Pitch & Polish competition for entrepreneurs

Local entrepreneurs will be drawn from 11 South African towns where they will be given the opportunity to appear before an audience of fellow competitors and pitch their business ideas to a panel of judges. The panel will include the co-founder of the Entrepreneurs' Organisation South Africa and CEO of Raizcorp, Allon Raiz, along with fellow EO members from South Africa and a senior member of the local community.

Every entrant will get 3 minutes to deliver a pitch, 3 minutes for questions and answers, and 3 minutes of constructive feedback from the panel. The feedback is a critical component of the competition because its primary objective is to provide participants with a watch-and-learn experience and allow entrants to polish their business ideas. Prize money totalling around R90 000 is to be won throughout the competition.

Final competition

The competition will culminate with finalists presenting their pitches to an audience of 320 international visiting entrepreneurs at the Entrepreneurs' Organisation UCT conference to be held in Cape Town from 10-14 November 2010. The winner will possibly be linked with a company abroad and be awarded an all-expenses-paid trip for a week of mentorship with their host company.

"Job creation and the growth of our economy will come from small business, many of them in the informal sector. The future of South Africa lies in harnessing the informal sector and energy of these entrepreneurs, many of whom are struggling, undiscovered across South Africa in small towns and villages," says brandhouse CSR manager, Phumza Rengqe. "The aim of Pitch & Polish is to find these future business stars and help them unleash the power of their vision and ingenuity."