It is Alexander Osterwalder who, in his book Value Proposition Design: How to Create Products and Services Customers Want, says “Your customers are the judge, jury, and executioner of your value proposition. They will be merciless if you don’t find fit!”
For years I believed “creating value” was just a business and marketing abstract concept and that once a business convinces itself of its value, the targeted customer would automatically be willing to pay money in exchange of goods and/or services.

I probably was not the only one who underestimated the importance of this concept, perhaps explaining why most businesses fail to invest adequate time to dig into the subject, developing and articulating their value proposition until they find a strategic ‘‘sweet spot” — where the target customers’ needs fit with what’s special about the product or service offering and its capabilities in a way that competitors cannot match.
In my consulting years in the private sector, I recall how potential clients would knock at our doors to request our solutions and services (of course this was at a time when I was working for a global IT and business consulting firm).
My later experience in the public sector was a sharp contrast.
Customer Service Managers and marketers were always at pains trying to sign-up new customers and renewing service level agreements.

It would take months and years to convince a client of our products and services.
Even upon signing up the client, there were never-ending customer satisfaction issues that we, as lines of business, would constantly have to address — with little success.
But why would our customers be so unhappy with our products and services? Is our pricing not right?
Is it our customer-facing personnel that is not well-trained?
We would ponder on these questions constantly, yet still not grasping what value means to our customers. It was always assumed.
Once the light bulb came on, it dawned on me that “value creation” is not just a kind of business-speak.
Rather, creating value captures a salient distinction from doing other things that businesses do to make profit. It is the essence of any business.

The ability of a business to create value is what causes people to want to trade with it.
When a customer is willing to take out their wallet and hand you their money, it is because something is compelling them to give up their money.
They are convinced that, out of that money exchange, they will get something that addresses their need, which is value.
Granted, value can mean many different things, it really depends on the context.
From a business perspective, there is a direct correspondence of relative worth of a good or service and value as determined in an exchange for money.

Thus the latter refers to financial value and the former addresses intrinsic value.
Successful companies have somehow found a way of understanding their customers, properly constructing their value propositions and delivering that value.
Their ability to do that has helped them focus on what their offerings are really worth to the customer.
Not all those successful have been the first to introduce products and/or services to markets.
They have, however, done key things right and one of them is developing smart business models centred around a Customer Value Proposition (CVP) — a promise of potential value that a business delivers to its customers and in essence is the reason why a customer would choose to engage with the business over existing market competition.

Defining a good Customer Value Proposition helps articulate the relevance of a product or service offering by explaining how it solves a problem or improves the customer’s situation in a manner that is different to competitors. There may be several ways of solving the customer’s problem.
Your promise may be premised on delivering quality cheaper and/or faster than everybody else, or you may deliver a better product or service.
Some of those ways may be in existence on the market through competition, also promising to solve these problems.

It is, therefore, important that this promise of value be unique and lucidly expressed in terms of the target buyer, the buyer’s problem being solved, and why the offering is distinctly better than existing alternatives.
More importantly, the promise you make to your customers is the one you have to keep. Your unique value proposition, therefore, is not just a list of customer benefits.
Depending on the type of Value Proposition, it may have to include all favourable points of difference your offering has relative to the next best alternative (favourable points of difference) or key points of difference — and perhaps, a point of parity — to deliver the superior value to the customer for the foreseeable future (resonating focus).

It may be new value, additional value to what you have been offering or better value.
Whichever is adopted, your Value Proposition needs to be well-thought of and crafted as it will dictate and influence your marketing and overall business strategy.
There is no point in dazzling value propositions and yet not actually having the people, processes, tools and requisite experience to back it up.

The truth is that value creation and capture are crucial aspects of any strategic analysis. Innovators, business strategists and entrepreneurs at large work hard to understand exactly what value means to their customers so they can generate it.
However, though on the surface, value propositions seem simple and very straightforward, consumer research studies suggest that value propositions that resonate with customers are exceptionally elusive.
One reason for this is little attention paid on researching and understanding customers prior to developing an offering.

Once companies instil discipline in understanding their customers, they can start making smarter choices about where to allocate limited resources to deliver the value.
If given enough attention, a value proposition can breathe clarity into your business.
A good value proposition is the keystone to developing a strong marketing strategy and moving everyone in your business in the right direction.
The question is: Can you say what your customer Value Proposition is?
Are your customers, who are “the judge, jury, and executioner of your value proposition” crystal clear about how your offering solves their problem?

l Fundisile Serame holds a Masters in Business Information Technology from Tswane University of Technology. She is a Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) alumnus.
She has extensive training in the IT sector both private and public sector

Business

Jobs galore for Lesotho

Published

1 week ago

April 9, 2024

The Post

94 000 jobs.

