Community Exchange News

No.16, 18 November 2004

Community Exchange News is the Newsletter of the Cape Town group of the SANE Community Exchange System

Contents:

1. New Group: Twee Riviere Talent Exchange
2. CAFDA joins the CES
3. Cape Town Talent Exchange Market Day - 24 October
4. CTTE Group Statistics: September 2004
5. Web Site: New features
6. Tip: How to Get Started on the CES
7. Theory: Benefits of the CES
8. Administration: Local Area Co-ordinators

The Talent Exchange - where your wealth is your talent

Organic Produce Exchange Network joins the SANE Community Exchange System

A new group has joined the SANE Community Exchange System. It is known as the Organic Produce Exchange Network (OPeN). While not completely functional yet, it will consist of a network of organic food producers. Members will be from Stellenbosch, Paarl, Wellington, Somerset West, Noordhoek and other areas of Cape Town and its surrounds. They hope to launch themselves with a Market Day in Noordhoek on 20 November. While it will be a separate CES group, organic produce from OPeN will be available to all as inter-group trading is possible.

CAFDA joins the Cape Town Talent Exchange

The Cape Flats Distress Association (CAFDA) is joining the CES. At a recent meeting and presentation to CAFDA it was decided that the organisation would join the CES and encourage its projects and associates to join as well. CAFDA has many projects and groups spanning all age groups. We feel that the CES will be of tremendous benefit to CAFDA and the communities it supports.

November Market Day

The next Talent Exchange Market Day will be on Sunday 21 November 2004. Again, this will be a 'private enterprise' market, not one organised by the Administration. This will be the pattern for all future Market Days so if you want to organise a market or any other event, please do so. The Administration will help where it can by financing the overheads.

The October Market takes place at the Novalis Institute, 39 Rosmead Avenue, Wynberg. It will start at 10h00 and end at about 15h00. Click Map to see how to get there.

This will be a fun day with lots to buy, and lots to eat including foods from different countries. There be will be various therapeutic treatments as well a video about the Talent Exchange.

Please support the Talent Exchange by coming to the Market Day. If you are a newcomer or existing member, but have never traded, come along and learn how the system works. Bring your items to sell at the market. Bring your friends and introduce them to a new way of trading and a new kind of money. They can join at the event and participate immediately.

If you would like to reserve a table or enquire about anything else, please contact Maieane or Vanessa at the numbers below. There will be a T20 charge for a stall, which will go to the organisers (which is SANE this month).

Date : Sunday 24 October
Time : 10h00 - 15h00
Venue : Novalis Institute, 39 Rosmead Avenue, Wynberg

Contact : Vanessa Witbooi-Johnstone or Maieane Nkhahle
Tel : 021 689 6892
Fax : 021 689 6892
Email : markets{at}ces.org.za

CTTE Group statistics: October 2004

September saw a massive 38% increase in trading over the previous month but October beat all records with a massive 46.2% increase over September. Much of this was due to the successful Market Day on 19 September. This was reflected in a trebling in the number of trades. The average value of trades naturally went down, but this is common when there is a market because many purchases are small at such events.

The month also saw an 8% growth in membership.

With another market day this month we hope to beat all records and get past the half-million Talents traded mark.

At the end of September 2004:

Trader Statistics:

Totals Total members: 724 Total traders: 405 % of members who have traded: 55.94 % of members who have not traded: 44.06 Sellers Total sellers: 239 Seller/buyer ratio: 0.63 % of members who have sold: 33.01 % of traders who have sold: 59.01 # of sellers who have bought 215 # of sellers who have not bought: 24 Buyers Total buyers: 381 Buyer/seller ratio: 1.59 % of members who have bought: 52.62 % of traders who have bought: 94.07 # of buyers who have sold: 215 # of buyers who have not sold: 166 Trading Statistics Total # of sales: 3953 Total # of purchases: 3950 Total income: 452773.41 Total expenditure: 452773.41 Income/expenditure less levies: 439164.37 Overall balance: 0.00 Talentry Statistics (from 15 May) Total revenue: 13609.04 Transferred to Admin: 9471.56 # of levy payments: 1239 Current Talentry balance: 4137.48

Members:

Individuals: 615 Families: 21 Companies: 45 Organisations: 29 Virtuals: 11 Public: 2 Administrators: 1 Total: 724

Trading 2003/2004:

Month-Year Trades Talents Average Levy Total (- levy) Total (+ levy) February 2003 3 295.00 98.33 0.00 295.00 295.00 March 2003 8 394.00 49.25 0.00 689.00 689.00 April 2003 9 1768.00 196.44 0.00 2457.00 2457.00 May 2003 21 2802.02 133.43 0.00 5259.02 5259.02 June 2003 80 6091.82 76.15 0.00 11350.84 11350.84 July 2003 113 10493.65 92.86 0.00 21844.49 21844.49 August 2003 194 19949.01 102.83 0.00 41793.50 41793.50 September 2003 263 26404.88 100.40 0.00 68198.38 68198.38 October 2003 179 35284.47 197.12 0.00 103482.85 103482.85 November 2003 151 18504.75 122.55 0.00 121987.60 121987.60 December 2003 91 10601.50 116.50 0.00 132589.10 132589.10 January 2004 316 26223.62 82.99 0.00 158812.72 158812.72 February 2004 269 27392.60 101.83 0.00 186205.32 186205.32 March 2004 634 37249.23 58.75 0.00 223454.55 223454.55 April 2004 204 15041.29 73.73 0.00 238495.84 238495.84 May 2004 464 39853.81 84.34 1443.84 277627.73 279071.57 June 2004 149 28646.70 184.87 2203.60 305172.63 308820.07 July 2004 98 41020.27 404.09 2839.16 344773.32 351259.92 August 2004 184 41182.04 215.70 2984.96 384462.88 393934.44 September 2004 523 56770.23 104.59 4137.48 439164.37 452773.41 Total: 3953 T452773.41 T114.54 T13609.04     Excluding levy: T439164.37 T111.10

