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Business Partners Limited announces winners for the Business Plan Competition

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The competition, which is run by business financier Business Partners Limited, is now in its 12th consecutive year and is dedicated to providing aspiring entrepreneurs with the tools they need to get their business off the ground.

All entrants have the opportunity to learn how to start a business through free training, access to mentorship and the opportunity to win a cash prize to help fund their business. The competition called for aspiring entrepreneurs of all ages to enter, saw entrants of a very high calibre with impressive ideas across the board.

All the competition’s winners

After a grueling judging process, Zama Ngwenya, the owner of a newly established seasoning and spice business, has won the 2021 SME Toolkit Business Partners Limited Business Plan Competition for Aspiring Entrepreneurs, beating out 510 entrants.

Ngwenya, who previously owned a shuttle tour business, started Zama’s Choice Spices & Herbs after the advent Covid-19 and its subsequent lockdowns that forced her to close her tourism business down.

However, after taking the top spot in the competition, she’s been given a second chance at entrepreneurship with a R30,000 mentorship voucher and R30,000 in seed capital. Through her online spices and herbs wholesale business, Ngwenya now sells her products nationally and has plans to approach local retailers to stock her spices.

#YouthStartCT Entrepreneurial Challenge 2022 entries now open

28 Feb 2022

Bankies Matlou, owner of Bontle Sanitary Towels, a start-up business dedicated to providing natural and long-lasting sanitary wear solutions to lower income and developing communities, scooped the second runner up title. Matlou and his team are passionate about empowering women and young girls, ensuring they will never be limited by their monthly menstrual cycle.

Other notable entrants included Jamie Wilks of Wilks Vision, Tshepang Electrician’s Tshidiso Travolta Lebaka, Mohlolo Katsana of Independent ICT Consultant and Arnold Visagie of AEJ Logistics.

David Morobe, the executive general manager for impact investing at Business Partners Limited commented: “Each year, I am more and more impressed by the quality of entrepreneurs in our country, and the resilience demonstrated by these dynamic businesspeople is both encouraging and inspiring.

“Through our competition, we at Business Partners Limited, are playing our role in the collective responsibility that the public and private sectors must play in creating an economic and social environment that is conducive to the development of entrepreneurs and their ventures – and we urge other businesses to do the same.”

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Competition

Adapted from content excerpted from the  American Express® OPEN Small Business Network

The competition section indicates where your products or services fit in the competitive environment. Presenting your business in the landscape of its competitors proves that you understand your industry and may be prepared to cope with some of the barriers to your company’s success.

Present a short discussion of each of your primary competitors. If possible, include their annual sales and their market share. Each assessment should include why these companies do or do not meet their customers’ needs. You should then explain why you think you can capture a share of their business.

Strengths and weaknesses can fall into a number of different categories. Sales, quality, distribution, price, production capabilities, image, and breadth of products/services are all ways companies differentiate themselves. Ask yourself: Who is the price leader? Who is the quality leader? Who has the largest market share? Why have certain companies recently entered or withdrawn from the market? These factors are critical to a successful competitive analysis.

• Never say “we have no competition.” Lenders won’t believe you. Even if your product or service is truly innovative, you need to look at what else your customers could buy instead. Remember, the first personal computer competed with calculators and typewriters; the first calculator competed with slide rules.
• Your competitors won’t always be immediately evident, since they don’t necessarily provide the exact same product or service as you do. If you sell gourmet salsas, you will be competing with other salsa makers, and you also might compete with makers of gourmet ketchup, mustards, and other condiments. List these as “indirect competitors.”
• Many business plans fail to give a realistic view of their true competitive universe by defining the competitive field too narrowly. Think as broadly as possible when devising a list of competitors by characterizing competitors as any business customers may patronize for similar products or services. A local florist obviously competes with other flower shops, but must also contend with delivery services such as 800-FLOWERS and supermarkets that carry flowers and plants.
• To determine your competitors’ strengths and weaknesses, evaluate why customers buy from them. Is it price? Value? Service? Convenience? Reputation? Very often, it’s “perceived” strengths rather than “actual” strengths that you will be evaluating.
• A table can be a good way to present your competitive analysis, since it will allow your competition to be evaluated at a glance. Columns should include the name of your competitor, market share or position, annual sales (if available), strengths, weaknesses, and comments.
• < Consider describing who is not your competitor. The person reading your plan may have an inaccurate picture of who your competition is. If this is the case, you will have to dispel those preconceptions by explaining why these businesses are not your competitors. For example, people may think that a company that hires out freelance technical writers competes with temporary personnel agencies or clerical agencies. This company might want to stress that it is not a clerical agency, but rather a writing consultant.

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Get Your Business Off The Ground – Enter the 2019 SME Toolkit Business Plan Competition!

