Punk your SME

The competition is organised by financial journalist and entrepreneur Marc Ashton and supported by marketer and author Scott Cundill from Majestic Interactive.

Every three months, the team will give away advertising, marketing material and technology to make small businesses run better as well as a round table mentoring and strategy session with top South African entrepreneurs to provide suggestions for scaling the business up.

"Locally there has been a lot of focus on start-ups - particularly in the technology sector - but start-ups are initially low impact employing a handful of skilled people and have very high failure rates," says Ashton.

"What about the businesses that have already done the legwork, made their mistakes and are now looking to scale up? That is where a competition like this comes in.

The competition also provides an opportunity for the organisers to collect data toward their Entrepreneur Confidence Index, which will provide relevant information on entrepreneurial activity in South Africa as well as try to identify pains that the small business sector may be experiencing.

Competitors, sponsors wanted

Entrepreneurs who want to enter the competition can send an e-mail to Ashton with the subject line "I Want To Punk My SME" or join the "Punk Your SME" Facebook group to be kept up to date with industry happenings.

One of the key strategies for the organisers is to leverage the 'social lending' spirit, which is becoming increasingly prominent in South Africa. Those looking to contribute skills, services, mentoring, products or make cash donations which can be put toward each quarters' prize can contact Marc Ashton on +27 (0)82-561-1585 or e-mail az.oc.lavir@cram.