Milpark wins at IDC National Business Plan Competition awards

The focus of the competition is to bridge the existing gap between business plans prepared as part of the course requirements of the MBA degree and enhancing business plans to be of a standard required for financing. Plans judged to be of excellent quality and commercially viable, stood to win prizes and may even be funded by the IDC.

The Milpark MBA Syndicate Business Plan for a business called Pellet Feed won the overall first prize of R100,000 in seed capital as well as a category prize of R10, 000. This business addresses the growing demand for pellet feed in the local farming sector, as the growth in beef and sheep farming means that farmers become increasingly more dependent on pellet feed. Pellet feed is blended from various raw materials and additives, and improves animal health and feed conversion compared with normal feed substitutes.

Local pork production doubled

The Milpark MBA Syndicate Business Plan for the Mvuleni Piggery won the second prize of R75,000 and a category prize of R10,000. South Africa's local pork production doubled between 2000/1 and 2009/10 and pork prices also doubled during the same period. Local demand and/or consumption remains higher than local production. This gap was filled to some extent by imports, and Mvuleni aims to address the local demand shortage further.

Milpark's Westrand Freshwater Aquaculture Business Plan won the third prize of R50,000.This business is aimed at the shortfall in fisheries production. The world is experiencing a growing shortage of fish and fishing companies increasingly have to venture further and deeper into the seas. This new sector will also contribute to the diversification of resource utilisation, economic activity, the creation of employment, rural development, food security, poverty relief and the development of technology and skills.

The Business Plan for Pigi Coms won a category prize of R10,000 and has remote communication at its core. This solution aims to make it possible for every utility consumer to pay the actual rate of his usage via the use of cellular phone network technology.

"We are very pleased and proud of our MBA students for the exceptional quality of their business plan submissions," said Cobus Oosthuizen, Dean of Milpark's Business School. "It is extremely gratifying for Milpark, and especially for the students, to see their hard work and innovative thinking rewarded in such a tangible manner - and is testament to the quality and value of our Milpark MBA qualification."