Durban — The Ithala Development Finance Corporation’s (IDFC) group chief executive, Pearl Bhengu, said their Inkunz’ isematholeni programme has shown how innovative and intelligent the youth of South Africa are.
Bhengu spoke on Friday at the Inkunz’ isematholeni awards ceremony, held at the Inkosi Albert Luthuli Centre in Durban, where six youth enterprises received awards and were celebrated.
Bhengu said their strategic partners had made a significant impact on the success of the programme. The Economic Development, Tourism and Environmental Affairs (Edtea) Youth Empowerment Directorate funded the programme for this financial year.
“In our quest to transform people’s dreams into reality we believe in walking with you through every stage of development,” she said.
Ntando Ndimande and his partner Ayanda Bhengu, both aged 24, were awarded R100 000 for their company Sky High Innovations. They were happy to have received this amount of money as it would take their business forward.
“We had eight people on our team but Covid-19 hit us and we had to cut down on staff members and now it is just Bhengu and I,” said Ndimande.
He said Sky High Innovations supported hygiene, and users opened the taps of their product by pressing with their feet. Ndimande said this would also help in saving water.
“We are currently outsourcing manufacturing; it is our biggest wish to one day manufacture in our own place. The manufacturing is taking place in Pinetown,” he said.
Sameer Khan, a managing director for Hydra Power, was the first runner-up, receiving R25 000, and said a solution to load shedding was urgently needed and his company was capable of solving the problem. Khan said his company had a patented renewable energy system that used building-harvested waste water to generate electrical energy.
“This harvested water is in turn recycled for alternative purposes, such as the flushing of toilets, gardening, washing of cars or for human consumption with specialised machinery attached,” he said.
Khan said he was grateful for the money and said it would make a huge difference to his company.
Other winners were: Hlomla Noziqwaba, managing director of Custos Mobile Car Wash; Nomandla Ngcoya, managing director of D. Chem Group; Mbuso Tembe, managing director of Ukusuka Group; and Zigi Ziqubu, managing director of Engonyameni partners.
Edtea MEC Siboniso Duma said the awarded enterprises should be monitored for 10 years, to see the growth in their businesses and how they manage the money. He said it was crucial for entrepreneurs to be mentored on tax returns because that was where people got it wrong.
Duma further said it was important to go back to basics, and urged the entrepreneurs not to boast about money on social media but to be humble, work smart and bring change to communities.
Daily News
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