Official US Green Card lottery opens Oct 4, 2011
Green Card
Green card lottery is open!
I know many South Africans in the US that won their green cards (or permanent residence cards) by entering the US Diversity Visa (DV) Lottery Program or the Green Card Lottery.The official place to find information regarding the lottery is at the US. Dept of State website. Do yourself a favor and don’t use ANY other website! There are literary hundreds of sites that offer to do this for you for a fee, sometimes a substantial fee.The lottery opened Oct 4, 2011, 12pm EDT and ends November 5, 2011, 12pm EST.
Read MoreWhy You Should Start a Company in Atlanta|FastCompany
It’s dangerous to walk on the pavement in America!
In a recent post I gave you some business words that have a different meaning in America. Below is a table with some common everyday words with different meanings. You can find many more in this blog: US2UK.
Do you know of any other words or funny stories?
South African term American equivalent Explanation
Petrol Gas You fill up at a gas station.
Robot Traffic light Turn left at the second traffic light.
Road Pavement In the US it is dangerous to walk on the pavement (in the road).
Pavement Side walk US equivalent is side walk
Crash Car wreck The wreck on the 75 caused a traffic jam.
Manual Stick shift Stick shift car.
License plate Tag You have to renew your car's tag every year.
Boot Trunk I need to get something out of my car's trunk.
Chips Fries Hamburger and fries. Chips are called crisps.
Cooldrink Soda My also be called pop in some US states.
Why you shouldn’t brag about your turnover!
Many South African businesspeople make the following common mistakes regarding US business English. I always enjoy seeing the reaction of Americans when a South African brags about their company’s turnover!
| South African term | American equivalent | Explanation |
|---|---|---|
| Turnover | Revenue or Sales | Turnover in the US refers to employee attrition (not a good thing :-)). |
| Surname | Last name | Family name |
| Name | First name | In the US most people have a middle name. So first name to distinguish from middle name. |
| Loan | Note | A note is a loan agreement. |
| CA or Accountant | CPA | Certified Public Accountant. |
| Managing Director (MD) | CEO or President | Better to refer to yourself as CEO if you are an MD in SA. |
| Director | Board Member | A director is usually a mid-level manager in the US. |
| Share Scheme | Share Plan | In the US a scheme usually refers to something unsavory (even illegal). |
| Retrench | RIF (reduction in force) or Lay off | Lay offs are very common in the US as most states are work-at-wil states. |
| Diary (Schedule) | Calendar | In the US a diary is a ladies' journal. You would typically say: "can we put something on the calendar". |
| Post | In the US: "I'll put the check in the mail". |
Why Atlanta is a great place for the US HQ of a South African IT company
Yes, I know, most IT companies want to be in the Valley, that is, Silicon Valley. I would however suggest you seriously consider Atlanta as an alternative. If you are definitely the next Google, then yes, you have to be in the Valley. Ask Vinny and Yola :-). Most IT companies, however, don’t have to be in the Valley.Here are a few reasons to set up your US HQ in Atlanta:
- Atlanta has one of the best airports in the world with direct flights (on Delta) to Jo’burg.
- Very low cost of living compared to most large US city, especially San Francisco.
- Great time zone overlap with South Africa.
- Great IT community: Techlinks, TAG, GATech, and atdc.
- HQ for many Fortune 500 companies including: Coca-Cola, Home Depot, UPS, and Aflac.
This presentation by the Metro Atlanta Chamber gives many more reasons to consider Atlanta as your US HQ.Lance Weatherby had this to say about Atlanta replacing Silicon Valley.I’ve lived in Atlanta (actually in Kennesaw, a town North of Atlanta) for almost 12 years since moving to Atlanta in 1998.
Read MoreHasso Plattner Ventures Africa’s portfolio of companies
Hasso Plattner’s African Venture fund was launched in early 2008. In February 2009 I attended the fund’s Emerging Market Africa conference in South Africa. HPVA has invested ZAR80mm of ZAR350mm in 5 companies to date and expect to invest in at least 5 more. HPVA doesn’t disclose investments and shareholding, although they did indicate that they only take minority shareholding.You can find Hasso Plattner Venture Europe’s investments here.Recently the African fund disclosed some of the investments it has made so far:
- Cibecs: Enterprise backup solutions. According to some articles, HPVA invested ZAR8mm for a 25% stake in the company (HPVA indicated that these numbers aren’t correct. They didn’t say what the correct numbers are.) Cibecs was formed in 2004 by Richard Dewing, and its software has been sold to more than 30,000 users in South Africa.
- Inala operates in the fields of telecommunications and broadcasting in South Africa.
- Global Vision specializes in marketing automation software.
- KnowledgeTree is an open source document management system. KnowledgeTree uses a number of social media technologies to promote its products, including Facebook, Twitter, and blogs…very progressive!
- Dabba Telecom: Low-cost telecoms in South Africa. Dabba’s CEO Real Lissoos was voted Social Entrepreneur of the year in 2008.
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