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Top social entrepreneurs one step closer to $1m

Cape Town – Five South African finalists have been announced in the Win The Right Way competition, which provides aspiring social entrepreneurs with a share of $1m in financial assistance, international exposure for their company or idea, and mentorship from world-renowned business moguls.

This year’s lucky finalists are Rethaka Trading, Subz Punts and Pads, Inspiracion, Carbon Disclosure South Africa and Lumkani Fire Detection.

Mandla Holomisa, brand manager at Chivas Regal, which sponsors the competition, said: “The idea of social entrepreneurship is using business as a force for good, which is one that appeals to Chivas Regal in a meaningful, powerful way.”

One of the finalists will be crowned as the South African winner at an exclusive gala event on February 27 in Cape Town at Design Indaba.

They will join 20 other promisingly talented social entrepreneurs’ from around the world in Silicon Valley, California for a mentorship programme. The mentorship programme will include mentoring sessions by various business moguls, with visits to leading tech companies, and pitching for ultimate prize to take their business to the next level – a portion of $1m in funding.

The judging panel will consist of the following business personalities: MD of Design Indaba Ravi Naidoo; innovator and breakthrough entrepreneur Lebo Gunguluza; executive creative director at Joe Public Xolisa Dyeshana; CEO and president of Ditshego Media Tebogo Ditshego; and director of the Centre for Entrepreneurship at Wits Business School Chimene Chetty.

Watch:


Rethaka Trading:

Rethaka Trading is a for-profit social enterprise that specialises in green innovative solutions for social development. They redefine societal problems into solutions and the first product to do this is their social innovation, the repurpose schoolbag. Designed to do more with less, the repurpose schoolbag is a solar powered backpack made from 100% upcycled plastic shopping bags, giving low-income communities a chance to capture value from plastic waste.

Subz Punts and Pads: 

There are 7 000 000 girls in South Africa between 10 and 19 that miss three months of school education per year, as they cannot afford sanitary pads or do not access to them. Sue Barnes designed, developed and patented a sustainable washable sanitary pad that will last these young ladies for five years to keep them in school. With SABS absorbency approval, she distributes the pads to the girls free with a full educational on female reproductive organs as many are not educated in this sphere.

Inspiracion:

Inspiracion is a company that provides consulting services to agencies that fund small businesses and entrepreneurs. Over the last 12 months they have collaborated with their incubator clients to develop an entrepreneur diagnostic tool and a training curriculum that addresses the gaps identified by the tool. This diagnostic tool and corresponding training is a standalone service that will be used to train and provide business opportunities for 240 emerging entrepreneurs.  

Carbon Disclosure South Africa:

As a company, CDSA focuses on profit-driven projects that offer substantial environmental and social benefits while being profitable. This is also the background of the founder. The idea for this entry is a micro combustion engine that is driven by existing fuels used by low income groups, like candles, to provide very small scale electricity supply for a cellphone charger and lighting. The equipment can be modularly expanded to generate and provide more electricity to more household appliances.

Lumkani Fire Detection:

Lumkani offers a fire detector and alert service using radio frequency transmission designed for informal dwellings. The device is a heat detector, measuring the rate-of-rise of temperature in the home. In the event of fire the device will ring in the home giving the family an opportunity to be proactive before the fire is unmanageable. After 20 seconds the device transmits a signal triggering neighbouring homes’ heat detectors up to a 60-metre radius, creating a community-wide response to the fire.

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