{"id":3919,"date":"2022-08-15T05:00:00","date_gmt":"2022-08-15T03:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thelife.digital\/tl\/?p=3919"},"modified":"2022-08-14T12:23:45","modified_gmt":"2022-08-14T10:23:45","slug":"entrepreneurs-seize-play-your-part-opportunity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thelife.digital\/tl\/articles\/entrepreneurs-seize-play-your-part-opportunity\/","title":{"rendered":"Entrepreneurs seize &#8220;Play Your Part&#8221; Opportunity"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>The campaign launched on Thursday, 30 June 2022, in Johannesburg. There are plans to expand <em>Ignite<\/em> to other provinces during the second half of the year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Joined by a keen audience of budding entrepreneurs, participants were gifted with an incredible address by multi-award-winning businesswoman and <em>Play Your Part<\/em> Ambassador, Farah Fortune, who facilitated a masterclass on pitching, assisting aspiring entrepreneurs with social resources and confidence needed to consider starting a business, as well as tips on sourcing investment for existing businesses or business ideas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>When it came to pitching to the panel of esteemed judges &#8211; quite reminiscent of the reality television show, <em>Dragon\u2019s Den &#8211; <\/em>the entrepreneurs set a particularly high standard.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThe quality of the pitches was incredible and the enthusiasm with which they were received was encouraging. \u201d said Masego Mosiane, Assistant Brand Manager at <em>Brand South Africa<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The judges, comprised of Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) SME Development Head, Cleola Kunene; Head of Small to Medium Enterprises Development at the <a>JSE<\/a>, Elaine Brass; CEO of Health and Wellfare Sector Education and Training Authority (HWSETA); and businesswoman and apiarist, Nomfundo Peter, were equally impressed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-gallery columns-2 is-cropped wp-block-gallery-1 is-layout-flex wp-block-gallery-is-layout-flex\"><ul class=\"blocks-gallery-grid\"><li class=\"blocks-gallery-item\"><figure><a href=\"http:\/\/www.thelife.digital\/tl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/BSA-IGNITE-4613-002.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" src=\"http:\/\/www.thelife.digital\/tl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/BSA-IGNITE-4613-002-1024x683.jpg\" alt=\"\" data-id=\"3921\" data-full-url=\"http:\/\/www.thelife.digital\/tl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/BSA-IGNITE-4613-002.jpg\" data-link=\"http:\/\/www.thelife.digital\/tl\/?attachment_id=3921\" class=\"wp-image-3921\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.thelife.digital\/tl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/BSA-IGNITE-4613-002-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.thelife.digital\/tl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/BSA-IGNITE-4613-002-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.thelife.digital\/tl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/BSA-IGNITE-4613-002-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.thelife.digital\/tl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/BSA-IGNITE-4613-002-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/www.thelife.digital\/tl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/BSA-IGNITE-4613-002-675x450.jpg 675w, https:\/\/www.thelife.digital\/tl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/BSA-IGNITE-4613-002-600x400.jpg 600w, https:\/\/www.thelife.digital\/tl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/BSA-IGNITE-4613-002.jpg 1773w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/a><\/figure><\/li><li class=\"blocks-gallery-item\"><figure><a href=\"http:\/\/www.thelife.digital\/tl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/From-left-to-right-Kgaogelo-Mathekga-Shurldrae-Rosen-Xabiso-Lomb-a.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" src=\"http:\/\/www.thelife.digital\/tl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/From-left-to-right-Kgaogelo-Mathekga-Shurldrae-Rosen-Xabiso-Lomb-a-1024x683.jpg\" alt=\"\" data-id=\"3923\" data-full-url=\"http:\/\/www.thelife.digital\/tl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/From-left-to-right-Kgaogelo-Mathekga-Shurldrae-Rosen-Xabiso-Lomb-a.jpg\" data-link=\"http:\/\/www.thelife.digital\/tl\/?attachment_id=3923\" class=\"wp-image-3923\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.thelife.digital\/tl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/From-left-to-right-Kgaogelo-Mathekga-Shurldrae-Rosen-Xabiso-Lomb-a-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.thelife.digital\/tl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/From-left-to-right-Kgaogelo-Mathekga-Shurldrae-Rosen-Xabiso-Lomb-a-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.thelife.digital\/tl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/From-left-to-right-Kgaogelo-Mathekga-Shurldrae-Rosen-Xabiso-Lomb-a-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.thelife.digital\/tl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/From-left-to-right-Kgaogelo-Mathekga-Shurldrae-Rosen-Xabiso-Lomb-a-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/www.thelife.digital\/tl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/From-left-to-right-Kgaogelo-Mathekga-Shurldrae-Rosen-Xabiso-Lomb-a-675x450.jpg 