with this???

They are offering a new franchise opportunity, Steers don't offer free restaurants to people so why would iBurst.

I personally think the idea has some merits, I don't know all the details yet but giving more people access to internet is only going to help.
 
I have no problem with giving more people internet, in fact the idea of putting that many public points into Soweto is a great one... I just question the business prospects. Looking at their estimated fees, I wonder how anyone (other than Iburst) is going to make money from this... hence my query on the outside funding.
 
I think it is quite feasable to make some decent money from this....

Basic Maths....
R30 000 over 3 years / 12 = R833 (Make it R1500 for terrible interest)
R1500 / 21 days = R71 (Guessing that we only open for working days)
R10 p/h per computer makes us needing 8 hours per day to pay back loan.
Another 8 hours to pay rent

Now we have 152 hours (per computer) left to make profit, this while ignoring the possibility of profit on phone calls and any type of refreshments that are served. Plus fixing computers, computer training, printing and scanning charges if you want.

This is obviously a very simple business plan but it should show quite easily that you can make money... I don't think you will be loaded but you should be able to easily clear R6 - 10 000 per month after bills.

(Obviously I have not factored in the internet costs but I would hopefully presume that you would get a reduced rate from iburst. Maybe another R2000 per month)
 
But with 100 cafe's to start with in soweto competing? What are the long term sustainability prospects?
 
I think these was disscussed here before.

I will try and go to those cafe's sometime next week when they open.:D
 
Sustainability I don't think is the problem, Soweto is one huge place with about 3 Million people (Could be more). So there are enough clients.

I can't get to their website from from work (http://iburstcafe.co.za/)

But native posted in the other thread that startup costs are R14 000. That makes it even better...
 
native said:
I think these was disscussed here before.

I will try and go to those cafe's sometime next week when they open.:D
Click to expand...

Made me ponder....what use will they really get out of the internet cafe if they probably don't own a pc? 99% of bandwidth used must be for downlaods. Otherwise, if they do, once they start to get addicted to the net, they will get their own connection...Also, if they can't afford the connection, they will probably be at mayhem everytime and reducing the need for the cafe...

Just saying that opening a internet cafe is a hard business to run.
 
I think the major use of these cafe's in Soweto and such would be to help with Homework, online studying, looking for jobs and generally as a meeting ground for friends to play games and such.

The educational bonusses of the iCafes is great.

I agree running one will be difficult and the security aspect must not be overlooked.

I for one hope they hit at least half of their target, there is no downfall to this in my opinion.
 
Tjorriemorrie said:
Made me ponder....what use will they really get out of the internet cafe if they probably don't own a pc?
Click to expand...

Trying to figure out if your reffering to the guys opening the internet cafe or the residents of South Western Township

Tjorriemorrie said:
Just saying that opening a internet cafe is a hard business to run.
Click to expand...

The start up capital can be difficult :D
 
native said:
Trying to figure out if your reffering to the guys opening the internet cafe or the residents of South Western Township



The start up capital can be difficult :D
Click to expand...

Lol - you said it!
But... business is business, and if you have the inclination and put in the effort, you can make a go of anything... provided you dont have to resell telkom products :D
 
Startup capital is not realy a problem if you have a well thought out business plan and present it properly plenty finance companies will give you startup capital all you need is a 10-25% owner investment.
 
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