Endeavor welcomes new entrepreneurs to its network

Endeavor now supports 1,742 entrepreneurs leading 1,088 companies in 32 growth markets around the world.

Top business leaders and investors from the region and around the world, including Luis Lora (Allen & Company) and John Farrell (Acelera Capital) among others, served as panellists at the event. Panellists were drawn from Endeavor’s extensive network of board members, mentors, supporters, and experienced Endeavor Entrepreneurs.

At the ISP, which was attended by over 100 entrepreneurs, network members, and partners, panellists interview entrepreneur candidates about their businesses, evaluating them on their potential for high-impact growth and deliberating on which candidates should be selected to become Endeavor Entrepreneurs.

Closer to home

Endeavor South Africa accompanied two innovative companies led by four high-impact entrepreneurs to ISP hosted by Endeavor Argentina. This was a special ISP for one group - Saryx Engineering Group (SEG), as they were the winners of the 2018 FNB Business Innovation Awards held in June this year.

Saryx Engineering Group (SEG) was co-founded by Ingrid Osborne and Julie Mathieson. Many companies in the mining, utilities, and manufacturing sectors require highly specialised engineering talent for complex projects but lack the necessary expertise in-house. SEG provides a wide range of turnkey engineering services to help businesses achieve their technical goals.

Ingrid Osborne, co-founder of Saryx Engineering Group

The aforementioned industries also place employees in high-risk environments with strict health and safety protocols. If compliance documents are found out-of-date during audits or accidents, the consequences are costly. As such, SEG also developed its own cloud-based platform, HSEC Online, which manages risk compliance documents online, in real-time, and saves clients an estimated $324m in violation costs each year.

Pargo, led by co-founders and FNB Business Innovation Awards finalists, Lars Veul and Derek Hoekert, is a smart logistics company that aims to be a key enabler for e-commerce growth in Africa by solving the challenges of last-mile delivery.

Lars Veul and Derk Hoekert, co-founders of Pargo

Pargo allow consumers, companies and couriers to send and receive parcels at 2,000 pick-up points, conveniently dispersed in rural and urban areas across South Africa, and has recently expanded to Namibia, Botswana, Lesotho, and Swaziland.

Identifying innovative and driven entrepreneurs

“We founded Endeavor with the vision that anyone, from anywhere, can launch an idea; access the networks, talent and capital to take it to scale; achieve success; and emerge as a big bubble in their ecosystem, paying it forward to multiply economic and cultural impact,” said Linda Rottenberg, Endeavor CEO.

“From the veteran network members and experienced Endeavor Entrepreneurs who served as panellists to identify new talent, to the high-impact entrepreneurs hailing from some of our newest locations such as Atlanta and Kenya, the Buenos Aires ISP was truly a testament to just that.”

The ISP is the culmination of a rigorous multi-step selection process to identify innovative and driven entrepreneurs who are committed to advancing an ecosystem of entrepreneurship.

Once selected, Endeavor Entrepreneurs gain access to comprehensive customised services, including introductions to local and international business mentors and volunteers from Fortune 500 consulting firms who will help them address key needs.

Endeavor will host the remaining ISPs in 2018 in Athens (22-24 October 2018) and Stellenbosch, Cape Town (11-13 December 2018).

For more, go to www.endeavor.org/events