Waaqiah Jaffer
Two out of ten small startup businesses that pitched their products and services at the small business hub in Galeshewe last month will represent the Northern Cape at the “BoostUP 2023” national competition in Cape Town.
The Southern African Innovation Collective (SAIC) hosted the much-anticipated event. SAIC held a small business ‘Boost Up’ at the Small, Medium, and Micro Enterprise (SMME) village in Galeshewe on 24 August.
“Each business will pitch its idea in three minutes and be critiqued afterward. The judging panel includes Sina Legong, the senior project leader from MLAB, and Violet Chepape, the coordinator of the International Partnership. I prefer a female-owned business to pitch first,” said McKevin Ayaba, CEO of SETUPA Atartup.
Upon his request, a female-led business, ‘Aqua Solutions’ took the stand and presented their business idea, which entails a water purification system. It targets the contaminated water sources crises in South Africa.
Other businesses also had the opportunity to pitch their ideas. Amongst them were Solar Cap, Kesembo Aviation, Pipe Burst Detector, FinFex, Taxi 2 Taxi Solutions, Mo Digital Business, Slakes Enterprises, Hikelift and Solutions for All.
After lengthy deliberations, the top two startups, FinFex and Hikelift, were selected. They will be going to Cape Town to take part in the next phase of BoostUp 2023 on 27-29 September.
Morena Mohale (44) owns FinFex, a Kimberley-based visionary software development startup working on a game-changing solution that will transform how SMEs leverage their data.
Vusumuzi Ngobese (25) is the CEO of Hikelift, a project that falls under Syntaxera, a problem-solving software development company. Hikelift focuses on ensuring the driver’s and passenger’s safety while hitchhiking.
The winners will take part in the business training sessions in Cape Town under the Innovation Summit’s direction in preparation for the BoostUp 2023 national competition.
This opportunity has allowed the two business owners from Kimberley to showcase their business ideas. After completing the Cape Town training, four South African winners will compete at the finale in Nairobi, Kenya.
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