With most people working from home due to the pandemic, Vuyisile Zondi, entrepreneur behind Corium Skincare, is convinced that time at the computer has been an advantage to her business.

While many business owners threw up their hands in despair when level 5 lockdown was announced, Riversands entrepreneur Sipamandla Manqele was not one of them! She doubled down in her efforts to obtain additional listings with online platforms as a way to continue her business.

Visiting the sewing unit at Riversands Incubation Hub is akin to finding oneself in a bustling marketplace. Everyone in the group shows up bright and early each morning and can be found cutting, measuring, sewing and creating goods until well past the time when most people would have called it a day.

This past month we conducted a virtual interview with Jan Matli, Managing Director and the entrepreneur behind Passiffire-SA, a fire proofing firm based at Riversands Incubation Hub. This is a man who has devoted himself to self-improvement from technical studies, business skills and even the Bible. He had a twenty year career in electronics and telecommunications before switching into a very niche construction speciality.

This past month we conducted a virtual interview with Jan Matli, Managing Director and the entrepreneur behind Passiffire-SA, a fire proofing firm based at Riversands Incubation Hub. This is a man who has devoted himself to self-improvement from technical studies, business skills and even the Bible. He had a twenty year career in electronics and telecommunications before switching into a very niche construction speciality.

Bongiwe Althea Moroke officially started Phekhu Business Solutions in June 2016 together with her business partner Pheko Moroke. They offer a broad range of services including reselling and implementing the Ubuntu School Communicator platform, the PBS Policy Admin System used by funeral policy providers as well as undertaking custom software projects. We sat down with Bongiwe to learn more about the business.

A network of African purpose-led Shared Value companies and leaders will participate in the continent’s first ever virtual Shared Value Leadership event from 2-5 June 2020. Digital conversations will focus on challenges faced by business in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, in particular how business has had to adapt and the economic recovery outlook for the region.

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates, April 29, 2020/APO Group/ — Canon Europe (www.Canon-Europe.com) today announces the launch of Canon Connected, a free-to-access content hub, designed to educate, inspire and entertain photography enthusiasts and videographers. Produced by Canon Ambassadors and community of filmmakers, experts and influencers across Europe, inspiring and educational videos will be uploaded to the hub regularly, enabling people to lean a new skill or perfect their technique during these unprecedented times.

Charou Bread from Ekaya Holdings is proving to be immensely popular during lockdown. Shortly before we were all sent home, Riversands business owner Kershen Naidoo started supplying a few selected Spar stores in Gauteng and the range of roti wraps has been flying off the shelves.
The vegan flatbreads have a shelf life of seven days despite the fact that they contain no preservatives and can be frozen for up to three months. They are also soft and pliable enough to be used as wraps, which is unusual.

Riversands entrepreneur Patience Nkomo is not one to throw her hands up in despair simply because there’s a pandemic sweeping the world. As the name of her business suggests, Touch Car Care Solutions usually sells waterless, eco-friendly car care products through a team of distributors in the different provinces. When lockdown came, the distributors looked to her for support so she realised she had to make a plan to replace the business’s income.

Essential services are exempt from lockdown (obviously taking social distancing and protection precautions for personnel on the road) and two businesses at Riversands Incubation Hub are deemed essential: Organic Matters which removes fat from grease traps for supermarkets and Montech Calibration Services which calibrates equipment for a medical client.

On the Riversands campus, Ndumiso Mathebula from Asiye Green is known as a determined, resilient business owner who never gives up and always manages to look on the bright side of life.
These characteristics have allowed Ndumiso to leverage off the fact that people are in lockdown to call old contacts and set up virtual sales meetings. “Lockdown is the best time to call people because now they have no excuse to not answer the phone!” was his take on the situation.

Entrepreneur Joel Kaplan’s organisation Thought Africa is crowdfunding to provide 100 000 EduCare packs for disadvantaged children during the lockdown. As a Riversands Incubation Hub partner, Kaplan is no stranger to social entrepreneurship and had the idea of creating physical packs to encourage youngsters to learn to code and do DIY projects offline.

As Riversands Incubation Hub, the continued growth of small businesses in South Africa is what we strive to achieve every day. Yet, with unprecedented circumstances such as the COVID-19 pandemic, it now requires us all to look at the world from a different perspective. We support the President’s call and the efforts of government, business and civil society to defeat this disease, and our priority remains the health and safety of our tenants, colleagues and contractors.

