Thanks to strong corporate partnerships, the Riversands I-Hub campus is now fully digitalised and most of the SMEs are taking advantage of the extremely low cost internet access that has been provided.

When Riversands entrepreneur Sizwe Jantjie bought work wear specialist company KTF Africa at the end of 2019, little did he realise the tumultuous journey that awaited him!
“As soon as the pandemic made itself felt, I had to take a long hard look at the business and seriously curtail the overheads to stand any chance of survival,” commented Jantjie ruefully.

Apple Green Environmental entrepreneur Langa Sangoni is a dedicated sustainability activist who has a vision for a zero-waste society within his lifetime. He runs the business with his business partner Boniswa Sangoni (who also happens to be his wife) and – like numerous businesses worldwide – when the pandemic hit in 2020, the company had to be innovative to ensure its future sustainability.

“We’re entrepreneurs through and through.” These are the first words Riversands entrepreneur Lerato Nako says about herself and her business partner Shadi Phatudi-Mphahlele, who established Ingenious Marketing back in December 2015.

There’s a certain magic that happens when two long-time friends spot a niche in the local market and pour their energy into creating a strong South African brand. In the case of Tau Coffee, the journey has been one of respect, innovation, creativity and hard-nosed business sense.

Riversands entrepreneur Wisani Hlungwane first started Applied Metrology Services (AMS) as a side hustle and soon had sufficient turnover to take premises at Riversands Incubation Hub in 2018. As a business that specialises in industrial metrology, it has been successful thanks to a number of factors.

Pascal Investment Holdings, a business based at Riversands Incubation Hub, has three divisions ranging from Pascal Interior Design and Carpentry, Pascal Raw Materials and Chemicals and a third which is Pascal Hygiene and Chemicals.

What is to be done when a business’s main income source all but dries up due to a pandemic? In the case of the team at Why Cook Studio, the two female entrepreneurs immediately realised that they would have to pivot their business and offer different food experiences when corporate clients were working from home and they no longer required regular team meals to be delivered to their doors.

Nth Degree is an engineering concern based at Riversands Incubation Hub with entrepreneur Thabiso Pila in the driving seat. The business has been registered since 2014 and operating full-time since early 2020, which wasn’t a particularly good time to launch a business!

The Lucert Group grew its fibre-to-home business by 30% between March 2020 and March 2021 – pretty impressive when one realises that this was during the tumultuous months of the pandemic.

The indigenous landscaping on the 40 000 square metre campus of Riversands Incubation Hub looks spectacular thanks to a woman-owned business Prim and Proper Landscaping which maintains the area. Entrepreneur Tiisetso Sylvia Khabele has an established team of six men – all from Diepsloot – who spend their days mowing, weeding and pruning the beautiful shrubs, groundcovers and lawn. Among this group is a supervisor, who has freed up Khabele to focus on networking and business development.

Inspired to follow his dream of becoming an entrepreneur, Riversands entrepreneur Tumi Lesolang established North Star Reputation Management in January 2016 after being in the public relations industry with a leading agency for a number of very productive years.

When chatting to designer entrepreneur Vuyokazi Nghona from Inami Trading one would be excused for thinking that her business is flourishing despite the fact that her principal source of income from the tourist market has been decimated. “Most of my contemporary African clothing designs were previously sold through tourist outlets such as OR Tambo Airport and curio shops in leading centres. Naturally with the crash in of the international tourist market, I had to make alternative plans,” remarked Nghona.

The amazing team of developers at ChatBack recently completed an innovative pro bono pilot project for Riversands Incubation Hub which focused on the use of WhatsApp as an SME employee verification instrument for the on-campus businesses.

Entrepreneur and Riversands Incubation Hub graduate Cindy Malaza is a consummate professional. Her business, Timeless Opulence, manufactures bespoke furniture but Malaza has learnt hard lessons from the lockdown – don’t rely on things always staying the same! In this light, she now plans to establish a ready-to-go range of furniture which can be bought off the showroom floor and in the near future, these pieces will also be available in an online store.

