Fuel stations
Homecare Requirements
Before we go into detail about what we expect from partnering companies, we believe that it is our duty to explain exactly the Homecare team’s position.
Our financial position, what exactly we need to develop etcettera.
Transparency is important.
Business owners must make their decision based on transparency.
The Homecare team work on a small budget. We do our best to complete development on a small budget so that we can help provide solutions to Child Protection branches and later assist caretakers of bedridden patients.
We now focus on software development, and will soon have to include one additional salary for one software developer. We will furthermore within 3 months include additional expenses such as the costs to host larger servers.
Our current operational cost is R42 700 per month, including our internet and hosting costs of the smaller development server.
We are 3 persons working on the project, and we have additional board members who help us without remuneration.
Pieter van Vuuren
Chairman & Project manager
Carlo-Hein Versfeld
IT Director
Annelize van der Loo
Financial Director
It is only the Chairman (Pieter van Vuuren) that is full-time employed. He and the IT Director (Carlo-Hein Versfeld) develops the software platform. Carlo-Hein only work afterhours and during week-ends without remuneration. Annelize (our accountant) works during office hours without remuneration.
We receive 5% income out of the grocery spending of the current Pledge Holders. The current operational shortfall is covered by 4 exceptional property principals and by a small team of good-hearted people who donate small amounts to help the 3 principals fund the shortfall.
We are now inviting more people; hence the shortfall will reduce on a weekly basis.
Homecare server report
Bertie Lombard
Rawson Faerie Glen
Louise Snyders
Re/Max Klerksdorp
Trevor Harris
Properties-r-us Paarl
We are now at a stage, where Carlo-Hein must resign from his day job. He is one of the leading Programmers at Netsys. Pieter and Carlo-Hein have been working on different software projects since 2006. They have a long working relationship and as a team is has the ability to complete the Extra Grocery Software platform within a reasonable time-frame.
At the moment, we can complete the software with our current arrangement, but it could take up to 5 months. Please note that both of us have families with small children. It has an impact on both programmers’ families when weekends and after-hours are used for software development.
We believe it is important to complete the Extra Grocery software platform within a shorter period. This will require that Carlo-Hein become permanent involved. The Homecare Board will need more than R90 000 per month, to cover the additional operational costs.
Pieter does not believe in begging or relying on traditional fundraising methods. The only way to succeed is to invite other business owners and individuals who might share our vision.
It is possible to raise the operational capital required if more people buy their groceries via Gift-cards, even if they only do it for a short period. (This is why we ask companies to register their staff and Homecare team invite people on an individual basis to become Homecare Friends.)
Readers should understand that we work on different software platforms that all interlink with each other. We will expand our software development team when we implement the Extra Grocery Platform into the Tourism & Hospitality Industry.
The Homecare team will also expand our network of estate agents who are invited to become Homecare Ambassadors. Estate agents will receive a lot of marketing and media support when they become Ambassadors. We invite 105 property companies into the network. We already have 3 companies on-board who have been working with us while we developed the Pre-launch Software structure which is functional. It will take us approximately 4 months to complete the network and we will commence with the invitations in January 2019.
Inviting Tourism related companies
We must explain why we believe we will succeed when we invite accommodation companies. We first need to complete software development before we can commence and invite all the accommodation companies in our country.
Our strategy for now is to invite only 6 accommodation companies strategically positioned and ask them to participate in the Pre-launch period. These companies will eventually be rewarded far above the rest of the companies in the tourism industry. (They will be the cornerstone on which we build our tourism support strategy.)
We already engaged with tourism information offices to help find the best partners. Ann Heyns (Tourism Info centre in Stellenbosch) and Annelize Stroebel (Tourism Info centre in Paarl) each already identified 3 of their top clients who will now be invited for the pre-launch project.
Business partnership with Info centres:
A partnership where info companies benefit financially will ensure that the software we develop can be deployed. We offer info centres the opportunity to earn more income out of the accommodation booking section. Their existing booking income out of the localized websites is limited.
Both parties benefit out of this partnership. We are their IT support for which they do not pay fees, and we can develop software that is tailor-maid to help them with their objectives. We need partners to help penetrate the hospitality businesses so that we can earn the 1% discount on groceries purchased by employees in the hospitality & tourism industry.
The Info centres work for years in business relationships with companies geared to support tourists.and they receive membership fees from the accommodation companies. Their mandate is to help these business owners grow tourism in their areas. Our solution to help business owners and staff working in their companies is something that the Tourism Info centres cannot offer without the advanced software we develop that is explained in more detail on the next tab..
We provide a service to the industry, which people in the tourism industry believes to be of high value. The invitation towards the accommodation companies and other tourism businesses will be done via the tourism Info centres. There will be no additional costs for the companies, just cost savings.
To give readers a bit background on how the tourism Info centres is funded, we explain in short. The Info centre is a Non-Profit organization. It receives approximately 30% of its costs from the local municipality. The balance is funded by the companies it service. It is usually a yearly subscription that the guesthouse owners and hotels pay, so that tourists to the town can be services. Members can then place all their marketing material in the Info centres for guests to view.
