TECHNOLOGY MAKE THINGS POSSIBLE; THAT WERE PREVIOUSLY NOT POSSIBLE FOR PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES

Many people in the community believe disability is someone else’s problem. They do not believe disability will touch their lives, and give little thought to the experience of living with disability, or caring for someone with a disability. Without first-hand experience, they hold on to the belief that at least things are better than they used to be.

For 2.5 years, I've invested my own resources in time and money to employ a rigorous process, with in-dept planning, systemization to better understand the real dimensions of the challenges faced by people with disabilities and their family members.

This information has contributed to our much better understanding of the most appropriate steps required to ensure that all efforts will have a measurable positive impact in breaking the cycle of dependency, dis-empowerment and poverty. 

Permanently changes the perceptions, behaviours and structures that previously gave rise to these challenges.

Experienced change leadership from within the fraternity of people with disabilities, with both the willingness and capacity to create ripples and much needed momentum will be a prerequisite for breaking the cycle of dependency, disempowerment and poverty. We have to stop pussyfooting around if we want to solve this problem.

Societal attitudes have not developed in isolation from the ways that we have historically responded to people with disabilities. Nor can they be adequately addressed without changing the way we continue to respond to people with disabilities.

What I do know is that we can't do today's job with yesterday's methods and expect progress.

Overcoming poverty is not a task of charity, it is an act of justice. Like Slavery and Apartheid, poverty is not natural. It is man-made and it can be overcome and eradicated by the actions of human beings. Sometimes it falls on a generation to be great. YOU can be that great generation. Let your greatness blossom"
- Nelson Mandela- 

I know that when I'm standing up for an ideal, or acting to improve the lot of others, or striking out against injustice, I'm sending forth a ripple of hope. I am also fully aware that any change, even change for the better, is always accompanied by drawbacks and discomfort. So I must be willing to take the punch and emotional pain for a while, there is no way of getting around that. But that's ok, because I want to be thoroughly used up, the day when I die.

MY OWN EXPERIENCE:

"Any fool can know. The point is to understand.”
― Albert Einstein

It was only when I've lost the usage of my hands, 14 years ago that I've really start to acknowledge the value of the mindset- we all have problems and are often tested by

circumstances out of our control - even though we might not be in control of things outside of us, we can still control our reactions to those situations”. 

Business leaders whom have developed a disability and whom have not let their disability stop them from living full and rich lives often see their disability as an opportunity through their ability to show leadership, which will always have a profound influence and impact on others.  

There is a great level of potential value that can be unlocked, if society and business’ alike start to look at each individual’s ability rather than their disability. Very often we see how disability enhances the ability to never give up in the face of resistance or setbacks, empowering people to adapt to change and man-oeuvre through complex situations effectively,  and to quickly find ways to eliminate roadblocks.

Disabled people are natural entrepreneurs because they are forever thinking outside the box and forever thinking of ways to get around things. As a disabled entrepreneur you are used to planning and overcoming physical barriers on a daily basis, and this makes for very logical, organized businesspeople.

For South-Africans with disabilities, no less than for all other citizens, the opportunity to earn a living and be self-supporting is a universally held goal. Whatever set of statistics one chooses from among the varying estimates of employment rates for South-Africans with disabilities, the rate and level of employment for this population remain far too low.

DISABILITY AFFECTS THE WHOLE FAMILY:

Economic stability has the potential to affect people with disabilities and family members whether a person with a disability is living independently, with their family members, or in long-term care. Costs acquired, for a disability in a family ranges from 11% - 69% of their income. 7 In addition to medical rehabilitation and other direct expenses that families also face opportunity costs.

Where employment would otherwise be an option, caring for a family member with a disability is likely to result in lost economic opportunities, as caregivers either reduce their paid work or refrain from seeking it. 

Excessive demands on children: When adults acquire a disability, children are often asked to help and male children may be expected to enter the workforce to compensate for a parent who is no longer working. 

Family members of the People with Disabilities employed in digital jobs will gain economic and social benefits as a result of the willing and employable disabled working, and the digital jobs created will in turn create indirect job opportunities for communities – ultimately leading to impact millions across the African continent. 

