MEDIA RELEASE
NO. 286 / 2011
25 MAY 2011


The winners of the third annual Cape Town Entrepreneurship Competition will be awarded for their innovative and creative ideas at a special award ceremony that will be held at the University of Cape Town Graduate School of Business on Thursday morning.

The winners of this competition will not only receive cash prizes, but will now have access to mentorship, global exposure and the opportunity to participate in training programmes offered by business support institutions, for example from The Business Place.

All media are invited to attend the award ceremony where they can meet and interview the winners of the competition.

Date: Thursday 26 May

Time: 09:30

Venue: UCT Graduate School of Business, Portswood Road, V&A Waterfront

The Cape Town Entrepreneurship Competition(CTEC) is a key initiative of Cape Town Activa, the City’s strategy to enable a vibrant, effective entrepreneurial ecosystem in Cape Town. The 2011 edition of the competition was launched in November 2010 at the Cape Town Entrepreneurship Week event which also coincided with Global Entrepreneurship Week. Entries for the 2011 Cape Town Entrepreneurship Competition were open between October and mid-December 2010 and judging took place between January and March 2011.

The competition aims to acknowledge and reward innovative, creative business ideas and ventures and focuses on technology and innovation in the fields of biotechnology, telecommunications and media, information and communication technology (ICT), ‘clean’ technology, healthcare and social entrepreneurship.

It also serves as platform to source African nominees to enter the prestigious annual HIT Barcelona Global Entrepreneurship competition that will be held in Barcelona on 15 and 16 June this year.

“This initiative is a major boost for innovation and entrepreneurship and positioning Cape Town as a strategic business destination,” said Thembinkosi Siganda, the City’s Director: Economic and Human Development.

Entrepreneurs could enter one of three categories, namely the Idea Category for registered businesses that are not trading yet, the Start-Up Category for businesses trading for under two years, or the Growth Category for businesses that have been trading for more than two years and are launching a new product or service.

The winners of the 2011 Cape Town Entrepreneurship Competition are as follows:

Company Category Ranking
iDRIVE.co.za
Growth 1
Just Pc's Growth 2
Homevision Growth 3
Earth Metallurgical Solutions Start-Up 1
Headboy Industries Start-Up 2
TriggerText Start-Up 3
EDGE Campus Idea 1
Source Ice Idea 2
Shower of Blessings Idea 3

The City of Cape Town supports CTEC by funding the cash prizes and supporting the Bandwidth Barn, who manages the competition. The Bandwidth Barn is a leading ICT business incubator and one of the City’s strategic partners through the Cape Information Technology Initiative(CITI).

Chris Vermeulen, CEO of the Bandwidth Barn, said: “ In our third year of involvement with CTEC we are impressed by some of the entrepreneurial talent that has emerged from the competition. These businesses have the potential to create jobs and it is therefore important that government continue to provide an enabling environment for entrepreneurs through a focused initiative like this”.


END

ISSUED BY:
COMMUNICATION DEPARTMENT, CITY OF CAPE TOWN

MEDIA ENQUIRIES:
CARLO VIZZI
MANAGER: BUSINESS SUPPORT, ECONOMIC AND HUMAN DEVELOPMENT DEPARTMENT
CITY OF CAPE TOWN
TEL: 021 483 9018 CELL: 084 430 6900