How to create the best possible quotation

By Jannie Rossouw Head: Sanlam Business Market When a prospective client invites us to do a quotation we need to realise that this is when the tackie hits the tarmac. This is when our marketing and word-of-mouth endeavours materialise in tangible outcomes … or not. If we get this action wrong we have wasted the […]

Determined hospitality entrepreneur named Job Creator of the Year®

Having found a way to provide numerous employment opportunities to previously unemployed members from his immediate community in Pietermaritzburg, Siphiwe Ngcobo, founder of iLawu Hospitality Group, has been named Job Creator of the Year® at the Entrepreneur of the Year® competition sponsored by Sanlam and BUSINESS/PARTNERS awards ceremony held in Johannesburg on 6 September 2017. […]

Holistic funeral service provider named Medium Business Entrepreneur of the Year®

Nomfundo Mcoyi, ex-educator and now managing director of KwaZulu-Natal-based business – Icebolethu Group – was named the Medium Business Entrepreneur of the Year® at the annual entrepreneur of the Year® competition sponsored by Sanlam and BUSINESS/PARTNERS awards ceremony, held on 6 September 2017 in Johannesburg. Established as a funeral parlour named Icebolethu Funerals in 2009, […]

Four steps to create an inclusive work environment for your business

Business owners are lucky that they create their own work environment, unlike managers in large corporations who step into rigid, pre-created cultures. However, many business owners allow the working culture in their businesses to flow organically from their personality, without giving much thought to how it could be perhaps better engineered. Kgomotso Ramoenyane, executive general […]

Work on and not in your business

By Jannie Rossouw Head: Sanlam Business Market You have surely heard the statement above, but what does it really mean? To start, run and succeed in business is not for the faint-hearted. Why? International statistics state that 40% of all new business start-ups fail in the first year and 80% within the first 5 years, […]

SME success a by-product of growth

When Pepe Marais and Gareth Leck founded Joe Public in March 1998 in Cape Town, they disrupted the local advertising industry with their innovative business model which was positioned as a Take-Away menu -aimed to demystify the business of advertising by making its service offering transparent to clients. “We started the business without a cent […]

Innovative entrepreneur taking the local ICT sector by storm

100% black female owned company – Mighty Comms – is a broadband solutions company that has carved out a niche for itself in the South African ICT sector. The company offers clients across various sectors broadband and network design services, deployments, installations and maintenance services. Mighty Comms founder, Refilwe Marumo, says she has encountered many […]

Independent research firm carves a niche in the investment industry

After having worked as an Investment Analyst for large institutions for 12 years, Shamil Ismail – who was voted the 2014 ABSIP (Association of Black Securities and Investment Professionals) Analyst of the Year – founded Primaresearch in late 2015 as an independent, sell-side, equity research firm based in Cape Town. Since then, Primaresearch has grown […]

The local entrepreneur enhancing the fashionista in plus-size women

Incessantly frustrated by the limited range of fashion available to the fuller-figured woman, Limpopo-born and Pretoria-based Ouma Tema began designing and creating her own clothes and sharing images of her creations on social media. After fielding a continuous stream of questions from friends and fellow plus-size ladies around where she purchased her outfits, Tema knew […]

Finding the gap in an established market

Dirk Coetzee and Associates was born out of the growing need for taxation services specifically catering to the fiduciary industry. About two and a half years ago, when the Tax Administration Act was signed into law and tax services to a deceased estate could thereafter be loaded as a separate claim against the estate, the […]