Opportunity for young aspiring entrepreneurs to turn their ideas into a viable business with national free business training workshops.
05 July 2019: During his first State of the Nation Address, President Cyril Ramaphosa emphasised that the growth of the economy will be sustained by small businesses, as in the case of many countries. When viewed in light of South Africa’s economy contracting by 3.2 percent in the first three months of 2019 – the largest quarterly drop in a decade – David Morobe, Executive General Manager at Business Partners Limited (BUSINESS/PARTNERS), says that this is a situation that can only be remedied by the financing and robust development of young entrepreneurs.
“When you consider that the economic output of small and medium enterprises in South Africa is estimated at 52% of GDP, entrepreneurial development is key to furthering economic growth and development. Small and medium owner-managed businesses are the driving force of South Africa’s economy and nurturing entrepreneurial talent will help emerging businesses succeed faster,” he says.
With this in mind, the 10th annual SME Toolkit BUSINESS/PARTNERS Business Plan Competition for Aspiring Young Entrepreneurs aims to assist young and ambitious individuals (aged 18 – 35 years old) who want to start their own businesses.
“The annual competition, which launched on 16 June 2019, consists of three phases, starting with a full-day workshop where entrants will be taught the intricacies of developing a comprehensive business plan,” explains Petro Bothma, the Group Enterprise Development Manager at BUSINESS/PARTNERS. “The workshops, which will be hosted in different regions across South Africa, will cover all the essential elements of starting a business, including business management, marketing, financial management and legal requirements.”
Morobe says that it is very important that these hopeful entrepreneurs are able to lay a strong foundation from the start when considering owning and running their own business. “This is one of the reasons why we run the SME Toolkit Business Plan Competition for Young Aspiring Entrepreneurs each year. The ability to develop a comprehensive business plan is the best way to improve an entrepreneur’s chances of success outside of the competition.”
Following the regional workshops, the participants will draft their own business plan and enter it as part of the second phase of the competition. From these plans, regional winners will be chosen who will receive a mentorship support voucher to the value of R10 000 each at regional award ceremonies and go through as finalists to the third phase of the competition.
Drawing from the skills and expertise of an experienced mentor is a great way to grow a start-up business, says Morobe. “A mentor can play any number of roles – sometimes that of strategic adviser, technical expert or business consultant, and sometimes all of them at once.”
The competition will culminate in an awards ceremony that will take place in Johannesburg on Tuesday 26 November, where a national winner will be announced and awarded a further R20 000 mentorship voucher, R 30 000 cash and a goodie bag comprising of various sponsored prizes.
“It is crucial to equip aspiring entrepreneurs with skills, technical abilities, training, knowledge and guidance, as this upskilling contributes to enhanced prosperity of our country,” concludes Morobe.
To enter the SME Toolkit BUSINESS/PARTNERS Business Plan Competition for Aspiring Young Entrepreneurs, please visit http://smetoolkit.businesspartners.co.za/. The competition launched on 16 June 2019 and the closing date to enter is 17:00 on Wednesday, 31 July 2019.
The workshops will take place between 12 and 23 August 2019 in Johannesburg, Pretoria, Durban and Cape Town as well as Polokwane, Nelspruit, Bloemfontein, Kimberley, Port Elizabeth and East London if more than 10 entries are received.
The regional award events will take place between 21 and 31 October and the National award ceremony is on 26 November 2019 in Johannesburg.
About SME Toolkit:
The SME Toolkit, under whose banner the competition is held, is an online portal offering financial tools, online training and information resources developed by leading experts for aspiring and existing small businesses. It is an initiative of Business Partners Limited (BUSINESS/PARTNERS) and is available free of charge to all entrepreneurs in South Africa.
BUSINESS/PARTNERS is a specialist risk finance company for formal small and medium owner-managed businesses in South Africa, and selected African countries. The company actively supports entrepreneurial growth by providing financing from R500, 000 to R50 million, specialist sectoral knowledge, business premises and added-value services for viable small and medium businesses. Since establishment in 1981, BUSINESS/PARTNERS has provided business finance worth over R19.5 billion in over 71 600 transactions facilitating over 648 200 jobs. Visit www.businesspartners.co.za for more information.