STATISTICS & FACTS:

1] AUSTRALIA: (Australian Network on Disability 2014)
Has a national disability prevalence rate of 20%, that is 4 million Australians (that’s 1 in 5 people) 2.1 million Australians of working age (15 -.64 years) have disability
1 in 3 people either has disability or is likely to be close to someone who has disability
3.9% of children between ages 0 - 14 have severe or profound core activity limitations
2] ENGLAND: (Office for Disability Issues 2009/10)
There are 9.4 million disabled people in England, accounting for 18 per cent of the population
45 per cent are males
55 per cent are females
Only 17 per cent of disabled people were born with disabilities. The majority acquire their disability during their working lives.
3] U.S.A: (25 July 2012 US, Census Bureau Reports)
1 out of 5 People has a Disability in the U.S
About 56.7 million people — 19 percent of the population — had a disability in 2010, according to a broad definition of disability, with more than half of them reporting the disability was severe, according to a comprehensive report on this population released today by the U.S. Census Bureau.

According to the joint publication of the world health organization (who) and the world bank (2011):

15% of the world's total population consists of people with disabilities. This is approximately 1.2 billion people wherein three out of every four are living in developing countries, half are of working age, half are women and the highest incidence and prevalence of disabilities occurs in poor areas.

Researched done by ( WHO -2011 ) Across 59 countries the average prevalence rate in the adult population aged 18 years and over was 15.6% (some 650mill people of the estimated 4.2 Bill adults ), ranging from 11.8% in higher income countries, to 18% in lower income countries. 

CHILDREN:

South-African Children, of Compulsory School going age, living with a disability:
In South-Africa this year alone, we have over 500 000 children with a disability of school going age who are not getting an education. (SA Dept WCPWD - 2012)

INTERESTING FACTS:

What’s the third largest market segment in the United States? The answer might surprise you... It’s not a particular race, gender, or age group - its people with disabilities! The size of this population is 54 million strong - Surpasses Hispanics, African Americans and Asian Americans, as well as Generation X and teens. Now, if you add in their families, friends and associates - You have a trillion dollars in purchasing power. - (Office of Disability Employment Policy - USA - October 2012).
One estimate of the purchasing power of people with disabilities and their families comes in at $25 Billion per annum. People with disabilities and their immediate families, including mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters, wives and husbands; represent about 53% of the Canadian population 
http://dbbiz.blogspot.com

TECHNOLOGY MAKE THINGS POSSIBLE; THAT WERE PREVIOUSLY NOT POSSIBLE FOR PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES

Note: " Support Unit" = Person with a disability & Family members 

OBJECTIVE & PURPOSE :

Establish 2 way communication with broader consumer base - distribution pipeline for Products and Services  - " Support Unit" " part of affiliate program & Develop actionable data base] 

COLLECTIVE AND REDISTRIBUTIVE MECHANISM;

Digitization and the Internet have given consumers enormous abilities to connect and aggregate their voices, both individually and as a collective, this energizes and empowers social groups, particularly the marginal and the disenfranchised, and provides platforms for their social and political capacity. Power is dispersed, but wealth is concentrated. 

Establish and facilitate a framework that sees empowerment as a process of channeling change; making collective impact work and leveraging the collective buying power and the Switching of products and services of people with disabilities and their family members

They are united only by the experience of living with or with a family member that is disabled

Collective action is traditionally defined as any action taken together by a group of people whose goal is to enhance their status and achieve a common objective. It is enacted by a representative of the group.

The term "collective action problem" describes the situation in which multiple individuals would all benefit from a certain action, but has an associated cost making it implausible that any one individual can or will undertake and solve it alone. The rational choice is then to undertake this as a collective action the cost of which is shared.

Channeling change; making collective impact work and leveraging the collective buying power of people with disabilities and their family members. They are united only by the experience of living with or with a family member that is disabled. 

Physica Investments has the opportunity to build a network by connecting different ethnic, social or religious groups through a joint effort to create a better life for people with disabilities (one common dominator).

People with disabilities are not the problem, but rather a caring father or a mother, sister, brother or friend who has a favorite dish, song or game; with a daughter or son that have dreams and the desire to fulfill them. 

By creating and managing collective impact requires a separate organization and staff with a very specific set of skills to serve as the backbone for the entire initiative.

Developing a shared measurement system is essential to collective impact. In an effort to promote inclusion and fairness, people with disabilities should be able to enlist the support of their families, disabled people’s organizations, parents, associations and community groups. 

