5. Mike Stopforth
Justin Hartman
Mark Forrester
Technical skills
Management skills
Web designer
Stiaan Pretorius
Web developerAfrigator’s co-founders (April 6, 2007)
AFRIGATOR’S FOUNDERS
6. Co-founded by Hartman
and Mike Stopforth on
April 6, 2007
April
2007
Launched its Beta version
with a host of new
functionalities
Nov
2007
• Joined the Online Publishers
Association (OPA)
• Became the 9th largest
publisher with registering
growth rate of 1,079%
• Launched its mobile platform
2008
AFRIGATOR’S PROJECT TIMELINE
8. ADGATOR
• Launched in November 2008
• Using the Afrigator blogging platform,
Adgator – Africa’s first blog ad
network for bloggers to make money
from blogging
• Contribute to the revenue stream of
Afrigator
9. GATORPEEPS
• A micro-blogging platform
• Called “the Twitter-like tool”
• Allow blog users to make use of
Afrigator’s blog tracking and
aggregation services
Fixing both penetration and
accessibility problems
11. WHERE DOES
REVENUE STREAM
COME FROM?
• Advertising-based with the top South
African brands sponsoring category on
the site
• Supported by a corporate reporting tool
– AfriData which allows advertisers to
see what effect their brand had in the
social & mainstream media
12. 1. To improve the state of social media in South Africa
2. Monitored huge amount of content
3. Provided Africans to access plenty of specific types of
content and publisher all over the world
4. Quickly established Afrigator’s presence in other key
markets out of the country
COUNTRY
% OF
USERS
S O U T H
A F R I C A
7 3 . 7
K E N Y A 5 . 0
N I G E R I A 4 . 0
I N D I A 3 . 8
E G Y P T 3 . 2
U K 3 . 1
U . S . 2 . 3
O T H E R S 5 . 0
GEOGRAPHIC LOCATION OF
AFRIGATOR USERS
13. Increase the relevance
of its content
Make the services
available on the site
more accessible
Help customer
users find data
faster and easier
Relevance Available
Faster
&
Easier
November 2008
Afrigator revamped 3 things in its services
Afrigator’s strategy:
• Be appealing and remain the 1st choice of customers
• Always impress customer users with the fresh new look
14. RESTRUCTURING STRATEGY
Introduce a 3-step graphic:
• Users whenever register new account or log-in will see these
3 pictures – which shows a brief introduction of the site
COMPARISON
BEFORE AFTER
Average search time: 4 seconds Average search time: 0.01 second
Home page displayed content
aggregated from all the
markets (many contents were not
necessary to the users)
Determine which country the user
visited and provided only content
relevant to that country (more
necessary information to the user)
15. DRAWBACK
Afrigator was a well-executed model
of just the kind of service that any
region or niche market could use to
aggregate and filter the increasing
number of social media channels
GENERATING IMAGES AND
PHOTOGRAPHS FUNCTION
A user can upload photos information
of a country, and other users are able
to see those image to search more
information
16. ACQUISITION BY NASPERS
September 7, 2008
• MIH Print Africa (Pty) Ltd, a division of Naspers Limited
acquired a majority stake in Afrigator
Benefits from acquisition
• Become a technology focused company
• Reach a large audience across the continent
18. AMATOMU
• Social media application
• The 1st comprehensive tracking service for
blogs and bloggers in South Africa
• One of the biggest competitor of Afrigator
01
ZOOPY
• Social media site
• Allow customers to upload
videos, podcasts, and photos
and share them on the website
02
KEY COMPETITORS
19. AMATOMU
• Founded in March, 2007
• May 2007: Amatomu Open-source
advertising
TECHNICAL PROBLEM
• Amatomu did not maintain its
operation effectively
• The website faced with a
technical problem
20. ZOOPY
• Founded in 2007, South Africa
• Leader in modern and entertaining
video and photo sharing network
CHARACTERISTICS
• Allow customer users to upload their own
video, describe it and share it out to other
users from over the world
• Easily access through Zoopy
• Zoppy was created with similar experience
with Youtube
21. • Received international recognition
• A steady 25% month-on-month growth rate
RESULTS
Source: MIH Media Lab Entrepreneurship Lecture by Justin Hartman
23. February 2009 September 2009
PARTNERSHIPS
• Allow bloggers to observe page views
• Track news, articles, Twitter, Parlotones’s fans
August 2009
24. • Gain market share and leverage in
the future
• Extend its reach, enhance user
interaction
• Focus on its mobile platform
• Introduce some more features
OUTLOOK
- Justin Hartman
“It is our belief
that if you can’t
provide a
decent mobile
offering within
Africa then
you’re really
missing the
mark.”
