MEDIA RELEASE
NO. 350/ 2009
09 JUNE 2009

A Cape Town-based rewards programme for the poor has been selected as one of the world’s 25 finalists in an international entrepreneurship contest in Barcelona offering prize monies worth R500 000. The Broccoli Project, which encourages the poor to attend skills training workshops in exchange for vouchers for food and shelter, has been named by the City of Cape Town as its regional winner of this year’s Global Entrepreneurship Competition. CEO and co-founder of the Broccoli Project, Marc Anthony Zimmerman, is to head off to Barcelona next week to compete from 17-19 June against 25 other countries for prizes in excess of €50 000.

Jerry Engel, Chairman of the World Nominating Committee of the Global Entrepreneurship Competition and who is also the Executive Director of the Lester Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation at the Haas School of Business, University of California, Berkeley believes that “the projects selected for the finals of the competition represent some of the finest examples of entrepreneurial innovation from around the world. HiT Barcelona will showcase these superb high potential new business ideas and the entrepreneurs who developed them”.

According to Mansoor Mohamed, the City’s Executive Director: Economic, Social Development and Tourism, who is also a Global Nominating Member for GEC 09 competition, “the Global Entrepreneurship Competition (GEC) annually invites entrepreneurs from around the world to present their business plans to major corporations and international investors. It is a meeting place where leading global investors get close to entrepreneurs from around the world.”

Each country submits its best entrepreneurial ventures to the GEC World Nominating Committee, which in turn selects 25 finalists to compete in Barcelona. “Cape Town is blessed with a wealth of entrepreneurs and the City of Cape Town aims to strategically position the city as a globally competitive entrepreneurial hub. The city was recently ranked number one out of 34 countries in a UCT Graduate School of Business Global Entrepreneurship study that also concluded that Cape Town is by far ‘the most entrepreneurial city in South Africa’ with a ranking 190% greater than South Africa’s national average,” says Mohamed.

Alderman Felicity Purchase, Mayoral Committee Member for Economic Development and Tourism, extended her warm congratulations to Mr Zimmerman and commended the Broccoli Project for encouraging the vulnerable to take ownership of their own lives and earn their own livelihoods. “Cape Town’s top priority is to promote job creation through infrastructure-led economic growth and by fostering a culture of entrepreneurship at all levels of society,” says Ald Purchase.

As part of the Broccoli Project initiative, members of the public can donate or buy vouchers that can be exchanged by the needy for basic food staples such as bread, milk, maize meal or vegetables at major retailers. “Next time you are at an intersection or approached by a parking guard - you can give them a food voucher and keep track of your contribution online. The Broccoli Project also encourages the poor to monitor their HIV status, take TB medication, and attend skills development workshops,” says Zimmerman. Its NGO partners include The Big Issue, Men on the Side of the Road, The Desmond Tutu HIV/Aids Foundation and Warmth.


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ISSUED BY:
COMMUNICATION DEPARTMENT
CITY OF CAPE TOWN
TEL: 021 400 3719

MEDIA QUERIES:
ALD FELICITY PURCHASE
MAYORAL COMMITTEE MEMBER FOR ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT AND TOURISM
TEL: 021 400 1299 CELL: 083 629 0829

MANSOOR MOHAMED
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR: ECONOMIC, SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT AND TOURISM, CITY OF CAPE TOWN
TEL 021 400 2589 CELL: 084 421 4428

MARC ANTHONY ZIMMERMAN
THE BROCCOLI PROJECT
CELL: 082 334 3113