THE MTN ENACTUS IMPACT@WORK PITCHING COMPETITION SPONSORED BY MTN SHOWCASED 15 TVET COLLEGE BUSINESSES FROM 124 STUDENTS TRAINED THIS YEAR
With two days of passion and entrepreneurial action, the 2021 MTN Enactus Impact@Work Big Pitch Competition took place from 9th to 10th December, where renowned entrepreneurs and business adjudicators witnessed 15 TVET College teams showcasing how they took action to effect positive change and develop their business acumen to start up their own businesses whilst addressing social needs and services to their communities.
Enactus South Africa, a non-profit organization partnered with MTN in 2014 and implemented the MTN Enactus Impact@Work Programme for TVET Colleges in March 2020 with 5 TVET colleges included in the inaugural and pilot phase of the program.
The MTN SA Foundation aims to capacitate and support TVET graduates to start up their own businesses through the MTN Enactus Impact@Work Programme. TVET students were trained to ideate enterprises that are economically, socially and environmentally sustainable. Graduates (Alumni) and level 4 students from 4 colleges were selected based on SEDA’s diagnostic Business Ideas Tool (BAIT). This tool tested their ability to be entrepreneurs whereafter they were enabled through the STEP curriculum that Enactus adopted in 2019, Asset Based Community Development (ABCD) and the Design Thinking Methodologies to ideate and conceptualize SMMEs during the past year.
With this Program, Enactus and MTN also created job opportunities for Enactus graduates that were trained and employed by Enactus to drive the program. This year the Program has grown from strength to strength with 125 students at 4 TVET Colleges selected at the participating colleges to be trained to develop economic and self-sustainable social enterprises or project business concepts. Some already at the implementation phase thereof. From the 25 teams, 15 teams competed in the opening round of the 2021 MTN Enactus Impact@Work Big Pitch Competition. They were from the following TVET Colleges that were enrolled for the Entrepreneurship Development Program this year:
- Sekhukhune TVET College, CS Barlow Campus
- False Bay TVET College, Westlake Campus
- Waterberg TVET College, Thabazimbi Campus
- Gold Fields TVET College, Tosa Campus
The Big Pitch Opening Round of Competition took place on 9th December through 5 Leagues. From the Opening Round the Top 10 teams were selected which will now all be enrolled into a six (6)-months Business Incubation Program with Enactus South Africa. The Top 5 teams that advanced as Finalists were: from Waterberg (Group 4) with their Poultry Farming enterprise; Goldfields (Group 7) with their Bio-gas (methane gas) enterprise; False Bay (Group 7) with their Green Life enterprise – which supports backyard farming; Waterberg (Group 1) with their EduCenter which is a Day and After Care Centre for Primary and High School Learners; and Waterberg (Group 5) with their traditional food business “Lekker Kos”.
The ambition is to cultivate a generation of job-creators with a high level of commitment to self-sustainability and integrity to address local needs and serve their respective communities. Utilizing a grassroots approach to recruit and mobilize potential students, this Program assists them to identify social issues and initiated income generating business opportunities.
This 2021 MTN Enactus Impact@Work Big Pitch Competition was held via Microsoft Teams for the Opening Round and through Zoom for the Final Round. Each participating business submitted a pre-recorded video/multimedia presentation of their business and a business plan for adjudication purposes.
“Initiatives such as the MTN Enactus Impact@Work Programme. serve as an invaluable incubation hub where innovative and scalable solutions that address some of the socio-economic challenges are created, particularly now during covid-19. At MTN, we are proud to partner with Enactus and provide young people with the platform to showcase their creative talent and to leverage the power of technology to develop home-grown solutions. We believe that by supporting initiatives such as MTN Enactus Impact@Work Programme., we are contributing positively to the growth and development of the industry, and we are positioning our youth to play a meaningful role in the Fourth Industrial Revolution,” says Kusile Mtunzi-Hairwadzi, General Manager of the MTN SA Foundation.
The Top 5 businesses that received cash rewards are as follows:
The 2021 MTN Enactus Impact@Work first place winner that received R15 000, was the team from False Bay TVET College (Green Life). In second place was the team from Waterberg TVET College (Group 4) with their Poultry Farming Enterprise that will be receiving R10 000 and the team that took third place was Gold Fields TVET College (Group 7) (Bio-gas) taking the third place and receiving R5 000. In fourth place was Waterberg TVET College (Lekker Kos Traditional Food) that reaped R3 000. In the 5th Place was Watergroup TVET College (Group 5) with their EduCare Centre that won R1 500. The Top 10 teams will be supported through Enactus’ business incubation program for a further 6 months in 2022 coupled with data support from MTN.
All other competition participants (10) in the opening round will each receive R 500 as seed funding for their registered companies, as well as financial and administrative support with their CIPC registration.
The Chief Executive Officer and Country Director for Enactus South Africa NPC, Letitia de Wet congratulated all the participants saying, that hard work and consistency is a key driver to the success these student entrepreneurs will achieve. She also noted that there is no better source of hope and motivation amid these uncertain times than those who took up the opportunity that were afforded to them through this Program. She added that “…there are tremendous opportunities ahead… and “we’re seeing them coming to life already as we saw successful ventures taking off.” Enactus is determined to tackle unemployment in the country and deliver and develop more entrepreneurs and small business enterprises to the economy. Enactus believe that, as in business, competition brings out the best in our students, while effecting positive change in their own lives and that of disadvantaged communities.
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Note: Through social media, Enactus South Africa reach more of our followers. Kindly use the following hashtags re any Enactus Activity for this Program:
#ImpactAtWork, #PassionOnPurpose and #StartSomethingAmazing
