Deadline draws near for African Entrepreneurship Awards entries
Mr Sylvanie Beukes, Principal Consultant at SB Consultants cc and author of the book New Money Masters, will be the only Namibian mentor for the African Entrepreneurship Awards. (Photograph by Mandisa Rasmeni)
Sylvanie Beukes, entrepreneur, Principal Consultant at SB Consultants and author of the book New Money Masters will join the awards as the only Namibian mentor for the awards. He is also a Regional Partner of the awards and together with SME Compete, Walvis Bay Corridor Group and Namibia Trade Forum will be evaluating business proposals as well as share his story with other entrepreneurs across Africa.
“I am excited to see that a North African bank has chosen to come to the south to find entrepreneurial talent, as Africans we need to work together to write our African wealth stories,” said Beukes.
Beukes added that this is an exceptional plus for him to be head hunted by such a prestigious initiative and by a great team to be asked to join the team as a mentor is almost as exhilarating as doing the OkaManetti run.
“Entrepreneurship is a lifestyle for me, the ability to recognise good business ventures and evaluate their value with in the economy is part of my everyday activities, and this is probably one of the key reasons I was selected, as I have been in the business of building businesses for a while now and have always been ready for the major leagues,” said Beukes.
Beukes said that he has mentored various business owners and aspiring business personalities and that the evaluation and submissions for the awards are being done at this very moment and that the mentoring will begin later this month.
He said that a great business idea is, its ability to solve, current or future problems. “Therefore problems are indicators of opportunity and when you find a problem take responsibility for it, as the saying goes whoever owns up to the problem, will own and copyright the solution,” he advised.
Beukes also informed that there are about 50 Namibian entries and counting, which puts Namibia fourth behind Nigeria, Cameroon and Kenya. “Within Africa there is about 2000 entries so far and we are counting from 52 countries and the target is 5000 entries at least,” he emphasised.
“The secret to success is getting started, we miss 100% of the chances we never take, truth is you have no idea what odds favour you right now as we speak, take a chance lets make one Namibian idea become a global hit,” he said. Soraya Sebti, representative of the awards said they want to hear about business ideas that will promote innovation in the fields of education and environment, as well as the category they call uncharted, which has never been done before in Namibia or the region.
“Our objective is to better understand how these awards can help Namibians start businesses that will create jobs, improve lives and inspire others in Namibia and across Africa,”said Sebti.