By creating and managing collective impact requires a separate organization and staff with a very specific set of skills to serve as the backbone for the entire initiative.

Must empower " SUPPORT UNITS " with mobile technology to become our tentacles across the country to sell & Products and Services - ( will elaborate on products and services - "support unit "will have the opportunity to sell " support group owned products " - will have process and policy in place to validate and approve products/services to ensure high levels of quality 

ELECTRONIC COMMERCE:

PHYSICA investments ( Founder ) has more than 2 decades experience in connecting with the far from affluent and homogeneous consumer with very unique drivers, across cultures and geographical areas, with a proven history to identify and benefit from undeserved markets, by securing ownership  through the effective execution of " network orchestration ".as product distribution strategy. 

The right e-commerce platform to support our “specific strategy". Software that supports the option to configure individual products. But avoid a resource-heavy e-commerce platform on underperforming hardware yields.

In-Cloud, taking advantage of massively scalable infrastructure and pre-configured or highly customizable environments to reduce hardware and management burdens. Choosing a public cloud for low cost or private cloud for workloads subject to stringent security or compliance mandates.

MOBILE FUNCTIONALITY:

The right Mobile Environment [Benefits of Mobile Sites versus Mobile Applications]

To ensure that we have the ability to interact (2 way communication) with our" targeted audience "(pwd's & family members - see statistics bellow) & broader consumer base, the long-term mobile strategy must include both mobile environment options;

Mobile Sites: Appear in the browser on any internet-enabled mobile device AND

Develop our own mobile applications to leverage native capabilities, and provide enhanced functionality such as GPS- enabled location services, scanning and the ability to cache content for offline usage (see capturing of data from pen and paper questionnaire below)

Determine what Technology we can repurpose (web technologies to leverage in Mobile)

With website, we can and should leverage its core technologies (e-commerce platform, merchandising tools, content management systems (CMS) user reviews, product information) in the mobile channel.

AFFILIATE PROGRAM STRATEGY :

Insuring a strong sense of community cooperation as well as energy to promote the ‘local living economy movement' and in establishing local business networks in towns and across the country. 

 Using collective buying power, leveraging the group size (5.1mill x 4 Family/Friends=20.4mill) to benefit the consumer.  That mutual benefit produces a benefit to communities in the form of more successful businesses, more jobs, more opportunities, increased tax revenue and happier people.

 Establishing a Reputable, Trusted and Transparent Affiliate Program: 

 We don't play with 'small-print' when sales people start to earn good numbers; the success of our affiliates is pivotal to the success of the program and works on some form of revenue sharing.  

SALIENT FEATURES: AFFILIATE PROGRAM

Every " Support Unit " will receive training & dedicated code ( link the code to a consumer, who has purchased a product or Service from one of the members of the " Support Unit ", any future sales to same consumer, will generate revenue for the first " support unit " who introduced consumer to e-commerce platform, irrespective whether same consumer purchase directly from the site.

-Establish a national network:

-Create awareness, support from societies within.  

-Referral marketing - Joining programs for free. 

-Getting paid on sales - once or twice per month (EFT’s & Pay Pal). Minimum amount 

-Affiliate payouts, for first and recurring orders linked to "Support Unit " code 

-Tracking of affiliate payouts automatically creates and distributes tax forms. 

-Profit reports on every account, daily, weekly, monthly & real time. 

-Calculates the affiliates exact commission once-off / recurring, per product/service sold

SINGLE-TIER PROGRAM:-

Controlled (not auto-drive), not to support rogue affiliates using unethical methods, giving our affiliate program a bad reputation. 

Physica’s 'vendor' and affiliates tracks the ability of every campaign, with detailed reports, to make adjustments that will affect businesses positively. 

PRODUCTS AND SERVICES:

Utilize our proven and trusted communication structures, securing meaningful and frequent interaction between company and consumer base. Start with only a few, but well thought through products, (Legal, Funeral & Airtime) Price competitively, simple to understand and easy to find own products - sole source of item (tailor - made to match consumer expectations) and negotiate exclusive pricing or distribution agreements with the manufacturer.

