The Minister of Commerce Industry and Trade, Manqoba Khumalo has launched this year’s edition of the Entrepreneur of The Year Awards.
The Minister announced that this year’s competition comes with several improvements, as for the first time in the competition’s 18-year history cash prizes will be awarded to winners at regional level.
Previously, winners at regional level only received trophies and certificates. Khumalo emphasized that winners of the cash prizes were expected to reinvest their winnings back into their businesses.
This year’s awards also see the Eswatini National Petroleum Company (ENPC) joining as a new sponsor.
FNB Eswatini and the FNB Eswatini Foundation who are the headline sponsors of the award announced a staggering E1.6 million sponsorship toward the awards. This amount indicates an increase of E100 000, as their sponsorship stood at E1.5 million last year.
Other companies who also announced sponsorships were Old Mutual Eswatini who pumped in E50 000, as well as the Eswatini National Provident Fund who sponsored E50 000 towards this year’s awards, while FINCORP injected E51 000. ENPC is yet to announce its sponsorship.
Speaking during the launch, the Minister highlighted His Majesty King Mswati III’s visionary statement, calling for the establishment of the first LiSwati entrepreneur capable of founding a company that could achieve an annual turnover of E1 billion.
Khumalo stated that he viewed this call to action as a statement of faith made by His Majesty.
Khumalo added that the kingdom needed to address the prevailing mindset that Emaswati are still predominantly seeking employment rather than creating job opportunities as employers.
The Minister then encouraged entrepreneurs to envision Eswatini as a production hub capable of exporting goods globally as the country only had a small population hence exporting goods made in Eswatini would be very lucrative.
FNB Eswatini Managing Director, Dennis Mbingo reiterated the importance of supporting small businesses, stating how important SMEs are to the economy.
He said the importance of this competition is highlighted by the support of His Majesty.
“We can never take for granted that this competition is supported by the King, this talks to how important the growth SMEs are in the country,” he noted.
Also speaking at the launch, SEDCO CEO Khethiwe Mhlanga expressed gratitude for the support of both current and past sponsors, highlighting the invaluable contribution they made to the competition, which celebrated and promoted entrepreneurship excellence within the country.
Mhlanga further noted that application forms to enter the competition were available in all four regions as well as online. She encouraged prospective participants to stay connected with the media for further information regarding the competition.