Young entrepreneurs shine during pitch challenge

Johannesburg - The winners of The Lean Jump business startup pitch, for young entrepreneurs based in Gauteng, have been announced.

The South African Breweries (SAB) invited young South African entrepreneurs based in Johannesburg to each pitch their business startup idea within 67 seconds during Nelson Mandela Day on July 18.

The Lean Jump is aimed at expanding SAB KickStart's efforts to instill a culture of entrepreneurship among young South Africans and offer leading startup development support to promising small business.

The aim is to invest in the creation of a quality pipeline of entrepreneurs in core industries and sectors.

Octavius Phukubye, SAB enterprise development specialist, said the top eight were selected on the "strength of their proof-of-concept and understanding of their market and product offering.

Also, each of their business ideas has been through basic market testing, which includes a basic technical feasibility or customer testing. The ideas are unique and differentiated.

"The pitching process was an enriching experience. I'm looking forward to the business support and mentorship from experienced individuals and also being shown how to run and grow my business," said top eight winner Sbu Ngwenya of Skinny Sbu Socks.

The Lean Jump is a pilot project is the brainchild of SAB KickStart (SAB's youth entrepreneurship programme), The Hookup Dinner (an entrepreneurship networking platform) and Edge Growth (specialists in enterprise and supplier development).

The top eight successful pitches will, upon completion of the virtual mentorship and business development support after six months, gain access to a total of R300 000 seed capital to help grow their business, as well as automatic entry into SAB KickStart 2015 applications.

The winning entrepreneurs are:

- Emmanuel Luthuli of LanteOTC, an online platform for share trading of small businesses;

- Sbu Ngwenya of Skinny Sbu Socks, a retailer of lifestyle socks brand;

- Mogau Seshoene of The Lazy Makoti, bespoke cooking skills training;

- Paul Simon of S-Cubed, makers of an LED projector that offers light and replaces the use of alarms;

- Seitisho Mosedi of Rostro Trade and Investments, makers of mobile applications for BEE verification;

- Goodman Makhubo of Goodman Recycling, recyclers of electronic goods like old computers;

- Khanyisile Phetoane of Dope Christian Couture, makers and sellers of Christian based brand collateral;

- Bukhosi Sibanda of Khulula Energy, providers of intelligence energy (electricity) consulting and advice.