Web Site: New features

There have been a few modifications to the site during the past month:

My Statement of Account

On clicking 'My Statement of Account' only your trades of the last 30 days are now shown, instead of all of them. Because there are now so many trades recorded in the database it was taking a long time for the programming to select a member's entries. It is still possible to see all your trades but there is also the facility to see your trades between any two dates. This is useful for seeing your trades for a particular month, or for a year.

Personal Ad Pages

If you would like to have a high-profile advertisement about yourself on all account home pages, you can now do so. The advert can be linked to one or more personal pages on the CES web site. For T50 per week you can have your ad on the home page plus one information page. After the week you can keep the information page and it can be linked to one or more of your personal offerings in the Offerings List. You can create these personal pages yourself but if you want the Admin to create it/them for you, you will have to write for a quote. You can also link your ad to another web site.

Tip: How to Get Started on the CES

Most people join the CES by filling in the online application form. They enter one or two offerings and that's how it stays for the rest of time. It is clear that many people think that by registering with the CES all they have to do is put down their offerings and wait for the work to start rolling in. When it doesn't happen they just forget about the CES and never participate.

To get going on the CES you have to put in a bit of effort. That effort will pay off in many ways.

A good place to start is by revisiting your offerings. You must see your offerings as your personal ads. They must inspire us to want to come to you for what you offer. If your ad is obscure, imprecise, lacking in detail and does not convince us that you are going to do a good job then we (the buyers) will look elsewhere. Now that we have literally thousands of offerings, you can bet that there is someone else who offers what you offer. Why will we consider you if someone else's ad for the same thing is more inspiring? Jazz up your offerings and convince us that you are the best supplier on the list. Consider too your price. What are your competitors charging?

Another way to get going is to have more offerings, in particular goods. There must be some old junk lying around your house that you could put on offer. Useful goods get snapped up in no time. That will get some Talents in your account and you will feel good about seeing a black number there. It will inspire you to go out and purchase something. When you have only negative red numbers in your account you are not going to feel good about going even further into debit. By selling goods your name gets seen and people see you as a serious trader, not just another of those boring, zero trade, dormant names.

Yet another excellent way to get going is to watch the Wants List. There is bound to be someone wanting something that you can provide. This allows you to break out of the bounds of your offerings and make contact with other members. Log in every day and see what others want.

Remember, you won't get going on the Talent Exchange if you just sit back and wait. People will only phone you if you have some amazing, irresistible offering. You have to get your name out there and you will be amazed to find that things will start happening if you make the effort.

Theory: Advantages of Talent Exchange

Someone asked me recently to say three things that summarise the advantages of the CES. I found that hard to do as there are so many things that one can say about it. Here are twenty one off the top of my head, with my three most important at the top. This list is open to interpretation and I would love to hear what others think are the advantages of the CES:

1. It provides another stream of income
2. It bridges the 'money gap' between the skills/offers/talents/gifts of sellers on the one hand and the wants/needs/requirements of buyers on the other. Conventional money usually can't bridge this gap because its supply is limited or non-existent.
3. It builds community
4. Talent Exchange 'money' is abundant and can never be in short supply
5. It returns 'money power' to the people
6. It allocates credit democratically
7. It eliminates usury. Its money is 'free' (i.e. interest free)
8. It keeps wealth where it is created
9. It eliminates cheating, theft and fraud (of money)
10. It provides a support network
11. It eliminates the problem of sellers not being paid for what they supply
12. It reconciles the accounts of buyers and sellers immediately
13. It promotes honesty because one can never 'run out of money'
14. It levels the playing field: everyone starts from zero and those who deliver real value to others are the ones who get 'rich', not those who deliver nothing but acquire their wealth by manipulating the currency
15. It gives local suppliers preference
16. It eliminates the waste of transporting goods from all over because its focus is local
17. It destroys the notion that the source of money is a job: the source of money is the delivery of value from one entity (person, company etc.) to another
18. It streamlines transactions and eliminates wasted effort (e.g. debt collecting)
19. It mobilizes the real wealth of a community: The knowledge and skills of its people is the real wealth of a community
20. It fosters self-reliance and self esteem
21. It fosters social justice and equality

Administration: Local Area Co-ordinators

The following is the current list of CTTE Local Area Co-ordinators or 'branches' of the Cape Town Talent Exchange. If you have a problem accessing your account, do not have regular access to a computer or just hate the internet, then contact your nearest co-ordinator who will help you interface with the Talent Exchange. Co-ordinators will provide you with everything you need to participate, as well as enter your trades for you. We hope to 'recruit' co-ordinators in the sub-areas not listed below. If you would like to assist please write to the Administrator at the address at the bottom of this Newsletter.