Calling all aspiring, young entrepreneurs! Do you want to open your own business, but don’t know where to start? Are you struggling to get your business off the ground? Do you need guidance with developing your business plan? If so, the 2019 Business Partners Limited / SME Toolkit SA Business Plan Competition for Aspiring Young Entrepreneurs is aimed directly at you.

The 2019 Business Partners Limited / SME Toolkit SA Business Plan Competition for Aspiring Young Entrepreneurs has successfully acted as an invaluable opportunity and springboard for entrepreneurs for the past eight years, and this year is no different. It is an opportunity for you, a young, aspiring 18 – 35-year-old, to realize your entrepreneurial dreams by taking part in the competition and standing a chance to win cash prizes and mentorship vouchers from leading business experts. The Competition is divided into three phases:

• Phase 1: Enter to attend a business development workshop in an area near you. The workshops cover the essential elements of starting a business: creating a business plan, financial management, marketing, networking, customer retention, legal requirements, etc.
• Phase 2: Submit a business plan by 25 September 2019 to qualify for the regional judging. Eight regional winners will be selected and awarded R6 000 in mentorship vouchers which will help you develop your business plan and get your business off the ground.
• Phase 3: Regional winners will compete as finalists in the national competition to be held in Johannesburg during Global Entrepreneurship Week in November. The national winner is awarded R25 000 in cash, a mentorship voucher worth R12 000, and an iPad or similar tablet.

For more information and to enter the SME Toolkit BUSINESS/PARTNERS Business Plan Competition for Aspiring Young Entrepreneurs , please visit http://smetoolkit.businesspartners.co.za/ . The competition launched on Saturday 16 June 2019 and the closing date for Phase 1 of the competition is 23:00 on Tuesday, 31 July 2019 .

About SME Toolkit SA:

SME Toolkit South Africa provides how-to articles, business forms, financial tools, online training, and additional information resources developed by leading experts. It covers all aspects of business set-up and management, from business planning to accounting, financial management, human resources, import/export, legal and insurance matters, marketing, sales, operations, and information technology.

The site also offers a range of self-assessment exercises and tools aimed at enabling entrepreneurs to take control of problem-solving in their companies and proactively implement strategies to avoid potential problems.

The SME Toolkit SA is one way for Business Partners Limited to bring the information needed to run a successful business to the entrepreneur.

About Business Partners Limited (BUSINESS/PARTNERS):

Business Partners Limited (BUSINESS/PARTNERS) is a specialist risk finance company for formal small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in South Africa and selected African countries. The company actively supports entrepreneurial growth by providing financing, specialist sectoral knowledge, and added-value services for viable small and medium businesses. Visit www.businesspartners.co.za for more information.

We are committed to your privacy and will not share information with 3rd parties. Read our full Privacy Policy  here

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SME Toolkit SA Global Entrepreneurship Week’s Business Plan Competition for Aspiring Young Entrepreneurs.

Application Deadline: July 29th 2016

Do you want to open your own business, but don’t know where to start?

Provided by Business Partners Ltd , South Africa’s leading investor in SMEs

Enter the Business Plan Competition and you too can be a winner – calling all aspiring young entrepreneurs aged between 18 and 35

Everybody is a winner – all participants will be invited to attend a full-day workshop to learn how to compile a business plan, and more

The SME Toolkit is proud to launch the 2016 Business Partners Limited / SME Toolkit SA Global Entrepreneurship Week’s Business plan competition for aspiring young entrepreneurs, which is aimed squarely at you or at someone you know.

The Competition is divided into three phases:

First, you enter to win a seat at a “Creating an effective business plan” workshop in an area near you. Workshops will be conducted during 10 to 19 August – exact dates and venues still to be confirmed)

• You then submit a business plan to qualify for the regional judging by 9 September 2016
• Regional winners will be awarded (10 to 14 October 2016) and go on to compete in the national competition, which will take place during Global Entrepreneurship Week on 10 November in Johannesburg

Requirements

To enter the competition, you have to be:

• Between the ages of 18 and 35
• A South African citizen
• Aspiring to start a business, but haven’t started operating yet

What do you have to do to enter?

To enter, download and complete the application form, accept the rules of the competition and remember to put your best foot forward.

What can you win?

Besides the great exposure you get by being a finalist or winner, there are a range of prizes to help you get your business off the ground. This includes Business Partners Limited Mentorship for both the regional and national winners, as well as a R25 000 cash prize for the national winner, and more. All those who submit a business plan will also receive a complimentary 6-week Marketing and Sales e-course offered by SA Business Hub.

We need to receive your entry by no later than 16:00 pm on Friday, the 29th of July 2016 . So don’t delay! Enter now and move one step closer to getting that business off the ground!

