CAPITAL: The Voice of Business Issue 1, 2015

ENTREPRENEUR P hila Ngcobo, winner of the PCB’s regional round of the KwaZuluNatal Business Chambers Council’s (KBCC) The Entrepreneur competition, did the PCB and its mentorship efforts proud by outperforming strong representatives from four other KwaZuluNatal business chambers to become the competition’s overall winner in November last year. Ngcobo, trading as Wooden Pyramid, started manufacturing wooden trays, ironing boards and clothes dryers from his home in Edendale, Pietermaritzburg in 2010. The business, which expanded to Durban in 2012, now employs eight people and counts 14 retailers as customers, among them various Spar outlets and Save Hyper stores. The Entrepreneur competition was initiated by the Ilembe Chamber of Commerce four years ago. The KZN Department of Economic Development, Tourism and Environmental Affairs and the KBCC saw merit in the programme and adopted it, launching the competition provincially this year at four other chambers that are members of the KBCC: the PCB, the Durban Chamber, the Zululand Chamber, and the KZN Youth Chamber. “The foundation of the KBCC entrepreneur programme lies in the fact that we believe that regional economic growth can only be achieved if we have a strong grassroots entrepreneurial and small business sector,” said Cobus Oelofse, entrepreneur mentor at Ilembe. The PCB’s round of The Entrepreneur competition was launched at the PCB President’s Induction Dinner in August last year. With additional support from Hulamin and the Witness, the PCB aimed to assist emerging local entrepreneurs with the skills and support that would help them become the employers of tomorrow. The successful candidates had to have been running a business full time that had been in existence for a year and was located within the uMgungundlovu 66 | Issue 1 | Capital The PCB regional winner and the overall K competition, Phila Ngcobo (right) of Wood Zubane. PH ENTREP Creating a thriving small THE The PCB took top hono KBCC The Entrepre WORDS BY Deb

CAPITAL: The Voice of Business Issue 1, 2015 | Page 66