26. AFRIGATOR’S
TODAY
“Afrigator was closed down essentially to avoid
the recurring costs of running the operation.
The hosting bill to run Afrigator (across a pretty
intense server structure) was just too high when
you consider our primary revenue stream was
closed down a few months earlier.”
- explained Afrigator founder Justin Hartman.
37. Afrigator attempts to
provide social media
tools and technology to
publish and consume
content on the web by
user-friendly tools and
interface which made
surfing easier.
MISSION CORE VALUES
- Innovativeness
- Teamwork
- Superior customer
service
- Community
citizenship
“Our dream is that Afrigator
will evolve into the first
choice destination for
anyone wanting to get a
taste of the social vibe on
the continent at any given
point. We’d also like to use
the site to build useful data
around social media users
and producers.”
VISION
STAGE 1 – VISION, MISSION & CORE VALUES
38. • Largest social media aggregator
and blog directory in Africa
• The focus is to intensify on the
innovative and creative ways
• Viral and community driven growth
STRATEGIC INTENT
STAGE 2 – OBJECTIVES
39. • Launching a mobile platform - Afrigator Mobile
• Renew their website features
• More than 1000 registered sites, worth
US$137,918.9
MIH Print Africa became a majority
shareholder:
• Wider audience across the continent
• Become a technology focused company
FINANCIAL OBJECTIVES
STAGE 2 – OBJECTIVES
40. • Joined the Online Publishers
Association (OPA)
• Expand its market standing through
partnerships
• Having a better-known brand name
• Having deeper technological
capabilities (mobile platform)
STRATEGIC OBJECTIVES
“Afrigator has given Africa a voice,
and not a small voice”
– Justin Hartman, Managing Director
STAGE 2 – OBJECTIVES
41. SOCIOCULTURAL FORCES
• Jan 2008: 4,000 active South African blogs, 10.5
million page views & over 1.8 million unique
users/month
• Agricultural society and most African were poor
• Traditional rural lifestyle
• Social media networks were gaining popularity
among young users
• 11 official languages in South Africa
Group of Internet users in Africa was very
small, compared to the percentage of the
whole continent
STAGE 3 – GENERAL ENVIRONMENT ANALYSIS
42. CITIZENS HAD ELECTRICITY
ACCESSIBILITY
Lack of broadband and
communications infrastructure
• Lack of electricity accessibility
• Lack of interconnectivity
• Low internet penetration
• Blogging not extremely popular
5%
TECHNOLOGICAL FACTORS
STAGE 3 – GENERAL ENVIRONMENT ANALYSIS
43. PORTER'S FIVE FORCES MODEL
1. Threat of new entrants – STRONG
• New entrants were social media aggregators
2. Bargaining power of suppliers – WEAK
• Suppliers are web hosting service providers/Web
hosts
3. Bargaining power of buyers – STRONG
• Buyers are those who buy advertising service on
Adgator (top brands)
4. Threat of substitute products – RELATIVELY WEAK
• Television, newspapers, magazines, and radio
5. Rivalry among existing competitors – STRONG
• Social media sites (Zoopy)
