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Entrepreneur awarded for his business plan

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Gaerupe intends calling his radio station “Voice of Northern Cape”; the first of its kind for its audience.

TSHEPO Gaerupe has been announced as the Northern Cape regional winner of the 2019 SME Toolkit Business/Partners Business Plan Competition for Aspiring Young Entrepreneurs.

Gaerupe was awarded for his business plan to start a radio station for his area.

Gaerupe, who has a passion for radio and social affairs, intends calling his radio station “Voice of Northern Cape”; the first of its kind for its audience.

With knowledge in the fields of public relations, communication sciences and project management, Gaerupe has previously worked as a news reader, radio presenter, programmes manager, events organiser, and sales and marketing manager.

“Now in its 10th year, the SME Toolkit Business/Partners Business Plan Competition aims to promote South African entrepreneurship amongst individuals between the ages of 18 and 35, by bridging the gap between simply having an idea, to actually launching a start-up business,” said Petro Bothma, group enterprise development manager at Business Partners Limited – one of Africa’s leading business loan and equity providers – and programme manager for SME Toolkit South Africa.

This year the competition received 1 010 entries from young entrepreneurs across the country and 10 regional winners have been selected.

As part of the free-to-enter competition, Gaerupe joined other entrepreneurs by taking part in one of the regional business workshops on the intricacies of compiling a business plan and managing the many functions of running a business, such as business management, marketing, financial management, and legal requirements. Following the workshop, each entrant was invited to submit a complete business plan to the competition judging panel.

“The judges consider presentation, appropriate content, cash flow projections and entrepreneurial ability, as well as the overall impression when selecting a winner. Taking these factors into consideration, Gaerupe’s business plan was chosen as the Northern Cape winner,” Bothma stated.

Each regional winner is awarded with a mentorship support voucher to the value of R10 000, is introduced to valuable business networking opportunities to assist them with growing their fledgling businesses, and will go through as a finalist to the third and final phase of the competition.

The competition will culminate in an awards ceremony that will take place in Johannesburg on Tuesday, November 26, where one of the regional winners will be announced as the national winner and awarded a further R20 000 mentorship voucher,

R30 000 cash, and a goody bag comprising of various sponsored prizes.

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