Competition participants reflect the growing profile of social
entrepreneurs in South Africa
The national Pitch & Polish entrepreneurial competition
reached a thrilling climax at a glitzy final event at The Venue in Melrose Arch
on 20 September 2012. The 2012 competition clearly reflected the rapid
growth in South Africa’s social entrepreneurship sector, and in particular, the
abundance of entrepreneurs who spy opportunity in environmentally friendly
enterprises. All three of the finalists, Alan Butler, Bhongolwethu Sonti, and Criytone Revanewako, fell into this
category of “greentrepreneurs”.
Out of the 174 online entries received for the competition
and the venue-based wildcard entries, 25 entrepreneurs were selected to
participate in the opening rounds. A further 9 entries battled it out on the
airwaves during the wildcard round presented by SAfm, the Pitch & Polish
media partner.
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| The 2012 Pitch & Polish finalists (L-R): Criytone Revanewako, Bhongolwethu Sonti, and Alan Butler |
The
winner
Criytone Revanewako
was selected by the final panel of experts as the winner for this year. His
company approaches environmental issues
from a recycling perspective, using slag generated by the ferrochrome
smelting industry to produce economically useful products cheaply and
sustainably, such as paving and building bricks, road construction material,
roofing and flooring tiles, pre-mixed and ready mixed concrete, and numerous
others.
Social entrepreneurship
The rise of social entrepreneurs and greentrepreneurs, such
as these finalists, represents the growing awareness amongst South Africans of
the importance of sustainability in all aspects of life, and therefore a bright
spot in the country’s otherwise problematic economic outlook. Social
entrepreneurship expert Bill Drayton, quoted in the Social Entrepreneurship Teaching Resources Handbook, characterises
a social entrepreneur as, “someone who cannot come to rest, in a very deep
sense, until he or she has changed the pattern of social concern across all
society... they simply will not stop because they cannot be happy until their vision
becomes the new pattern. They will persist for decades.”
Given the high potential for needed positive social and environmental
change that these entrepreneurs represent, the Pitch & Polish programme
developed and run by South African small business incubator, Raizcorp, is an
example of how corporate South Africa can generate education and business
development opportunities for smaller businesses, while ensuring that
sustainable social development goals are also met.
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| The Final Panel of judges |
Impact of informal business skills training
Bronwyn Echardt, the Pitch & Polish Programme Leader at
Raizcorp, the small business incubator that develops and runs the programme
around the country, attributes much of its success to its combined education
and entertainment format.
Echardt said, “Research by Laurie Scholtz on the impact of
social entrepreneurs’ education and business skills training, published in
2011, showed that only three forms of informal business skills training have a
significant impact on the success of social entrepreneurship organisations,
namely: business experience, networks, and workshops and conferences. Pitch
& Polish is currently the only competition and workshop platform nationally
that combines all three of these types of training.”
In addition to the intensive training that the competition
entrants received at the free workshop events around the country, sponsored by
Engen Petroleum (Pty) Ltd, 1 651 combined audience members received a full
day’s expert training on the fundamentals of entrepreneurship.