675w, https:\/\/www.thelife.digital\/tl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/From-left-to-right-Kgaogelo-Mathekga-Shurldrae-Rosen-Xabiso-Lomb-a-600x400.jpg 600w, https:\/\/www.thelife.digital\/tl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/From-left-to-right-Kgaogelo-Mathekga-Shurldrae-Rosen-Xabiso-Lomb-a.jpg 1773w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/a><\/figure><\/li><li class=\"blocks-gallery-item\"><figure><a href=\"http:\/\/www.thelife.digital\/tl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/Judge-Cleola-Kunene-Nomfundo-Peter-and-Elaine-Brass.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" src=\"http:\/\/www.thelife.digital\/tl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/Judge-Cleola-Kunene-Nomfundo-Peter-and-Elaine-Brass-1024x683.jpg\" alt=\"\" data-id=\"3924\" data-full-url=\"http:\/\/www.thelife.digital\/tl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/Judge-Cleola-Kunene-Nomfundo-Peter-and-Elaine-Brass.jpg\" data-link=\"http:\/\/www.thelife.digital\/tl\/?attachment_id=3924\" class=\"wp-image-3924\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.thelife.digital\/tl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/Judge-Cleola-Kunene-Nomfundo-Peter-and-Elaine-Brass-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.thelife.digital\/tl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/Judge-Cleola-Kunene-Nomfundo-Peter-and-Elaine-Brass-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.thelife.digital\/tl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/Judge-Cleola-Kunene-Nomfundo-Peter-and-Elaine-Brass-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.thelife.digital\/tl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/Judge-Cleola-Kunene-Nomfundo-Peter-and-Elaine-Brass-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/www.thelife.digital\/tl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/Judge-Cleola-Kunene-Nomfundo-Peter-and-Elaine-Brass-675x450.jpg 675w, https:\/\/www.thelife.digital\/tl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/Judge-Cleola-Kunene-Nomfundo-Peter-and-Elaine-Brass-600x400.jpg 600w, https:\/\/www.thelife.digital\/tl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/Judge-Cleola-Kunene-Nomfundo-Peter-and-Elaine-Brass.jpg 1773w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/a><\/figure><\/li><\/ul><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>The R25,000 prize pot was split between the top 7 pitches with Shurldrae Rosen taking home R8,000 for first prize. Rosen, who left a toxic job environment before COVID, was left unemployed for nearly 18 months during the pandemic. Despite this, he launched <em>Bubele Africa<\/em>, with business partner Wendy Malapage &#8211; an initiative which created jobs by employing citizens to assist in river cleanups.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cNot only was Shurldrae confident in his business pitch, but there is a lot of potential in <em>Bubele Africa<\/em>. It is both ecologically beneficial and as a means of job creation,\u201d said Elaine Brass.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The judges, impressed with Shurldrae\u2019s initiative, saw business potential in it, and urged him to see <em>Bubele Africa<\/em> as more than just an NPO \u2013 rather as a profitable solution for both company and community.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Shurldrae, ecstatic about his win, said that he hadn\u2019t planned on pitching &#8211; and had initially&nbsp;come for the workshop and masterclass.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cI was speaking to the journalists at the event about my current business and new businesses [and they] convinced me to pitch [to the judges],\u201d said Shurldrae, still quite shocked on his win. Shurldrae also said that the prize money would go towards better branding for <em>Bubele Africa<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Other participants also walked away with cash sums, but more importantly, mentorship commitments from the judges. Cleola Kunene committed to assisting Shurldrae in making <em>Bubele<\/em> commercially viable, while also pledging to work with runner-up Xabiso Lombo, CEO of <em>Guardian Gabriel<\/em>, a personal safety company, in developing her SMME.