Entrepreneur takes laurels
SIBUYI HAD TO HAVE THE BEST BUSINESS PLAN AND SKILLS POOL
Mpumalanga-based entrepreneur Freddy Sibuyi has been crowned the national winner in the 2017 Business/ Partners / SME Toolkit Global Entrepreneurship Week’s Business Plan Competition for aspiring young entrepreneurs – a competition that saw hundreds of young aspiring entrepreneurs attend business planning workshops aimed at equipping them with the necessary skills and tools to turn their business idea into a reality.
This year the competition – aimed at individuals between the ages of 18 and 35 – received 700 entries. Over the course of five months, 18 regional workshops focused on teaching the complexities of compiling a business plan.
This included the basics of how to run a business efficiently. The workshops were held across the country.
Following each workshop, individuals were encouraged to submit their business plans for judging, and from the 120 business plans received, eight regional winners were selected to be finalists for the national awards and overall winner title.
The 2017 winner, Freddy Sibuyi, is the brain behind Freddy and Sons Maintenance Engineering (Pty) Ltd, which is based and managed from Lephong, Thulamahashe, Mpumalanga.
The business will service the local municipality and the Department of Public Works, private businesses and residential clients and aims to cater for all their electrical needs.
This includes electrical and mechanical engineering consultation, commercial and industrial contracting, project management, and air-conditioning.
Speaking at the awards ceremony held in Johannesburg, Petro Bothma, enterprise development manager at Business Partners, said the quality of this year’s finalists made it difficult for an overall winner to be selected, but the passion and enthusiasm that Sibuyi exuded, coupled with a business plan that ticked all the right boxes, gave him the edge.
“The information presented in his business plan was well thought through, presentable and made financial sense. But most importantly, it was reliable, implementable and his business has the potential to be viable,” said Bothma.
When selecting the national winner, the judges consider the quality of the business plan, the level of innovation, viability of the business concept, entrepreneurial ability and whether the aspiring entrepreneur was equipped to become a business owner in terms of leadership skills and the provision of mentorship.
Bothma added that over and above these considerations, the judges look for the undefinable ‘wow’ factor – and Sibuyi had it.
The title provides Sibuyi with R25 000 in seed capital for his business, a mentorship voucher, a smart tablet and goodie bag.
General Electric, a digital industrial company that operates in power, transportation, healthcare, energy connections and aviation, will also sponsor a 12-month incubation and training programme for Sibuyi in order for him to grow his business and his skills.
This is in addition to the eLearning course that SA Business Hub provided for the aspiring entrepreneurs who had submitted their business plans.
For the individuals attending the KwaZulu-Natal regional workshop, BizFarm provided online courses and short-term incubation programmes.
Now in its 8th year, Bothma says that the competition is not only increasingly gaining attraction among young entrepreneurs, but the quality of business plans submitted year-on-year is improving.
He added that the diversity of the business plans across various industries are also improving.
“We have also noticed a trend where these aspiring entrepreneurs come back to attend workshops even if they have entered in previous years – showing the grit and tenacity to succeed.
“In a country where youth unemployment is reported at over 65%, this is the most encouraging trend,” Bothma said, enthusing about the future.