ENTREPRENEUR, Dave Pons, with his business Ceiling in a Can, was the winner in the Durban Chamber of Commerce and Industry's Entrepreneur Competition for 2014.
Dave took top spot, followed by Mlungisi Alpheus Ngwane of M2Man Surveys, Njabulo Mkhosana of Njabulo Mkhosana Enterprise and Hlengiwe Londiwe Zondo of Allegro Trading.
This comes after six weeks of vigorous training that included business skills development, valuable group and one-on-one mentorship, preparation of a comprehensive business plan and receiving significant marketing exposure.
Over the years the competition has grown significantly from when it was first initiated by the iLembe Business Chamber, with the aim of identifying and providing entrepreneurs and owners of micro-businesses with a foundation to develop their businesses to a sustainable level. The competition has been refined since its launch in 2011 and is now a widely endorsed competition with national recognition.
CEO of the Durban Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Andrew Layman, said: “The promotion of entrepreneurship is a key to the growth of all businesses, especially small ones. The importance of this is that without business growth, there will be no job creation, limited social upliftment and poor economic growth.”
The top three winners of the Durban Chamber’s Entrepreneur programme will compete with the winners of the four other KZN Chambers in the provincial final of the KwaZulu-Natal Business Chambers Council (KBCC) Entrepreneur 2014 Competition.