Rinchi
TechInAfrica – The 2019 South Africa’s Entrepreneur of the Year competition sponsored by Sanlam and Business/Partners has announced four winners for each category of the award alongside the overall winner. The five selected entrepreneurs are selected after beating the other 10 entrepreneurs.
The overall winner of the Entrepreneur of the Year goes to Andrew Weinberg, Managing Director of Retail Engage. According to the spokesperson for the competition, Gugu Mjadu, the decision to choose Weinberg was not easy but all the judges chose him eventually for his entrepreneurial spirit and his business’ scalability.
“Given the exceptionally high caliber of this year’s finalists, choosing one overall winner required lengthy deliberation among our esteemed judging panel. However, there was no denying that Weinberg’s customer engagement and incentives solutions business, Retail Engage, was a notch above the rest because of its innovative approach to providing retailers with insight into purchasing behavior,” said Mjadu.
On the other hand, the four winners of the Entrepreneur of the Year from each category are:
- 2019 Emerging Entrepreneur of the Year – Theo Baloyi, Founder and Owner of Bathu Swag
- 2019 Small Business Entrepreneur of the Year – Carmen Stevens, Founder and Owner of Carmen Stevens Wines
- 2019 Medium Business Entrepreneur of the Year – Uzair Essack, Founder and Owner pf Cape Crops
- 2019 Innovator of the Year – Wynand Geldenhuys, Founder and Owner of Vectra
The four winners each received ZAR70,000 while the overall winner received ZAR200,000 to expand and grow their businesses. Moreover, the winner will also get access to technical assistance and mentorship, networking opportunities and associated marketing, as well as national media exposure to boost their business success.
“Based on feedback from our past winners, this support and exposure have often proven to be just as valuable as any capital injection,” Mjadu added.
Source: biznisafrica.com
