A media company that has pioneered the concept of simultaneous syndicated programming to a network of small community radio stations, thus opening up a whole new marketing channel to advertisers, is the provincial winner for the Western Cape in the Seda Small Business Stars entrepreneur competition.
More than 5,500 business ideas, start-ups and existing small businesses entered the competition nationally. The winners were selected from a group of 20 finalists in the Western Cape and now go through to the national finals, where more than R5-million in prizes is at stake.
The Western Cape winner is Palesa Moeketsi of Chesa Communications.
Says Moeketsi: “Any advertiser will tell you it is not easy to use community stations for radio advertising. Our community radio concept is not only cheaper than direct advertising, but it gives the advertiser total ownership of their radio airtime – no competitors can invade the space. It also allows for much more creative programming, rather than conventional advertising. And it allows the client to reach a large number of community stations without having to deal individually with each one.”
Seda spokesperson Nkululeko Kunene congratulated the winner and finalists and said: “These innovative businesses are the tip of the iceberg. The competition has generated a wealth of new business ideas and small businesses with exciting growth potential.”
“Seda will be supporting these and other winners and finalists to the tune of no less than R3,580,000 worth of business support, in addition to the other prizes such as laptops, software and publicity exposure.”
More than 31,192 unique visitors visited the competition website, while 9,306 people registered to enter the competition. More than 20,000 entry forms were downloaded and several thousand people attended workshops and business plan training sessions.
The provincial winners each receive R15,000 in cash and R130,000 worth of Seda business support, while the runners up each receive a laptop and Microsoft Office software, as well as between R4,500 and R10,000 in cash.
The Western Cape runners up are:
3rd runner up: Jugdishbhai Magan, Nirabritz Nature Guides and Tours
A luxury, bespoke tour guide service. Nirabritz aims to provide the top-end tourist, business and leisure visitor to Cape Town with an unrivalled experience that combines highly professional, expert tour guides with super knowledge of the land and marine environment, luxury Mereces Benz vehicles and a totally customised service.
2nd runner up: Stephen Mabie, GeoSpark
GeoSpark takes advantage of the rapidly growing phenomenon of mobile smartphone location-based services (LBS). It is a mobile platform that enables social matching and meeting, instant messaging and localised special retail offers, plus many other services. By knowing your location at any time, GeoSpark can serve up a mix of promotions, offers and possible friends tailored to your profile.
1st runner up: Anton Festa, Ice Cream Ninjas
Anton has created Ice Cream Ninjas, a premium ice cream product that offers more than 100,000 possible flavour combinations. The unique concept involves a granite slab on which premium ice cream can be cut into portions and “mashed” with a variety of toppings, allowing the customer to tailor their own unique ice cream combinations. The Ice Cream Ninjas experience is heightened by the staff “tossing” and “spinning” the ice cream and topping containers.