When South Africa started emerging from the hard lockdown, Riversands Incubation Hub realised that business owners would require additional support and Project Reignite was formulated. The entrepreneurs responded enthusiastically and immediately started applying for the employee subsidy grants, undertaking to do the training that was the condition of obtaining the money.

Unity Electrical entrepreneur Manamane Mathabatha’s business has been steadily improving over the period of the pandemic thanks to network tower installations around Gauteng.
“When construction is complete, my team goes on site to set up the electrical component of the installation. This final phase of each tower has proved to be a game-changer for my business,” commented Mathabatha.

When Riversands entrepreneur Shaun Girdhari from Tweak Life first took premises on the campus in October 2019, little did he realise that he was about to experience one of the roughest years of his business life! Of course he wasn’t alone in this, since the Covid pandemic took the vast majority of the world by surprise.

Entrepreneur Khutsiso Kgole took premises at Riversands Incubation Hub towards the end of last year when his business, KLM High-giene Solutions, had experienced one of its best years of trading since being established in 2013.
“During lockdown, we were classified as an essential service. Of course, being a microbiology service, we knew about taking precautions against contracting Covid!” commented Kgole.

When two brothers Ashley and Kevin Singh started Auto Pit Stop in 2015, it was their passion for anything with wheels and particularly cars, that brought them to that point.

Riversands entrepreneur Frans Masenya has become accustomed to customers telling him about the awesome work the upholstery team from his business, MT Upholstery, delivers. The specialist upholsterers tackle anything from new patio furniture to headboards and lounge suites to re-covering old furniture and revamping car interiors.

Fashion design graduate Kelebogile (Kele) Serake established Ekares Twilight in 2016 after completing the textile upcycling programme sponsored by Coca-Cola South Africa at Riversands Incubation Hub. Initially she focused on producing matric jackets for different schools in Diepsloot, which led to an evolution in the business consisting of making leisure wear and other fashion items.

Murendi Mafumo started his business, Kusini Water, with the express intention of providing bulk water filters to communities with no access to clean water. In the almost four years since he established the business, this honourable vision is now coming to fruition.

As a sub-contractor on the original building site of Riversands Incubation Hub, entrepreneur Michael Tshifularo’s company MTEA Project was familiar with the Riversands Incubation Hub campus before it started operating.

What happens when a qualified CA spends so much stressful time at work that she feels she needs a sabbatical? If that CA’s name is Marlo Chipunza, she heads home and, after putting her feet up for a short while, she soon starts entertaining her friends, serving her culinary delights and wowing them with yummy desserts.

When it comes to curries and pickles, Preggsson’s Spices produces a range of delicious goods which make your mouth water! Riversands entrepreneur Seimani Naidu says that once her customers try out her pre-mixed Kashmiri curry powder, they’re hooked and will never go back to using individual spices in their meals.

Riversands entrepreneur Pulane Mogopodi is naturally stylish and her dress design business, Puny Couture, has always offered creative work and evening wear. When lockdown restrictions were introduced in March last year, the business was adversely affected.

The team at SM3 has taken full advantage of their business’s location, which is in the fastest growing development mode in the country. Started by a team of two husbands and wives, the company recently moved to Riversands Incubation Hub after being delayed by the hard lockdown.

There’s no doubt that security company Lekgopo le Leso has many happy clients in its portfolio since many of them are trusting the company with their premises over the December holidays.

While many of us were coping with remote work and virtual meetings during the hard lockdown, entrepreneur Teboho Lebakeng had a brainwave for a new business.

A love for ice cream and a dedication to the health of the planet led vegetarian entrepreneur Sinenhlanhla (Sine) Ndlela to start experimenting with recipes to make artisanal dairy-free ice cream, Yococo.

Give Omphile Magasa a brief to create a cake of any description and she immediately gets to work, researching and designing the most stunning creations. Her dedication to her craft and her hard work have meant that her business, Baked by Opy, has grown to such an extent that she is now contemplating hiring extra team members, getting more baking equipment and moving to a bigger unit at Riversands Incubation Hub.

