Home Grown is a business integrations company specializing in the design and development of custom application software. The company consists of 3 software developers, 2 graphic designers and 2 administrative staff. Home Grown has been in business for the past 5 years and for the first few years it was run by one person only until the need arose to add capacity in order to meet the size of projects that were coming its way.

This interview was conducted with Noxolo Ramncwana, Marketing Executive of Home Grown Business Integrations. He is a 27-year old Graphic Designer graduate from the Durban University of Technology, and popularly known as "Nox" among colleagues and friends.

What is your background and current responsibilities?
My professional experience started  in 2001, working as a promoter and doing supervision work while studying Graphic Design; promoting for the likes of Unilever, SAB, and Distell through various promotional agencies in Durban. I worked  for Lowe Bull Thruth Advertising Agency as an Art Director freelancer. In 2006, I joined Home Grown Business Integrations as a young dynamic vibrant Web based applications developer. I am currently involved in the communications aspects of branding communications as well as web based communications including e-commerce. Having qualified in graphic design, I further studied “targeted branding communications”. I have  worked with major brands such Rapidols Inecto Hair color and Unilever’s Joko Gold brand activations.  With this knowledge I have successfully deployed integrated marketing strategies for partners and clients.

I have worked for other companies before as a graphic designer. I enjoy Home Grown Business Integrations where I worked as a Brand Development Executive. My responsibilities were developing brand plans, reviewing brand strategy, generating and maintaining client relationships and the design, implemention and evaluation of brand related promotional items. I was promoted to Marketing Executive and now my duties are conceptualising new ideas to support brand growth and its positioning in the market, the development of new services and products, and pitching ideas to clients.

What are your major products and services and how are they unique? What is your competition?
Our major product is to conceptualise brand image for start-up companies. Online services include my-domain, website designs, and banner ads. Offline services include brochures, leaftlets, pole ads, annual reports, newsletters, and pull-up banners. Overall corporate identity is then built through logo design, letterheads, business cards, corporate folders, and so forth.

Our unique selling point (USP) is, apart from using the logo in the usual places such as corporate identity, we encourage our clients to use these as a promotional tool on a variety of media. Once the overall design has been finalised we also manage all the printing or any other reproduction that is needed.  We prefer to manage the whole process so that we can ensure a high level of quality control and make sure that clients get the highest quality product.

How did you first launch the product?
The first product that I launched was My-domain. I used a marketing promotional strategy called Integrated Marketing Communications (IMC); however, I concentrated on the Online channel, ie. pay-per-click, email banner, and electronic flyer. The e-mail banner drives traffic to our website, where clients purchase or register for our services and products. The electronic flyer [Direct Marketing] sends messages directly to consumers, without the use of intervening media.

How do you measure the success of the company?
Our marketing strategies and plans drive our business growth and build brand equity, as well as provide the vision and overall strategic direction for all Consumer Relationship Management & Marketing (CRMM) efforts. In addition, the marketing department executes integrated marketing programs for all our key events and thus provides brand direction.

Who are your clients and how many do you have? How are you focusing on expanding your user community?
Our main clients are SMME’s [small, micro and medium-sized enterprises] and start-up companies, as well as the Department of Education, King Zwethini, and other Marketing companies.

What was the biggest challenge in starting an innovative business in your country and how did you overcome that?
The biggest challenge was to deliver “a promise of value to the client”. And to make sure that the logos that we design have longevity, and do not focus on current fashion trends that could easily become outdated.

How have you benefited from business incubation?
Indeed, have received opportunities that would otherwise not have existed at all! First of all, through the SmartXChange Business Incubator, we have built a more stable and growing business in an enabling environment. For example, we have access to free wireless internet, reception services, meeting rooms and boardrooms, as well as 24-hour security. The incubator has also sponsored a sofware license for our use within the business incubator, and provided us with various mentoring, support and coaching services. SmartXChange also offers the possibility to participate in workshops that have an important effect on our capacity building and knowledge sharing with like-minded entrepreneurs. Most recently, we participated in the International Knowledge Parks Conference in Doha. We have also had the possibility to obtain international certification qualifications through programs sponsored by SmartXChange partnerships.

Do you have some specific lessons that you know now and wish you would have known when you started your business, and which you would like to share with fellow entrepreneurs? 
A lesson I know now is that one must learn from past mistakes and make the best out of those learnings.

Do you plan to internationalize your product and if so, how?
Yes, 80% of the products that we develop are web enabled, hence allowing deployment worldwide.

Do you feel that you had the necessary advisory and support network when you started your company?
I felt confident in joining a company that operates in the SmartXchange business incubator.

What is your message to funders/supporters and what is your message to the users of your product?
We are in the business of making YOUR business run efficiently, effectively, smoother and easier.  Our message can then only be: “Believe what Home Grown Believes and you’ll get more than just a competitive edge”.

For more information about the SmartXChange Business Incubator, please visit their profile in the Global Network Directory.

For more information about Home Grown, please visit their website.