Expansion:

1. Financial services:   - Short term Insurance:  - Life Insurance: - Medical Schemes  - Banking 

2. Telecommunications:  - Airtime & Data - Mobile Handsets - Contracts - Other 

3. Property  - Residential sales - Commercial Sales - Residential Rentals - Commercial Rentals - Cleaning Services - Garden Services  

4. Cars:  - New Cars - Used Cars - Car Rentals  

5. Travel Agent  

6. Events  

7. Groceries  (Web interphase with retailer online shop)  

8.  Clothing 

9.  White goods     

AFRICAN CONSUMER BASE - RELATIONSHIP BASED CULTURES: 

Mass consumer markets relies on low-context communication and for this reason alone is unnatural for relationship based cultures. People in these cultures traditionally prefer to take advice from someone they know and trust than from impersonal advertisements.

MEASURE SOCIAL IMPACT & PREDICTIVE ANALYTICS;

Measurement is the first step that leads to control and eventually to improvement. If you can't measure something, you can't understand it, if you can't understand it, you can't control it, if you can't control it, you can't improve it” -H James Harrington
What determines which organization attracts the most funding? The organization that delivers the most outcomes or even better, the organization that delivers the most outcomes per Dollar invested.

By identifying the importance of rigorous measurements, monitoring and reporting on the progress 

- The basis for effective evidence based policy making and accountability and taking into account social and cultural context. It will also stress the centrality of innovations in measurement that could help address the complexity of assessing progress in the future development framework.

The Organization that generates the most reliable and comparable data needed to guide planning and resource allocation, introduces analytical tools to measure whether programs and services are having the impact that the mission statement promises - Scientifically.

Measuring efforts are often failed by organizations in the past and as a result thereof, they have reduced their ability to improve CSI programs and add bottom-line value to the organization. 

Effective measurement will enable feeble CSI efforts to become forceful development interventions with long term impact.

There is a great effort to measure efficiency and to seek a means of improvement.

This suggests that it is not enough to simply perform predictive analytics and hope that you get some value out of it. 

It is important to put a program in place to actually measure this value, which includes defining the project candidates where predictive analytics is most likely to have an impact. This makes intuitive sense. If you can measure value and find that value is positive, then there is a good chance you’re doing something right.

Those who measure positive impact more often have more experience with models, may have more sophisticated builders of the models, can make use of disparate data sources, and have an analytics-driven culture and structure in place to deal with analytics. This is a laudable goal and one that takes time.

Our strategic alliance with the company Decision Options, LLC, and founder / CEO Gill Eapen, a world renowned leader in methodologies and technologies for decision making under uncertainty and flexibility, and ability to develop cutting edge, tailor made tools to measure social impact, diversity in recruitment, retention, investment strategies and increase forecast accuracy for both public and private markets.

With vast global experience in applying advanced data mining, algorithms, data preparation techniques and data visualization methods to real-world problems, including fraud detection, risk modeling, response modeling, survey analysis, planned giving and predictive toxicology.
www.DecisionOptions.com

PROMISING ELEMENTS OF A NEW BUSINESS MODEL ARE EMERGING:

Where organizations make a shift from metrics that reflect narrow financial goals to metrics that reflect contributions to prosperity of individuals, organizations and society, for achieving both purpose and profit.

Companies must take the lead in bringing business and society back together. The recognition is there among sophisticated business and thought leaders, and promising elements of a new model are emerging. Yet we still lack an overall framework for guiding these efforts, and most companies remain stuck in a “social responsibility” mind-set in which societal issues are at the periphery, not the core.

The solution lies in the principle of shared value, which involves creating economic value in a way that also creates value for society by addressing its needs and challenges. Businesses must reconnect company success with social progress.Shared value is not social responsibility, philanthropy, or even sustainability, but a new way to achieve economic success. It is not on the margin of what companies do but at the center. We believe that it can give rise to the next major transformation of business thinking

At a very basic level, the competitiveness of a company and the health of the communities around it are closely intertwined. A business needs a successful community, not only to create demand for its products but also to provide critical public assets and a supportive environment. A community needs successful businesses to provide jobs and wealth creation opportunities for its citizens. 

Although some people might not like business or fail to understand that it needs to make a profit, they do understand that it has to play a key role in driving solutions. In the next ten years, I think you are going to see many more initiatives undertaken by groups of businesses to protect their long-term interests and the long-term interests of society.

By: Corne Ferreira

http://PhysicaNews.blogspot.com