That is what the Millennium Challenge Account (MCA-Lesotho) will create in the next 10 years, according to Prime Minister Sam Matekane.

The MCA-Lesotho was created by the Lesotho parliament last year after the United States’ Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) found Lesotho eligible to receive development funds.

The MCC gives development grants to poor countries that respects democratic principles and human rights.

The MCC has unlocked a staggering US$322 million (over M5 billion) to the government of Lesotho after the country enacted three laws the protect people’s basic rights this week.

Matekane advised youths to visit MCA-Lesotho offices to understand how best they can benefit from the fund and the projects that will be financed.

The MCC’s investments are aimed at increasing the availability of water for household and industrial use, enhance watershed management and conservation methods, rehabilitate health infrastructure and strengthen health systems, and remove barriers to private investment.

The MCA-Lesotho’s Health and Horticulture Compact seeks to assist the country in unlocking equitable and sustainable economic growth in partnership with the private sector by addressing key constraints to growth.

Matekane said the job creation potential of the horticulture project alone is estimated at 4 000 jobs.

This excludes indirect jobs that will be created through packaging supplies, logistics, cold chain activities as well as the processing of the output.

“Let us all be ready and ensure we spend all the funding that is available,” Matekane said.

He said the money is going to be invested in agriculture, trade and industry, value chains, infrastructure development, tourism and creative sectors.

“The Compact has come at a critical time when the country is in dire need of financial injections to revive the economy,” he said.

“This second Compact forms the core of Lesotho’s private sector-led economic growth, recovery and job creation agenda.”

He said the MCA staff should work diligently, to implement this Compact.

“There are several Basotho businesses out there that are eager to seize the opportunities that the Compact brings,” Matekane said.

“Serve them with integrity, accountability and dedication.”

Matekane said the government has established the Cabinet Sub-Committee on the Compact which is under the leadership of Deputy Prime Minister Nthomeng Majara.

The sub-committee is mandated to ensure that the government provides overall oversight, strategic direction and support for successful implementation of the Compact.

He said he expects the MCA-Lesotho to ensure the full implementation of the project within the next five years.

“Our economy needs this capital injection to boost productivity and job creation,” Matekane said.

Matekane said the government had to enact three pieces of legislation which were necessary to support the investments that the MCC is making.

The enacted laws are the Labour Code Amendment Bill, the Administration of Estates and Inheritance Bill and the Occupational Safety and Health Bill.

Majara Molupe

Business

Bank spearheads career expo

Published

2 weeks ago

April 2, 2024

The Post

Standard Lesotho Bank will tomorrow host a career expo at the ’Manthabiseng Convention Centre for high school students who will sit for their final exams this year.
The 14th Annual Standard Lesotho Bank Career Expo was launched in Mokhotlong on Monday where the Lesotho Highlands Development Authority (LHDA) welcomed students in areas around the Polihali Dam construction site.

On Tuesday the expo was at the Butha-Buthe Community High School, yesterday it was at Assumption High School in Teya-Teyaneng while today it is in Quthing at Holy Trinity High School.

The five-day nationwide event is dedicated to connecting ambitious Basotho youths with exciting career opportunities.

Standard Lesotho Bank says it’s career expo “is a cornerstone of the bank’s commitment to empowering Basotho youth and shaping the future of Lesotho’s workforce”.

The 2024 edition of the event is the 14th where the bank is now the headline sponsor of this important expo that reaches about over 10 000 students countrywide.

The expo promises to be an even better offering where over 35 institutions of higher learning from Lesotho and South Africa as well as professional bodies will explain different career options to Basotho students.

Standard Lesotho Bank communications manager, Manyathela Kheleli, said students in Mokhotlong did not only learn about different engineering disciplines but got to appreciate engineering in action at Polihali.

He said it was a lifetime experience for students from Mokhotlong, “thanks to the collaboration with LHDA, who are fully responsible for the Polihali leg of the event”.

There were also motivational speakers from different professions in the bank and other selected institutions.

Key influencers in the football fraternity, former Likuena captain and now Corporate Responsibility Manager at Letšeng Diamonds, Tšepo Hlojeng, and former Orlando Pirates dribbling wizard, Steve Lekoelea, are among the influencers that have been invited to address the students.

