Engen Pitch & Polish kicks off its 10th year of empowering entrepreneurs

The first leg of the annual Engen Pitch & Polish workshop and competition saw hundreds of hopeful entrepreneurs attending the workshop in Woodmead.

The competition takes place across the country and sees entrepreneurs from each region pitching their business to the audience, using the skills they learn on the day.

The regional winners of each leg will have the opportunity to win over R80 000 in prizes at the final which will be hosted in Johannesburg later this year.

In the workshops, hundreds of entrepreneurs have the opportunity to learn how to better pitch their business, using the advice of bestselling author of Pitch to Win, Justin Cohen.

The programme is hosted in partnership with Engen Petroleum, Nedbank, Raizcorp and Caxton Local Media and has helped over 10 000 entrepreneurs improve their pitches over the past 10 years.

Cohen shared his key tips to help entrepreneurs improve how they sell their business.

Cohen used his experience as a motivational speaker to motivate the entrepreneurs to work through their challenges and persevere.

“There are only two reasons humans do anything – we are motivated to reduce pain and increase pleasure and if you think about why you are in business, every entrepreneur has to ask what pain they are taking away or what pleasure they are providing,” he said.

Cohen added that as entrepreneurs they need to be able to identify problems within their community and have the opportunity to serve their communities.

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Kayla Ndlovu, one of the contestants who pitched her business idea on the day, said that while she was very nervous to pitch her idea in front of so many people, she was also excited to learn.

“I’m really thankful to be given the opportunity to share my ideas.

“It’s an amazing way to get out there and share your idea and connect with the right people so you can eventually get your business or idea off the ground,” she said.

Another one of the contestants, Tsheop Mongatane said, “It’s so good to be here and be able to learn how to pitch my business so I can take it to the next level.

“Most importantly, when I start to raise capital I will take the skills that I’m learning here and use them in my pitch.”

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Contact the newsroom by emailing: Melissa Hart (Editor) germistoncitynews@caxton.co.za or Leigh Hodgson (News Editor) leighh@caxton.co.za or Kgotsofalang Mashilo (journalist) kgotsofalangm@caxton.co.za

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