Young Entrepreneur Business Plan Competition | Africa Report

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Young Entrepreneur Business Plan Competition | Africa Report.

SOUTH AFRICA – Aspiring South African entrepreneurs aged 18 to 35 are called on to enter their innovative business plans to the Young Entrepreneur Business Plan Competition.

The South African SME Toolkit website, a business portal designed to assist entrepreneurs and fledgling businesses, is to host the Young Entrepreneur Business Plan Competition.

The competition and the website are both initiatives of World Bank Group member International Finance Corporation (IFC), IBM South Africa and Business Partners Ltd.

The competition, which is strictly open to South African citizens aged 18 to 35, calls on all budding entrepreneurs to submit their business plans, either for a potential business or an existing business that is less than two years old.

The competition focuses on developing young entrepreneurial talent in the country and raising awareness for emergent entrepreneurs who require greater support to realize their dreams.

Twenty candidates will be chosen to attend business development workshops to refine their business plans while up to three winners will attend the main gala event award evening to be held in Johannesburg. Further prizes up for grab include business training opportunities, mentorship vouchers and laptops.

In order to receive an application form, entrants need to register on the SME Toolkit website by no later than the 11 October 2010. So if you are a South African citizen keen to kickstart your business, visit the SME Toolkit website at  http://southafrica.smetoolkit.org/sa/en and register now.

If you are not a South African citizen you can still gain valuable business advice through the SME Toolkit websites. The Toolkit websites offer useful advice and tips on how to start a business by providing information on sources of finance, legal regulations and general business know-how.

These websites are distributed by IFC across several African countries and developed in partnership with local organizations that can offer relevant country specific information. At present local SME Toolkit websites are available for Algeria (hosted in French), Benin, Ghana, Kenya, Madagascar (hosted in French), Nigeria, Senegal, South Africa, West Africa (hosted in French) and Zambia. You can also check the global website portal at www.smetoolkit.org.

Dr. Ola Orekunrin 24yr Old Flying Doctor

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It is a new beginning in Nigeria . Obviously young Nigerians in the Diaspora are getting tired of complaining and one of them is Dr. Ola Orekunrin.  An exemplary product of England’s Foster care system, I read she was raised in a working class home by foster care parents where she quickly learned the value of hard and smart work, Dr. Ola graduated medical school at age twenty-one (21), becoming the youngest doctor to graduate in the entire country. With such impressive credentials and brilliance, you would think she would settle for working at England’s prestigious acute care facilities/hospitals. 

In 2009, armed with knowledge, she added to Nigeria’s “brain gain” by booking her ticket to a country she had never even visited to execute her plan.

Giving Nigerians one of the best innovations ever, Flying Doctors Nigeria Ltd, West Africa’s first Air Ambulance Service was created.

http://www.flyingdoctorsnigeria.com/index.htm