The organisation’s founding CEO Jenny Retief steps down to pursue other business ventures. She remains involved in the organisation as a member of the board. “True sustainability of any organisation requires putting succession at top of mind. We are fortunate to have some of Tafadwa’s calibre to step up to lead the organisation. He has a proven record of execution and has shaped the Hub’s direction and programmes for many years. I am confident that he will bring his own stamp to this leadership role, while also staying true to our mandate,” comments Retief.

The organisation’s founding CEO Jenny Retief steps down to pursue other business ventures. She remains involved in the organisation as a member of the board. “True sustainability of any organisation requires putting succession at top of mind. We are fortunate to have some of Tafadwa’s calibre to step up to lead the organisation. He has a proven record of execution and has shaped the Hub’s direction and programmes for many years. I am confident that he will bring his own stamp to this leadership role, while also staying true to our mandate,” comments Retief.

The organisation’s founding CEO Jenny Retief steps down to pursue other business ventures. She remains involved in the organisation as a member of the board. “True sustainability of any organisation requires putting succession at top of mind. We are fortunate to have some of Tafadwa’s calibre to step up to lead the organisation. He has a proven record of execution and has shaped the Hub’s direction and programmes for many years. I am confident that he will bring his own stamp to this leadership role, while also staying true to our mandate,” comments Retief.

The organisation’s founding CEO Jenny Retief steps down to pursue other business ventures. She remains involved in the organisation as a member of the board. “True sustainability of any organisation requires putting succession at top of mind. We are fortunate to have some of Tafadwa’s calibre to step up to lead the organisation. He has a proven record of execution and has shaped the Hub’s direction and programmes for many years. I am confident that he will bring his own stamp to this leadership role, while also staying true to our mandate,” comments Retief.

Riversands entrepreneur Afribat is poised to change the stationary and motive battery industry status quo – targeting financial, risk and environmental efficiencies. The company specialises in maintenance, management and monitoring services to all lead acid battery environments in the telecommunication, power utility, data centre and forklift industries.

Anyone who visits Riversands Incubation Hub for the first time is blown away by the sheer scale at which the organisation operates. And the fact that we have over 150 businesses based on the campus at any given time, across different industries and stages of maturity, means that there is a huge amount going on, and data to track. Also exciting, is that with proper collection and management of this data, it soon becomes possible to spot trends and identify potential multipliers to business growth.

Riversands Incubation Hub graduates Why Cook took full advantage of the support services while on the campus and have now moved to new premises in Bryanston, where they plan on expanding the business to include a studio where they’ll offer cooking training and a venue for food photo shoots.

The events team pulled out all the stops when Riversands Incubation Hub and Nedbank recently partnered to announce the winners of the inaugural Small-Business Excellence Awards 2019. The venue was beautifully set up and the expectant guests arrived with bright smiles on their faces.

Persistence and determination are common themes when entrepreneurs recount their business journeys and these words form the golden thread running through Corium Skincare’s founder Vuyisile Zondi’s story as she recounts details of her quest to conquer the retail market.

If the aim of an incubation programme is to grow a business, then Riversands Incubation Hub deserves acknowledgement for the support provided to Moloi & Co Accountants – one of the first businesses on the campus when it opened in 2014 – because it grew substantially in the four years it was on the campus.

Our organisation’s goal is to help as many entrepreneurs as possible to survive and then thrive as small business owners. Some of these small businesses will grow to support a handful of employees. Others will go on to build large businesses and unlock many jobs and real generational wealth.

It goes without saying that NPC Riversands Incubation Hub seeks the best value for each Rand of procurement so it is pleasing to note that in the 10 months since the beginning of 2019, it has spent almost a million rand with on-campus SMEs. From inception in 2015 to date, the total rises to more than R7-million.

On Thursday 7 November, The Canvas Riversands hosted an inspiring presentation and discussion ‘Hello 2020 Powering Up for the Year Ahead’ led by successful entrepreneur John Paul Waites.

There was an air of great excitement in the heart of Diepsloot on Wednesday 20 November when the DYP hosted its annual award ceremony for the best performing students in the various streams of the programme including soccer, netball, study skills and homework club as well as arts and culture.

Building a professional, sustainable business has required determination and persistence from entrepreneur Seola Mashamaite, who established the only black woman-owned ISO 17025 SANAS-accredited calibration laboratory in SA – Montech Calibrations Services (MonCal) – in 2014.

As with many countries, South Africa is seriously considering including coding into the national curriculum. Earlier this year Cyril Ramaphosa made it clear that inclusion will be an objective he intends to see come to fruition during his presidency. This is commendable – but is it realistic?