Young Entrepreneurs Awarded

Three entrepreneurs were awarded in the Young Entrepreneur Business Plan Competition for their innovative, practical and sustainable business ideas.

Three South African youth have emerged as winners of the Young Entrepreneur Business Plan Competition. The competitors have each won a prize of R 10,000 worth of (1,423.30 US Dollars) business partner mentorship vouchers. The three will also receive laptops and will continually access mentoring and coaching to grow their businesses.

The aim of the competition, which was being held for the first time this year, was to support talented young entrepreneurs through training and acknowledge their efforts in running sustainable businesses.

The competition  was sponsored by the World Bank Group member International Finance Corporation (IFC), IBM South Africa and Business Partners Limited, a company that offers financing to small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in South Africa.

One of the winners was Ntobeka Bonyana who founded Embo Environmental Solutions, a firm that offers services in environmental solutions like waste water treatment.

The others are Siphiwe Ntuli founder of Universal Car Mat Manufacturers, a company that deals with car mats and Thandanani Khoza who founded Solaris, a company that works with in solar water heaters.

The competition was open to South African citizens aged 18 to 35. Entrants had to either be managing a business that had been in existence for less than two years or have a promising business idea they planned to establish in the future.

Selected entrepreneurs who submitted their business ideas in the competition also received assistance on ways to improve their business plans.