Premier Announces Winners of 2014 Premier's Entrepreneurship Recognition Awards

This week (Thursday, 20 November 2014), at a gala ceremony in Cape Town, Premier Helen Zille announced the winners of the Premier’s Entrepreneurship Recognition Awards for 2014.

Each category winner won R90 000 and the overall winner won R50 000 and an all-expenses paid trip for two to a major global entrepreneurship event.

Jeanne Groenewald, founder of Elgin Free Range Chickens, walked away with the coveted Entrepreneur of the Year award. 

Premier Zille congratulated Jeanne and the rest of the winners on their outstanding achievements: “The winners of this year’s awards are all exceptional leaders who have demonstrated that through innovation and hard work, starting and growing a business is not only possible, but a fantastic career choice. Through the enterprises they have established, these entrepreneurs are driving growth and new jobs in our province.”

Minister of Economic Opportunities, Alan Winde, who co-hosted the event, agreed: “Entrepreneurs are a vital part of our economy. Each and every new business has the potential to one day become a large employer. My job is to create the right environment so that the dreams of our province’s aspiring entrepreneurs have the best chance of becoming realities.”

As part of a programme to boost entrepreneurship, and to recognise the contribution of emerging businesses to our economy, the Western Cape Department of Economic Development and Tourism launched the competition last year: “We received nearly triple the number of entrants this year as opposed to last year. There is a growing enthusiasm amongst Western Cape entrepreneurs to reach beyond traditional boundaries toward far greater goals, and I am very proud of each and every one of them for thinking, and implementing, out-of-the-box”, continued Winde.

The full list of winners is included below:

Best Emerging Business

·         Winner: Funda

·         Runner up: Triggerfish Animation

·         First runner up: Lusahn Pet Products

Best Established Business

·         Joint category winners: Elgin Free Range Chickens and Okuhle Media

·         Runner up: iKubu

Best Social Enterprise

·         Winner: Khayelitsha Cookie Company

·         Runner up: essay Gifts

·         First runner up: MyComlink

Best Green Business

·         Winner: Washtub Industrial Laundry Service

·         Runner up: Mellowcabs

·         First runner up: GreenHome Products

Best Innovative Student Business Idea

·         Winner: Lumkani

·         Runner up: InstaLens

·         First runner up: Grow Up

Special Award - Global Reach: Triggerfish Animation

Overall winner: Jeanne Groenewald, Elgin Free Range Chickens

For more information on the winners, see: http://www.westerncape.gov.za/event/winners-2014-premiers-entrepreneurship-recognition-awards-announced