Business competition winners announced

The Eskom Development Foundation has announced the winners of the 2017 Business Investment Competition (BIC) at an awards evening held in Fourways.

The overall national winner was Reba Chemicals Pty Ltd based in Johannesburg, The business, which was created to replace imported chemicals from Europe and the USA, has created 19 permanent jobs over the years while awarding 10 learnerships.

Read: Eskom powers entrepreneurship in high school children

As a manufacturer of industrial chemicals, Reba Chemicals has built a substantial customer base – including the manufacturing of water treatment chemicals for customers like Rand Water, and industrial chemicals for CureChem; while providing water treatment for AquaTrait and automotive chemicals for Hankel.

Selected by a panel of adjudicators including economist Xhanti Payi; marketing guru, Sylvester Chauke; businesswoman Precious Tshabalala; and academic Dr Langelihle Simela, amongst others. Reba Chemicals’ innovation and business acumen ensured they stood out from the 1 202 applications received for this year’s competition.

The annual competition, which started in 2008, is run by the Eskom Development Foundation and recognises and rewards small businesses which are contributing significantly to the fight against unemployment and poverty, and growing the economy.

Prizes worth R1.3 million were at stake, and over 100 registered companies competed as finalists in the competitions in four categories – manufacturing, trade and services, agriculture and agri-processing, and construction and engineering.

As part of the prizes, all BIC finalists exhibited their enterprises at the Small Business Expo from 31 August to 2 September at the Ticketpro Dome in Northriding, alongside the Buy a Business Expo.

Read: Meet Eskom’s Business Investment Competition adjudicators

The expo helps small and medium enterprises to grow by giving them an opportunity to market themselves and interact with same 7 000 corporates, investors and potential clients over three days.

One of the benefits of participating in the expo is that entrepreneurs can meet face to face with a target audience, get access to pre-arranged meetings which proactively connect participants to help them achieve their business goals.

“Small businesses are really the backbone of our country. To make them sustainable, we need to continue to support these businesses in our communities and recognise and reward them for the hard work and dedication they put in,” said Cecil Ramonotsi, acting chief executive officer of the Eskom Development Foundation.

The winners in the four categories are:

• Manufacturing

Winner – IKIM Solutions (King Williams Town, Eastern Cape)

First runner-up – Ductile Plastics & Extruders (Pty) Ltd (Port Elizabeth, Eastern Cape)

Second runner-up – Purechem (Johannesburg, Gauteng)

• Trade and Services

Winner – E-Waste Africa (Pietermaritzburg, KwaZulu-Natal)

First runner-up – GlobeScope Security Solutions (Cape Town, Western Cape)

Second runner-up – Your Transport (Port Elizabeth, Eastern Cape)

• Construction and Engineering

Winner – Oakantswe Construction and Projects (Pretoria, Gauteng)

First runner-up – Brimis Engineering Pty (Middelburg, Mpumalanga)

Second runner-up – Lighthouse Engineering Services (Pinetown, KwaZulu-Natal)

• Agriculture and Agro-processing

Winner – Eden All Natural (Cape Town, Western Cape)

First runner-up – Living Harvest (East London, Eastern Cape)

Second runner-up – Vegetable Growers and Agricultural Development Organisation (Alice, Eastern Cape)

Category winners scooped R100 000, first runners-up, R50 000 each, while second runners-up received R25 000. All other finalists received R5 000 to invest in their businesses.