Stepping onto global business platform
EL entrepreneur’s dream comes true
EAST London businesswoman Wendy Silinyana’s dream of attending the Global Entrepreneurship Congress (GEC) came true this week when she left for Johannesburg to be a part of the world’s biggest platform for entrepreneurs.
The GEC, being hosted in South Africa for the first time, was launched in 2009 in Kansas City in the US and has grown from just 200 delegates to thousands from more than 160 countries.
Hosted by the Global Entrepreneurship Network, Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation and a local organisation from the host country, the GEC explores the latest programmes, policies and efforts to help entrepreneurs start and scale.
Silinyana is the founder of Virtue Business Solutions and The Entrepreneurs Core which she uses to promote and accelerate sustainable entrepreneurship as inspired by Global Entrepreneurship Network which GEC is part of.
Speaking to the Daily Dispatch before leaving for Johannesburg yesterday, Silinyana said her drive and passion for empowering other entrepreneurs has finally paid off as she gets to represent the Eastern Cape at the GEC this week.
She said it had been her wish to attend the GEC back in 2015 when it was hosted in Milan but couldn’t go due to financial constraints.
“I am thankful to Zoliswa Mnqokoyi, an Eastern Cape Development Corporation (ECDC) business adviser who presented me with this opportunity. I believe the key is to start – no matter how small the start is and continue – no matter how discouraged you are, continue . . . have your eyes fixed on the prize,” she said.
Every year, the GEC brings together thousands of entrepreneurs, investors, researchers, policymakers and other startup champions.
At the week-long GEC, delegates make connections, gain insights, learn about new research, and leave ready to renew their programmes, policy ideas or firm founder skills.
That is exactly what Silinyana has done with her StartUp WakeUp sessions she has been hosting since 2015.
She said the primary objective of StartUp WakeUp is to empower and take a microscopic look at the reasons why most startup businesses fail in the first five years of their existence.
“We look at a lot of things and entrepreneurs are encouraged to reflect on their own businesses to rather learn and avoid the obvious pitfalls that lead to business failure,” she said.
Silinyana said the sessions would not be possible without the Second Office in Vincent, East London.
“I am also grateful to the Small Enterprise Development Agency for supporting the first StartUp WakeUp session and to ECDC’s Mary-Ann Ndika who does her work with so much passion and sees to it that Eastern Cape entrepreneurs get national and global exposure,” she said.
Silinyana said she was looking forward to attending GEC and establishing new networks.
“When I return, I look forward to hosting the first StartUp WakeUp seminar with a focus on women economic empowerment.” —