Enablis awards shining SA entrepreneurs

Media & marketing startup winner, Sheraan Amod of Cape Town, receives his award from Sunday Times editor, Mondli Makhanya.

The competition - run by Enablis, the Canadian-based not-for-profit organisation that specialises in supporting entrepreneurs in developing economies - saw over 6,000 entrants submit plans for an entrepreneurial venture across 10 different industries, including technology, tourism and agriculture.

These were evaluated by industry and academic experts - including Da Vinci Institute Professor, Bernie van Zyl - whittled down to 92 finalists, and finally to the 20 winners announced Thursday, 22 January 2009.

In the two categories of ‘start-up' and ‘business expansion' winners, the highlights include:

• In the agriculture sector, the vast range of soil-based projects entered, included an exotic mushroom grower, milled sorghum brewer and indigenous tree grower. The start-up winner emerged as Free State dairy farmer, Kabelo Tsimatsima. Winner in the expansion category was banana fruit and juice producer Apollo Segawa.

• The “green” business category yielded a number of innovative recycling operations, suppliers of eco-friendly housing, as well as an entry featuring a ready-made organic vegetable tunnel. The winners are the operator of “green” cabs in Cape Town, Wilhelmina van der Merwe, in the start-up category, and in the expansion category Avena Jacklin of Badplaas, who addresses the water crisis created by invasive wattles by harvesting the trees for compost and health food.

• The business expansion winner in the information and communication technology category, Musa Maphongwane, designed an innovative container-based digital gaming franchise to bring gaming to township kids for as little as R1 a game. And start-up winner, David Forbes - an auditor - designed an online business management software solution for his wife - an interior designer - that turned commercial.

• Manufacturing yielded a start-up winner from Oudtshoorn, Johan Eksteen, for his idea of compacting waste pellets to create renewable energy sources and combat wood and fuel shortages. Expansion winner, Luba Schotter from Durban, produces preservative-free low GI frozen snacks and meals.

• Business and professional services included an outsourcing specialist, one-stop event shop, mobile frozen yoghurt shop franchisor, BEE ratings and staff provider, as well as a paintless dent remover for motor vehicles in government fleets and in townships. Start-up category winner, Roelof Delport - a quantity surveyor - has turned his hobby professional and now provides unique orchid to businesses and hotels year-round. Expansion winner, fireman Mark Ackers, provides fire, first aid, forklift and rigging training and facilitation in partnership with the Department of Labour.

• In construction, start-up winner Walter Blersch designed a new kind of concrete pump that delivers concrete to places ordinarily tough to reach in contstruction while expansion winner, Patla Sekgala, designs and installs electrical substations and power lines up to 132kV.

The winners are now under priority consideration for between R100,000 and R2.5m in tailored funding from Enablis. They also became part of the peer network that the organisation has created here in South Africa - a group of some 300 public and private sector companies that offers access to networking, contacts, training, online resources and mentorship.

Added boost with sustained support

Enablis SA CEO, Paul Lamontagne

“The thinking behind the competition is two-fold,” explained Paul Lamontagne, the CEO of Enablis in South Africa.

“Firstly, a simple injection of cash into an early-stage business, without any associated commitment, does little to promote sustainable growth - that's why our funding mechanisms come with business support, advisory and mentoring services to reduce business risk. Secondly, with access to a broader set of support structures that help develop contacts and business potential, it's more likely that entrepreneurs can be successful.”

Notable trends

This year's competition was marked by two dominant trends: the realism with which the target markets were chosen, and the innovative thinking behind the business concepts themselves. The entrants showed sensitivity to servicing the needs of the emerging and the higher-end aspects of local and international markets, said Lamontange.
“We were impressed with the quality and the innovation this year, and we believe these emerging businesses have the potential to become the world-renowned business innovators of tomorrow.”

Reported successes

An independent study conducted by Research in Action in South Africa in 2008 found that 56% of Enablis' members reported an increase in revenue in the past year and 66% of members increased their customer base. They also reported over 1,000 new full- and part-time jobs could be created in the last year.

“Learning the business lingo for success includes speaking accurately to your customers, service providers, investors and industry sector. Looking at this year's winners, entrepreneurship in SA is more competitive and more economically-viable than ever,” added Lamontagne.

The competition, now in its fourth year, received vast local support - including that of start-up loan provider FNB, technology partner Microsoft and regional support from SEDA, Free State Development Corporation and Gauteng Enterprise Propeller, as well as Business Times, Postnet, Telesystems, Spier Green Capital and Revlon.