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Cape Town - The fourth International Trade Programme (ITP) to the United Kingdom has seen the return of 13 local entrepreneurs, most with new business and all with new ideas and contacts.
The ITP - made possible by enterprise and supplier development company Medo - connects large companies with emerging and smaller enterprises to encourage trade between the UK and South Africa.
Judi Sandrock, co-founder and joint CEO of Medo, said the programme was initiated following the visit of Prime Minster David Cameron to South Africa in 2010 and the announcement that the two countries were aiming to double trade between the two by 2015.
“We realised that while the larger companies collaborate and import and export between the two countries, our entrepreneurs and smaller businesses do not, and that we needed to change this, so in 2012 we introduced the first Programme,” she said.
Sandrock is happy with this particular intake of entrepreneurs, which saw over 100 applications. Of these, 34 businesses were invited for an interview with 13 finally being selected to go on the tour.
The UK trip comprises of eight-days filled with events organised by Medo and meetings set up by the entrepreneurs themselves.
This trip included meetings with three incubators in London as well as a visit to the Accelerator, a large, well known business incubator based in Shoreditch, London.
This kind of exposure to international incubators allows the entrepreneurs to interact with entrepreneurs from across the globe and to share experiences and even business ideas.
The group attended the Women 2.0 City Meetup Event - where entrepreneurs discuss their businesses and share advice and tips. The trip included a visit to Coventry University and a visit to Disruptive Media as well as a tour of the BBC in London.
Apart from the deals the entrepreneurs are able to secure for their businesses, the trip often leads to them undergoing a mind shift that allows them to broaden their horizons, equipping the entrepreneurs to take their businesses to the next level.
“Too often as South Africans we do not view ourselves as world class. When the entrepreneurs interact with their UK equivalents, they realise that they are good enough - and in many cases better - and therefore they can operate on a global scale. This insight leads to an increase in their confidence and the realisation that they should stop confining themselves and start reaching out for more opportunities,” said Sandrock.
Entrepreneurs'feedback
Dale Simons, owner of MiDO Technologies said ravelling to the UK with Medo has given him a 3D perspective of his business, which is not always possible when you are caught up in the day-to-day running of an organisation.
The trip has confirmed that his business is relevant to the international market.
Helen Banda Bain, owner of Banda Business Services, said her business is female-owned and managed, based in Durban, focusing on quality business services, including the design, hosting and managing of websites.
AC Electromech Maintenance Services provides predictive and preventative machine health monitoring technology to the mining and agricultural sectors.
Co-owner, Josias Motsoeneng enjoyed a particularly successful trip, signing amongst others, a non-disclosure agreement with Tandem Asset Finance.
Motsoeneng also met with Energy Loss Surveys and Oil Analysis. Both of these companies’ products will add value to their business. He is also in the process of drafting a service level agreement with Monition Limited following fruitful discussions in the UK.
Umoyair co-owner Khaya Cokoto is also pleased with the results of the trip and had a productive meeting with Orange Mobile which has led to a follow-up meeting with the head of Orange Africa on our return to South Africa.
Sibongiseni Tunzelana, co-owner of FlavaLite Innovations found the trip fast paced, but a great opportunity.
The business, which pioneers innovative products for IT service delivery and has already developed convenient and secure e-ticketing services, aims to return to the UK soon in order to follow up on further appointments.
For Innocentia Masimene, the owner of Blue Lenz Pictures, a motion picture company, her business has returned home evolved.
She made contact with four businesses, forming relationships with all of them, from providing content, to assisting her with her own programme, to the donation of equipment.
Following a four hour long meeting with an Irish-based software development company, James Coetzee, co-owner of Quick Connect Wireless, said they will be using the Irish company’s systems in South Africa, while the Irish company will be assisting them to market their Bluetooth technology in the UK.
PCD Assessments met with three suppliers who specialise in the development of psychometric tools. Co-owner Yolandi Van Niekerk, said they are in talks with one of the companies regarding the opportunity to introduce a special product to the local market.
“The other companies we met with are keen to establish partnerships in order to distribute their products here,” she said.
- Fin24
