The Entrepreneur of the Year competition sponsored by Sanlam and BUSINESS/PARTNERS has announced the shortlist of 15 entrants who have made it through to the final round of this year’s competition.
According to Gugu Mjadu, spokesperson for the 2018 edition of the competition, the 189 entries received this year really upped the game in terms of entrepreneurial talent.
A wide variety of industries are represented, from mining and engineering to recycling and advertising,
The majority of finalists originate from Gauteng (47%) and the Western Cape (33%), with KwaZulu-Natal (13%) and North West (7%) also represented.
“The SME sector continues to play a vital role in the South African economy, so these trail-blazing self-starters need to be celebrated for what they are – job creators and economic change-makers,” says Mjadu.
The 2018 finalists stand the chance to win prizes worth R2m, including cash prizes of R70 000 per category and R200 000 for the overall winner.
“Beyond monetary prices, previous finalists have benefitted greatly from the various networking opportunities and associated media exposure that the competition offers. Past winners have also gone on to win international awards and form valuable partnerships as a result of their success in the competition,” says Mjadu.
Competition winners will be announced on 5 September.
The 2018 finalists (in alphabetical order) are:
- Andrew and Glenn Eriksen of Cango Wildlife Ranch;
- Beverley Gumbi of Isivuno Containers Business;
- Chike and Damaris Igwegbe of Green City Solutions, trading as Mustbuy;
- Christine Geldart of Marven Studios;
- Esi-Gifty Agbohla of Eli-Bionatural International;
- James Barrington-Brown of NewSpace Systems;
- Kerry and Craig Motherwell of Foxolution;
- Leboneng Mathebula of Gridbow Engineers;
- Louw Barnardt of Outsourced CFO;
- Muhammed Simjee and Sofiah Docrat of A2D24 Dot Com;
- Pepe Marais and Gareth Leck of Joe Public;
- Phillipa Geard of Recruit My Mom;
- Pravashen Naidoo of e-Waste Africa;
- Terence Naidu of EnvisionIt Stock Lending Solutions;
- Tshegofatso Samuel and Motlapele Molefi of Modi Mining.
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