From her city offices at Shanduka Black Umbrellas, above a bustling arcade of cafe`s and restaurants near Cape Town's city centre, Nontutuzelo Gcuze, also a delegate of the Academy recalls how her desire for business started.

"I am from a rural community in the Eastern Cape - Machibini. I first became aware of the business environment when I started working in retail. I quickly fell in love and wanted to become financially independent through owning my own business," she says.

She takes each day as it comes, using daily what she learned at the Academy, making the best of what she has. Her business, which she shares with a partner, is called Hands-on Cleaning Service which focuses on sanitising computer ware and cash registers, especially in multi use spaces.

"The business is growing slowly and has only been going for three months. Since getting start-up funding in January last year we first spent over a year researching the business and then set off," she says, adding that the funds, R7500, was a good start. She used it to become operational; using it to register her company, pay for uniforms and products, and rent for her office space. Gcuze won the funding for being best entrepreneurial student.

The Raymond Ackerman Academy awards several prizes for students who have performed well during each six-month programme. The best overall student receives a laptop from the Ackerman Family Foundation and the most entrepreneurial student receives the Steve Roberts Valspar Entrepreneurship Award, intended to encourage entrepreneurship as well as give winning entrepreneurs a kick start at business through seed funding.

"We encourage the students to enter their business ideas to the Valspar Award. They have to promote their business and motivate why they think they should win. Those judging look for sound business ideas and unique approaches and award the best entrepreneurial student with some start-up funding, something invaluable and that promotes the follow-through of the student entrepreneurs," says Elli Yiannakaris, Director of the Raymond Ackerman Academy.

Gcuze is positive that she is on the right path too and their success to date proves that the challenges facing entrepreneurship in South Africa are in no way insurmountable. Small steps today can help create the big business of tomorrow, and failures do nothing but set the next challenges.

Contact Gcuze on 073 133 1137. For more information on the Raymond Ackerman Academy or for an application form, contact 021 406 1422 or visit www.ackermanacademy.co.za.

Page Created: 23 November 2011

Content provided courtesy of the Raymond Ackerman Academy and the UCT Graduate School of Business.