The event is a sponsorship initiative under Personal and Private Banking that is open to all youths, communities, and individuals, where the bank intends to use this event to drive the new Youth or student Customer Value Proposition and attract high school students to open accounts ahead of their enrolment into tertiary institutions.

The objective of this sponsorship is to first create an environment where future leaders of Lesotho will be nurtured and informed of top career choices that demonstrate various skills requirements for the growth of Lesotho’s economy.

Secondly, the career expo is a clear demonstration of the bank’s intention to put youths at the centre of its initiatives.

This position is shown by the bank’s initiative to not only develop special products for youths, such as the Youth Account but also through several initiatives that promote youth empowerment. These include the bursary scheme and the Bacha Entrepreneurship Project.

“We are more than a bank for our youths, but a good corporate citizen and a partner for the education for Basotho,” Kheleli said.

“We believe that as we grow our youths, they will become assets to this country and by extension, develop into a feeder market for our banking products when they enter the job market,” he said.

The bank has invested M150 000 towards sponsorship of the annual Career Expo.

Staff Reporter

Business

Ministry launches fresh industrialisation drive

Published

2 weeks ago

April 2, 2024

The Post

A new policy to drive industrialisation in Lesotho was launched in Maseru this week.
The Lesotho National Industrialisation Policy 2024–2028 is being spearheaded by the Ministry of Trade.

The ministry says the policy seeks to accelerate economic diversification in the industrial base, enhance productivity and productive capacity for industrialisation and advance domestic and regional value chains for industrialisation.

It also seeks to promote and develop industrial clustering, promote inclusive industrialisation, support entrepreneurship development and strengthen business linkages.
The new policy will also seek to enhance energy efficiency and sustainability, promoting technology adoption and innovation, services-based industrialisation, and stimulating agro-based industrialisation.

This is not the first time Lesotho has launched an industrialisation policy. Previous policies have all failed.

The first attempt was the 2015–2017 industrial policy, whose aim was to accelerate the industrialisation agenda and address key challenges facing the country.

The second one was the 2018–2023 policy, which after its unsuccessful execution during the three years of implementation, the government extended it to the National Strategic Development Plan Strategic Focus (2023/24-2027/28).

The new industrial policy’s target is set to activate implementation on innovation to enhance the efficiency and competitiveness of domestic industries, create decent jobs and improve the welfare of Basotho.

Thabo Moleko, the Ministry of Trade Principal Secretary, said the implementation of the new policy is set to deepen economic growth, promote industrialisation and enhance competitiveness.

“The plan includes greater investment in industrial development with the intention to create employment and incomes while building on maintaining the existing industrial trade,” Moleko said.

Mamello Nchake, a consultant for the United Nations Economic Commission of Africa (UNECA), said the development goals of the industrial policy are set to ensure an achievable inclusiveness and equitable growth as they aim to create sector-led quality jobs for Basotho.

Nchake said the goals are meant to “develop and maintain enabled infrastructure that is critical to the private sectors and also to promote gender equality, environmental and climate risk management”.

“Moreover, the policy (will seek to) harness the collaboration with private sector firms to address common challenges and promote industrialisation,” she said.

The workshop discussed constraints that hindered the implementation of the 2018 – 2023 policy that undermined investment and trade opportunities.

The constraints include access to land for investment, inadequate provision of infrastructure, an outdated and a lack of appropriate regulatory environment, low productive capacity, market size and topological constraints, unstable macroeconomic environment, external factors, and over-dependency of trade preferences.

To address the strategic objectives, the previous industrial policies had proposed tax incentives for industrial development, trade policy and regional integration as the main vehicle for industrialisation and structural transformation.

They had also proposed mechanisms for policy coordination and implementation, institutional alignment and linkages.

However, several key challenges were identified in the implementation of the 2015-2017 industrial policy.

They included limited financial and investment capacity to effectively implement the industrial policy actions.

“Financing instruments are not aligned with the level of development needs of the private sector,” stakeholders heard at the workshop.

They also heard that there is “persistent dependency on few industries that poses risks in the face of global economic uncertainties and ever-changing consumer preferences”.
Another identified problem is limited investment climate that makes it costly for foreign firms to invest in Lesotho.

It was also observed that a shortage of specialised education and skills crucial for growth of industries impact the ability of firms to adopt advanced technologies and improve productivity and the productive capacity.

Stakeholders also heard that there is limited global competitiveness and access to global markets.

Lesotho’s industries, they heard, particularly textiles and garments, face competition from other low-cost manufacturing countries.

The country is also spooked by poor coordination between the implementing agencies due to a lack of a clear implementation framework.

Khahliso ’Molaoa