It’s not often that a framing company has the bold vision of preserving its customers’ memories but when entrepreneur Kagiso Tshikare started Kaone Décor Framing and Paintings, he was determined to set himself apart from the crowd.

“It’s wonderful to carry a high-end camera around in one’s cell phone to capture memories and having the photographs printed then framed turns them into décor items for the home or office,” commented Tshikare.

When the Covid-19 lockdown was announced, business partners Kirti Kamal and Dasen Sarugaser were wondering if they might be forced to close their business, Food by Kirti but what transpired was a pleasant surprise!
“Our Facebook and Instagram marketing attracted customers who were tired of cooking for themselves each day.

Rishav Juglall is no ordinary young man! He started Rocky Brands at the tender age of 21 because he was absolutely determined to become an entrepreneur. The business is now poised to celebrate its 10th birthday in 2021.
“When I started, I used my youthful resilience to my business’s advantage because I kept phoning prospects until I got a ‘yes’. From the beginning, I’ve treated everything associated with my business on a professional footing and now I’m starting to reap the rewards of this attitude,” explained Juglall.

Having made it through hard lockdown, entrepreneur Sthembiso Mkansi is extremely pleased to see that his turnover for 2020 has already exceeded that of last year, which almost forced him to close shop.

There’s no shortage of inspirational stories at Riversands Incubation Hub, where entrepreneurs show up every day to build their businesses and find new ways to grow their incomes. Metallurgist Pascal Hlongwane is one such individual. He started his business, Pascal Investment Holdings, at the beginning of 2018 after working in the mining industry and has steadily been ensuring that it goes from strength to strength.

Construction health and safety consulting operation Gatsheni Sizwe was perfectly poised to take advantage of lockdown when all its clients, as well as many other businesses, needed PPE and hand sanitizer.

Andile Fulane is a man on a mission to ensure that all South Africans receive the financial advice and education they need to manage their money, particularly during the financial crisis in which many people find themselves. His company, Finlite Financial Education, has established a social investment fund and bursary scheme to fulfill this dream.

The entrepreneurial spirit is so strong in some people that they’ll walk away from a high-powered role in an SOE to follow their dream of becoming independent and more fulfilled. This is what qualified chemical engineer Aluwani Mutamani did when she took the plunge to devote herself full-time to Motama Kitchens at the beginning of 2018 after starting it as a side-hustle in 2016.

How often do people hosting family get-togethers and birthday parties wish that they could have themed tableware to welcome their guests?

Tshidi Morabi from Ginini Consulting is one smart woman. Last year she was the winner of the Best Woman in STEM and Best Incubated Solution at the MTN Business App of the year award ceremony for her LocTransie app which tracks learners who take transport to school and back each day.

When walking into IG3N’s unit at Riversands Incubation Hub, it is immediately apparent that this company is going places: the team is feverishly putting together lithium iron phosphate batteries or preparing parcels for delivery while the directors maintain the steady upward trajectory of the business.

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.

When wandering around the Riversands campus it’s quite likely that one’s nostrils will be filled with the tempting smell of freshly-baked bread emanating from the wholesale bakeries owned and operated by brothers Avinesh and Nitesh Luckan.

Speaking to Riversands entrepreneur Stephen Maponya about the Window Aprons his business produces is akin to inhaling the purest oxygen. That’s the level of dedication and enthusiasm he exudes for Great Premier Solutions, which was recently listed on South Africa’s largest online retail platform, takealot.com.

South Africa’s sluggish economy can largely be attributed to power supply constraints but the team at Riversands Incubation Hub-based i-G3N is very bullish that the country will be adopting renewable energy at a much faster rate this year to help stimulate growth.

i-G3N has developed technology to assemble and distribute lithium-iron batteries which are extremely cost-effective over the life cycle of the battery, lasting up to three times longer than the lead-acid alternative.

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?