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The inaugural <em>PYP Ignite<\/em> Masterclass brought together business potential and business opportunity to create a mutually beneficial network of entrepreneurs contributing to South Africa\u2019s economic growth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The initiative plans to travel to other provinces over the next year, with the intention of igniting entrepreneurship across the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Inspired by the success of the launch, Maesego Mosiane remarked, \u201cIt\u2019s been a great start for <em>Play Your Part Ignite<\/em>. It promises to be a life-changing opportunity for young people to make a positive contribution to the country. I\u2019m looking forward to the next masterclass.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>By Hellen Moropa<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>074&nbsp;327 0993<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"mailto:annie@angelfishpr.co.za\">info@angelfishpr.co.za<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Brand South Africa 2022\/23\u2019s Play Your Part business development program, Ignite, is off to a rollicking start.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3921,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,22],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3919","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-articles","category-marketing"],"featured_image_urls":{"full":["https:\/\/www.thelife.digital\/tl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/BSA-IGNITE-4613-002.jpg",1773,1182,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/www.thelife.digital\/tl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/BSA-IGNITE-4613-002-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/www.thelife.digital\/tl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/BSA-IGNITE-4613-002-300x200.jpg",300,200,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/www.thelife.digital\/tl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/BSA-IGNITE-4613-002-768x512.jpg",640,427,true],"large":["https:\/\/www.thelife.digital\/tl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/BSA-IGNITE-4613-002-1024x683.jpg",640,427,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/www.thelife.digital\/tl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/BSA-IGNITE-4613-002-1536x1024.jpg",1536,1024,true],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/www.thelife.digital\/tl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/BSA-IGNITE-4613-002.jpg",1773,1182,false],"magazine-7-slider-full":["https:\/\/www.thelife.digital\/tl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/BSA-IGNITE-4613-002-1536x1020.jpg",1536,1020,true],"magazine-7-slider-center":["https:\/\/www.thelife.digital\/tl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/BSA-IGNITE-4613-002-936x897.jpg",936,897,true],"magazine-7-featured":["https:\/\/www.thelife.digital\/tl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/BSA-IGNITE-4613-002-1024x683.jpg",1024,683,true],"magazine-7-medium":["https:\/\/www.thelife.digital\/tl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/BSA-IGNITE-4613-002-720x380.jpg",720,380,true],"magazine-7-medium-square":["https:\/\/www.thelife.digital\/tl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/BSA-IGNITE-4613-002-675x450.jpg",675,450,true]},"author_info":{"info":["TheLife Team"]},"category_info":"<a href=\"https:\/\/www.thelife.digital\/tl\/category\/articles\/\" rel=\"category tag\">Articles &amp; Advertisers<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thelife.digital\/tl\/category\/articles\/marketing\/\" rel=\"category tag\">Marketing<\/a>","tag_info":"Marketing","comment_count":"0","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thelife.digital\/tl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3919","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thelife.digital\/tl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thelife.digital\/tl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelife.digital\/tl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelife.digital\/tl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3919"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelife.digital\/tl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3919\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3929,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelife.digital\/tl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3919\/revisions\/3929"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelife.digital\/tl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3921"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thelife.digital\/tl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3919"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelife.digital\/tl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3919"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelife.digital\/tl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3919"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}