• Social media applications (Amatomu)
STAGE 3 – INDUSTRY ENVIRONMENT ANALYSIS
44. 01
02
03
04
STRENGTHS
• Strong brand
• Potential human
resources
• Localized content
• Acquisition by Naspers
WEAKNESSES
• Small-scale, narrow,
limited
• Only contains
African content
OPPORTUNITIES
• Potential investors
• Potential markets:
Morocco, Sudan and
Algeria
• Potential partnerships for
innovation strategy
THREATS
• Unstable political/socio-
economic
• Infrastructural problems of
African social media
• Low Internet penetration
• Language barriers
• Limited broadband
connectivity
STAGE 3 – INDUSTRY ENVIRONMENT ANALYSIS
SWOT
ANALYSIS
45. RESOURCES
• Human assets:
Hartman’s technical expertise
Stopforth’s management skills
Forrester’s great ideas
Pretorious’ web developing skills
• Afrigator’s training program
Mobile phone strategy
• In 2008, MIH Print Africa bought Afrigator
Attract potential users in Africa
Develop Afrigator's network coverage
STAGE 4 – INTERNAL FACTORS ANALYSIS
46. CAPABILITIES
• Interaction between users
Afrigator's friendly features for users in
Africa
• Afrigator expands the performance:
• Increasing attributes on users’ site
• White Label: boosting benefits in
customer base
• Mobile channels: new distribution
approach
STAGE 4 – INTERNAL FACTORS ANALYSIS
47. CORE COMPETENCIES
• Afrigator has the leading blogs of Africa
Afrigator's friendly features for users in Africa
• Acquired by MIH Large capital investment
• "Simplify" and "firmly explained" strategies on
the site
STAGE 4 – INTERNAL FACTORS ANALYSIS
48. KEY FACTORS OF SUCCESS
• Potential resources
• Additional services in BETA stage
• Launching of mobile social networking
• Its ability to localize content and aggregate and filter mainstream news
• Partnership with 24.com, SA national election commission, US government
and The Parlotones
STAGE 5 - EVALUATING PERFORMANCE
49. To be successful in African market,
the company has to localize oneself
01
The company has to customize one’s
product according to taste, preference
and culture of different people from
different country because there are far too
many differences between each country
02
Due to deeper mobile penetration in
Africa, companies should mainly focus on
mobile offerings
03
To win the favor of African people, the
company has to place itself as an
African company
04
KEY LEARNINGS FROM AFRIGATOR’S SUCCESS
STAGE 5 - EVALUATING PERFORMANCE
50. ASSESSMENT OF MANAGEMENT
STAGE 5 - EVALUATING PERFORMANCE
“Afrigator’s bottom line was volatile but looking
positive.”
- Justin Hartman, Managing Director
• Successful in creating and executing in
beginning, good innovation
• Not able to sustain growth and reinvent strategy
• Not taking competition seriously
• Not prepared for structural problems of Africa
57. MAP OUT
A STRATEGIC VISION STATEMENT
“Afrigator is used to help
people with common interest
come together in order to
share and discuss their idea
and information and spread
the information all over the
world even to the most remote
part of the African.”
