Entrepreneurs empowered during full-day summit in Fourways
PAULSHOF – It was a day for entrepreneurs when they learned new skills and heard expert talks at this year's I Am An Entrepreneur summit on 14 March.
It was was a day for business growth when the I Am An Entrepreneur (IAAE) programme was held for business owners.
In its seventh year the event, which took place as the Pivot at Montecasino on 14 March, brought together nearly 200 entrepreneurs from a wide range of fields in order to help them upskill, learn useful skills and grow their business.
The programme was launched by Andile Khumalo in 2013, and the Joburg leg saw a focus on optimising Google ads, a presentation from FNB on how to grow your business and a talk by guest entrepreneur Khudusela Pitje of New GX Capital on how to stay on top of the game.
“We started this all seven years ago and this year it’s about doing the same work on a bigger scale,” explained Thabani Khumalo, the head of brand and marketing for IAAE and brother to founder Andile Khumalo. “This is a full-day summit that tries to upskill and better entrepreneurs, and the event has actually sold out for this leg.
“The first speaker was Sandy van Dijk of Over the Rainbow, who is doing a passion test to start things off. This is important because we know that if you follow your passion the money will come.”
Van Dijk went through her test questions with attendees, even choosing a volunteer from the audience to come up and share her own priorities, desires and hopes.
Later in the day, Melissa Kariuki of Google took participants through how to increase sales by using Google ads before Musa Kalenga of Bridge Labs took a turn on stage to talk about how businesspeople can be more productive with their time using the right tools.
“For me, I want participants to take away two things: Firstly that passion is so important in this game – once you identify what you want, you can go about achieving it. And secondly, I want them to learn from Pitje that while the journey of entrepreneurship is not easy, if you stay abreast and learn from other’s mistakes you can make it,” Thabani said.
The day ended with a networking event hosted by Chivas Regal where entrepreneurs could make connections, learn from one another and relax.
“These summits are really about helping people get better at what they do. A lot of people are struggling in this economy, and I believe providing these sorts of tools means these entrepreneurs will have a better chance of success and be able to persevere.
“It’s also fantastic to see how many corporates are willing and ready to help develop a small business.”
Originally, the I Am An Entrepreneur summit planned to visit seven other cities around South Africa to work with even more entrepreneurs, but in light of the Covid-19 issue, these had to be postponed until further notice. Organisers encourage people interested in learning more to visit their website for more information and useful tools.
Details: www.iamanentrepreneur.co.za
Related Article:
Entrepreneurs learn about financial matters at Pineslopes networking event
