FNB Business Innovations Awards 2019 winners revealed

Umgibe Farming Organics and Training Institute clinched top honours in the R0 to R5 million category while Marc1 Dot Com Pty LTD dominated the R5 million + turnover category, and Aerobotics was the overall winner in the R10 million + category.

These three businesses were recognised for demonstrating real innovation to drive business growth with the potential to change the way their respective industries operate.

Mike Vacy-Lyle, FNB Business CEO congratulated all the finalists for demonstrating great potential and the capacity to add substantial socio-economic impact to the South African economy.

"We recognise their hard work and are aware of the sacrifices they make daily - and urge them to continue pushing boundaries. Our best chance at solving unemployment and boosting economic growth in our beautiful country rests on the success of such businesses."

Each business will get business development support to the value of R1 million, to help them take their business to the next level.

About the winners

Umgibe Farming Organics, founded by Nonhlanhla Joye, promotes the idea of a sustainable local food system through the cost-effective and environmentally friendly Umgibe growing system.

L to R: Nonhlanhla Joye of Umgibe Farming Organics and Training Institute and Mike Vacy-Lyle, FNB Business CEO

The business will receive marketing and branding to the value of R150;,00, 24 months mentorship from FNB Business, eB1,000,000 (eBucks) to be used towards the betterment of the business and a business cellphone package through FNB Connect for 24 months.

Marc1 Dot Com Pty LTD, founded by Muhammad Simjee, is reportedly the world's first IoT Point of Sale (POS) system, which incorporates an IoT device into the POS system and boosts retailer sales in real-time at the point of purchase.

L to R: Muhammad Simjee of Marc1 Dot Com and Mike Vacy-Lyle, FNB Business CEO

Simjee will get an opportunity to participate in the 10X Accelerator programme. The programme is for businesses that are scaling for the first time. It is designed to accelerate the transition from a frenetic hustle to a scaled, but still growing business that isn’t totally dependent on its founders.

Aerobotics, founded by Benjamin Meltzer, an early pest and disease detection service enabled by drone imagery and artificial intelligence, will participate at the coveted two-day Endeavor International Selection Panel (ISP) in Argentina next year.

L to R: Benjamin Meltzer, founder of Aerobotics and Mike Vacy-Lyle, FNB Business CEO

ISP brings together high-impact entrepreneurs to present their business to world-leading business personalities for a chance to be part of an exclusive global network.

Factors such as brand and reputation; stakeholder relations and goodwill; environmental sustainability; social responsibility and quality of governance were all taken into consideration during the process of selecting the winners.

The FNB Business Innovation Awards aim to recognise and celebrate the efforts of high-impact SA entrepreneurs, who have embraced many challenges to create industry-disrupting and scaleable companies that continue to forge unique ways of doing business.