58. REFERENCES
Afrigator. (2008). Website Outlook. Retrieved 1 September 2017, from
http://websiteoutlook.com/www.afrigator.com
Afrigator. Retrieved Sep 03, 2017 from
http://afrigator.biz/category/products/afrigator
Dennis, R. J. (2015, Jun 22). Facebook Lite: Is It a Worthy Facebook Replacement?. Retrieved Sep 05, 2017 from
http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/facebook-lite-worthy-facebook-replacement/
Hartman, J. (2009, Jul 29). MIH Media Lab Entrepreneurship Lecture. Retrieved Sep 03, 2017 from
https://www.slideshare.net/justinhartman/mih-media-lab-entrepreneurship-lecture/29
Johannesburg. (2009, Feb 12). Tough times ahead. Retrieved Sep 04, 2017 from
http://www.economist.com/node/13109968
Muller, R. (2011, Dec 12). Afrigator closed down. Retrieved Sep 03, 2017 from
https://mybroadband.co.za/news/internet/39697-afrigator-closed-down.html
Norman, C. (2017). Breaking news: MIH acquires Afrigator - Bandwidth Blog. Bandwidth Blog. Retrieved 1 September 2017, from
http://bandwidthblog.com/internet/web/mih-afrigator/
Piana, V. (2005). Substitute goods. Retrieved Sep 01, 2017 from
http://www.economicswebinstitute.org/glossary/substitute.htm
Porter, M. E. "How Competitive Forces Shape Strategy." Harvard Business Review 57, no. 2 (March–April 1979): 137–145. Retrieved
Sep 01, 2017, from
https://hbr.org/1979/03/how-competitive-forces-shape-strategy
Sharon Gaudin. (2009, Dec 26). 2009: Year of the Social Network. Retrieved Sep 01, 2017 from
http://www.pcworld.com/article/185205/2009_year_of_the_social_network.html
The media in South Africa. (2007, Nov 21). Retrieved Sep 05, 2017 from
https://www.brandsouthafrica.com/south-africa-fast-facts/media-facts/the-media-in-south-africa
Wall, M.D. (2009, Mar 10). Take that, China. Retrieved Sep 04, 2017 from
http://www.brainstormmag.co.za/cover-story/36-cover-story/9272-take-that-china
Wilkinson, J. (2013, July 23). Buyer Bargaining Power (one of Porter’s Five Forces). The Strategic CFO. Retrieved August 30, 2017
from
https://strategiccfo.com/buyer-bargaining-power-one-of-porters-five-forces/
Wilkinson, J. (2013, July 24). Threat of New Entrants (one of Porter’s Five Forces). The Strategic CFO. Retrieved August 30, 2017
from
https://strategiccfo.com/threat-of-new-entrants-one-of-porters-five-forces/
PRESENT: TUẤN ANH
Afrigator was co-founded by Hartman and Mike Stopforth on April 6, 2007
Hartmann has experience in the field of web development (Technical skills)
Stopforth an entrepreneur and social media expert (Management skill)
Mark Forrester joined the web designer
PRESENT: HƯƠNG
A strategic plan maps out where a company is headed, establishes strategic and financial targets, and outlines the competitive moves and approaches to be used in achieving the desired business results
Sociocultural forces include the societal values, attitudes, cultural influences, and lifestyles that impact demand for particular goods and services.
Technological factors include the pace of technological change and technical developments that have the potential for wide-ranging effects on society
Using the five forces model to determine the nature and strength of competitive pressures in a given industry
PRESENT: HƯƠNG
STAGE 4: INTERNAL FACTORS ANALYSIS
STAGE 5: EVALUATING PERFORMANCE
Monitoring new external developments, evaluating the company’s progress, and making corrective adjustments is the trigger point for deciding whether to continue or change the company’s vision and mission, objectives, strategy, and/or strategy execution methods.
RECOMMENDATIONS
PRESENT: HƯƠNG
PRESENT: HƯƠNG
Vision:
A strategic vision shows management’s aspirations for the business and indicate the direction “where we are going and why”
Mission:
Describes the enterprise’s present business and purpose—“who we are, what we do, and why we are here.”
Core values:
A company’s values are the beliefs, traits, and behavioral norms that company personnel are expected to display in conducting the
company’s business and pursuing its strategic vision and mission.
PRESENT: HƯƠNG
Lý thuyết:
Strategic intent can provide a sense of direction, a particular point of view about the long-term market or competitive position the organization hopes to develop and occupy.
PRESENT: HƯƠNG
Lý thuyết:
Financial objectives: communicate management’s goals for financial performance
PRESENT: HƯƠNG
Lý thuyết:
Strategic objectives relate to target outcomes that indicate a company is strengthening its market standing, competitive position, and future business prospects