Select one of the following ways to submit the entry forms:

E-mail to:       [email protected]

Fax to:          011 713 6650 Attention: Business Plan Competition – SME Toolkit

Deliver to:     Any Business Partners office country-wide. Clearly mark envelope “ SME Toolkit Business Plan competition – attention B Davids (Corporate Services)

Download the entry form in MS-Word, save to your device, complete and send it

For More Information:

Visit the Official Webpage of the 2016 SME Toolkit Business Plan competition

Connecting Africans to the latest life changing Opportunities around the Globe. [email protected] | [email protected]

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[…] SME Toolkit is proud to launch the 2017 Business Partners Limited / SME Toolkit SA Global Entrepreneurship Week’s Business plan compe… which is aimed squarely at you or at someone you […]

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A101 New Town Project, Moscow Contest

A101 New Town Project Moscow, Architecture Contest, Building, News, Design

A101 New Town Project – Moscow Masterplan, Russia

Russian Architectural Competition – design by Maxwan

26 Nov 2010

Project A101 Moscow

A101 Out of the Freezer : Largest European New Town Restarts

After having won an international competition, Maxwan in 2007 completed the masterplan for Project A101 in Russia. The A101 new town is located just outside Moscow’s MKAD ring road and is built out on 6,000 hectares of land of the grounds of a former sovchoz. With 320,000 expected inhabitants, A101 is Europe’s single largest urban project in the making.

The project features close to 120,000 new homes in a wide variety of types and sizes. They are planned around 13 mixed-use centres, a large business park (500,000 m2 floor space) and a university. A new light-rail network will connect to Moscow subway lines red and orange. A fine-mazed road network will be put in place. To establish a high level of social infrastructure, the development will include 2 hospitals, 20 health clinics, 60 schools, and 150 kindergartens. Self-sufficiency is the key principle in the vision for A101.

Masshtab, the development company, is currently holding a competition for the detailed design of the first large site (150 hectare, >1 million m2 residential floor space). Four architecture firms have been selected to submit proposals: MVRDV/Next, KCAP, EDDEA and HA&S. The results of the competition will be exhibited in the Museum of Architecture in Central Moscow coming December.

MAXWAN ARCHITECTS + URBANISTS is an international practice dedicated to contemporary architectural and urban design. Working on a broad variety of subjects, Maxwan have designed widely recognized projects such as the “Saw Tooth Tower (Nuilding)” in Rotterdam, the “Office Building F&I” (Maastricht Aachen Airport) and “50 Bridges” for the City of Utrecht.

Maxwan have made a name for themselves internationally with innovative proposals for the new town of Leidsche Rijn (75,000 residents and a hidden highway), the 10,800 houses Master Plan for Barking Riverside, the Master Plan A101 for a new city of 300,000 inhabitants on the fringes of Moscow, the master plan for 2,000 houses in the Dnepr River Delta, Kiev Ukraine and most recently the urban design for the Waalhafen Zone in Rotterdam with in its center “Skill Bill” a new building typology reconnecting the harbour with the city.

We encourage collaboration between clients, colleagues and specialist consultants. In each of our projects, we seek to merge cultural, technical and esthetical influences into an inextricable and beautiful whole.

A101 Urban Block Competition

An open international competition with a total prize fund of 40.000 USD

Masshtab Development Company is announcing a competition for the design of urban blocks for the A101 urban development: a new town of around 150.000 people and 13 million sq m of housing located south of Moscow. The design for this town will be based on the Urban Block concept, developed by curator Bart Goldhoorn. 80% of the blocks in the A101 project will have a standard size. During the development of the area over 500 blocks of these blocks will be built.

At this moment, four well-known architecture firms are working in competition to design a masterplan for the first phase of this development:

MVRDV (NL), KCAP/Next architects (NL), EDDEA (ES) and Hilmer, Sattler, Albrecht (GER)

In the open international Urban Block competition architects are invited to develop a block design that can be used on the plots in the A101 project. A jury will choose winning projects for which a total prize fund of 40.000 USD is available.

All projects that fulfill the minimum requirements of the program will become part of an Urban Block Catalogue and will be considered for realization depending on the location and the stage of development of the project. These projects will be exhibited together with the Masterplan projects in the Museum of Architecture in Central Moscow from December 3 to December 31 2010.

A101 Urban Block Competition – Prize fund 1st prize: 15.000 USD 2nd prize: 10.000 USD 3rd prize: 5.000 USD 5 honorable mentions: 5 x 2000 USD

A101 Urban Block Competition – Timeline 10 Nov Registration deadline Nov 28 Deadline for Digital files Dec 1 Deadline for Model Dec 2/3 Jury Dec 3 Announcement of winners and opening of the exhibition Jan 1 Exhibition closure

A101 Urban Block Competition information from Curator

Location: Moscow , Russia

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