Have been thinking about the music industry and how it would be good to setup a distribution company that linked all of the (black owned) stores and businesses together under one roof as a Co-Operative, not for profit company. The store owners would place orders with this company which are handled together to, bundled, in order to ensure that they all get products in at a competitive price.

As a co-operative it would be in the interest of the business owners to work with and expand the scope of the company as a whole with the assisted promotion of artists for example, with its success it would then be possible to assist those who intend to get into the industry in general opening studios and workshops, 'Music houses' where budding artists can go, sign up as members and further their cultural interests in what ever field of the industry it may be, from the business side to the creative side, the lessons taught would teach a Pan African working model of doing business in the industry rather than the generally accepted western model... this is where I then went off on, ''tangent'' in a way I perhaps cannot do at this moment... the above could well be applied to just about any industry, simply swap ''music business'' for any other retail outlet such as Hair boutiques for example and the same could be applied, further yet it denotes the need for a working model of doing business, a Pan African model that can be applied and taught in place of the again, generally accepted western model most are taught (and then teach) today.

By this I mean that the above would need to be worked out, it would involve an understanding of the way Co-Operatives work, the safeguards and contracts, the pros and cons involved so as that it can be properly (and professionally) applied by anyone. The same alongside other concepts would need to be taught to students in whatever industry they may choose to follow, this could be studied alongside their current work with the western model of course but applied when need be.

Not on for long just wanted to type this... Is it possible to create a Unified Pan African model for business? If so how could we go about it?

Was going to make this a, ''business studies'' thread where, using retail as an example we could perhaps share ideas on how a Co-Operative, ?not for profit? organization/company can be set up and put to work.. how it could be done, what would be needed to do so and so on but I think the question stands on its own for now.

Opinions?
BL

The silence is deafening.

Actually want to set up a Black Music Distribution company decided to not take up Import & Export for my studies and get into Property instead but as I'm involved in the music industry now its just tempting, can see where it'd work and how. Not sure there are many black owned record stores around anymore though.

Would be incorporated in South Africa, perhaps Ethiopia if not there then Ghana but South Africa would be the best place I think.

[b]" Black Lion said: the lessons taught would teach a Pan African working model of doing business in the industry rather than the generally accepted western model... "[/B]


Hello Black Lion.
You also said that this model could be applied to any industry.

Could you go into a bit more detail as to what it is? I hope this question doesn't sound ignorant. It sounds like you are talking about Co-operative, open and mutually beneficial business practice with an afro-centric emphasis. Still, it sounds like something people would want to be inducted into, to get some training...

In fact if a workshop/lesson plan (about the 'Pan-African working model for business ') were created which could be learned and then passed on... well I think this might be an effective place to start. That in itself would be huge mission.

This is an exciting concept. So at the moment you want to tailor it specifically to the music business?

Not tailor it to the music business, was using it as an example as I am involved in it at the moment, I work for a record shop and have to place orders and so on. Each distribution company I go to sells our music, from Jazz to Afro beat to Reggae some specialize in doing so as in specifically focus on ''Black entertainment'' the whole culture and so on yet we don't see any return on that what so ever simply because we don't have any control over our output, we make it and thats more or less it, so here in england you have companies like Boombox a successful distribution company who focus on what we put out, specifically, I'd throw in others like SRD, Grooveattack in germany who have deals with American record companies to distribute African American goods to retail outlets in europe and others like suspectpackages who again focus on ''Black british'' music and culture.... It then leads into clothing where the Asians have taken up on making well designed ''urban'' wear and Middle eastern people with the money to buy or rent high street stores again selling our culture back to us. Could run off a list of names in wood green alone. Go to artist nights throughout london and we'll be there full force coming out with something new or different only to have it taken up on by someone else...

Thats where a co-operative distribution company could change things for the better, taking over from those companies who already focus on distributing our goods and bringing together Black owned retail outlets it allows for better control over our output. From there, the back end as it were it'd be possible to help budding artists in numerous ways. It'd have enough scope to make a huge impact and clean up the industry in general. Do good for the whole rather than feed a few as it were.

Could go on and explain it better but thats not the point, said I ''want to'' do it but its not feasible, theres no 'S' on my chest .lol. I'd have to go to college study the necessary aspects of business and in turn apply that to the music industry... after doing that and making it successful I'd have created a Pan African distribution company, a model that can be in turn applied to any industry, from the ground up, having to deal with people and show how it would benefit them and us as a whole to be on board to having a know how of running a co-operative company with the necessary facets in place to ensure the security and future of the company... From there, taking a look at business in general you can see how it itself can be taught in a way that better suits us, taking it from its western setting and placing it in ours reinterpreted to make it distinctly Pan African rather than western... finance for example, packages can be put together that cater to our needs as a community that would need to be understood, am sure there are other things that can be done in all of the arenas to better ourselves, right to buy in property would be another can tie that in with the finance industry arranging packages, loans and mortgages to suit.... business should be done in Swahili just as it is spoken in A.U meetings we need a common language to address each other from France to South Africa to Brazil we speak different languages, having a common one to relate to each other in is a nessecity, something that would be included in the Unified Pan African model for business.

It'd vary from coast to coast, each of us would need to put our own spin on it but it'd have to stay strong at its core and not be allowed to get lost in itself.