The people working at the Info centre is responsible for social media marketing, to advertise events etcetera on the more “local websites” for example: https://www.stellenbosch.travel/
People can book accommodation via this website, although it rarely happens. The booking commission that the Info centre earns is not really a huge contribution to their budgets. Our strategy to use a Global Booking site, which will be positioned on the internet to support the Southern Africa regions, will result in more bookings from people abroad. The booking income will be substantially more than what the Info centre receives at the moment.
Readers should also know that not all of the accommodation companies are members of the Tourism Info centres. Membership is not compulsory. The Info centres provide support services to the town/city council and to accommodation companies. In the older days, the number of guest houses that were members was substantially more. This was before the internet became a role player. Most people are now booking their accommodation via the internet, long before they arrive in the town/city. There is only a small number of guests to the area that will walk in at the Info centre and ask for accommodation support.
There are therefore guesthouse owners who are not willing to pay between R1 200 up to R5 000 membership fee per year. They rely on internet bookings for business support.
Our partnership will actually in future help Tourism Info centres to earn income out of businesses in their area who are not members. There are numerous smaller guesthouses (normal households who change a room and rent it out via AirB&B) who provide accommodation services who will most likely never take up membership at the Tourism Info centres. The homeowners who provide such a service will register on our Accomodation platform, as there is no registration fees applicable. They are willing to pay commission for bookings, and via this platform, the commission is lower.
We believe that the number of accommodation offerings available to tourists and South Africans will most likely be the largest options that people will be able to choose from. The Tourism Info centres will secure more income out of our partnership.
The Tourism Info centres will therefore act fast to their existing members onto the platform. We will start with the service to help staff, and will thereafter open the accommodation booking platform, followed by the Enjoy Life / Enjoy South Africa app launch.
Additional teams to help invite businesses
We furthermore negotiate additional people (Ambassadors) to help the Info centres invite accommodation companies onto the platform.
We first need to complete software development and testing in a controlled environment. During the last period of development (January till March), the Homecare board will invite the other property principals and their sales teams so that we can prepare for the launch of the Grocery Support platform. (Here we have principals already in place to assist with the invitations towards more property principals)
We know that our focus with regards to development for tourism related companies is well planned. We honestly believe that all the companies related to this industry really want our economy to succeed. We trust they will all do their best to help our Government take on one of the most difficult periods that our country experience, almost 25 years after democracy.
There is no doubt in our minds that South Africans are concerned about our country’s future. The invitation towards the accommodation companies, even accommodation companies that do not cater for tourists, will therefore succeed.
There will be no cost for any of the accommodation companies to register on the software platforms. They will immediately be able to help their staff receive an additional 4% in groceries. They will also immediately receive a percentage saving in operational costs when guests book via the Enjoy Southern Africa booking platform. Their staff will then receive additional groceries above the 4% they get out of their normal salaries.
Guesthouse owners will know that our media campaign will be effective… we will inform South Africans that all of us must unite and help our Government. Accommodation companies will know that this media campaign will have a huge impact on business owners in other industries, and that these business owners will rather use a booking site that is owned by the staff working in the industry PLUS child protection branches and owned by caretakers of bedridden patients to book accommodation when they need it for business trips.
There is in our minds no doubt that a guesthouse owner will take the risk NOT to register. They pay at the moment fairly large amounts to get exposure on accommodation booking sites. To receive all the media exposure we will provide, plus additional support that will entice their staff to work better without paying any fees, will in our minds not be taken for granted.
We can therefore safely commit to the business owners we invite to help erect software that will have a positive impact on so many people, that we will prevail… If the business owner understands where we come from, and what our objective is, making a decision to participate should be easy.
We will on the next tab go into additional detail about the Grocery platform we programme. We need to convey as much detail as possible, so that business owners can make an informed decision.
Before we reach that page, we want to publish detail which is not published on our website under the “services” link. This information as you know is all information published behind a “Password”. Although we are not shy about what we do, we prefer to keep certain information away from the public.
Additional project information.
This project is important for many reasons… to help the poor, to help protect children, to help spread the gospel into communities where it is expensive to do… but in our minds, the most important thing we want to accomplish is the following:
When a caretaker applies for financial support, the application form asks the caretaker to list the Pastor, Preacher or Minister who is in contact with the patient. We explain that we need the person to visit the patient so that the application can go through. The church must be informed about our support and we might get additional support from the rest of the congregation if they know that the Homecare team do our best to provide financial support.
If the caretaker cannot list a preacher, then we explain that we will ask one of our panel members to visit the patient at home.
We do this for more than one reason. First, we want to verify that the application is not fraudulent. We also use phone technology to monitor if the patient is still alive before we release funding towards the caretaker. This include support from social workers and volunteers.
The main reason however is to ensure that people who have almost no time left to reconcile their lives with God can be reached…
We know that there is still a long road ahead… Our board will only feel that we accomplished our goal, once this important service has been launched. We hope that business owners reading this site will share in our vision.