Business accelerator Property Point and four of its small business graduates dominated this year’s SA Business Incubation Conference Awards. Together they won three of the six categories and walked away with a total of five awards.

The award winners were announced at the South African Business Incubation Conference held in November and hosted by the Small Enterprise Development Agency (Seda) in partnership with the Department of Small Business Development (DSBD). Minister of Small Business Development, Lindiwe Zulu, presented the awards.

The awards recognise and encourage best practice in the enterprise development space. Their winners encapsulate the heart of the enterprise development ecosystem. The award categories consider the variety of programmes that have benefited from various Seda and DSBD initiatives.

Property Point, the Growthpoint initiative, won Accelerator of the Year for its exemplary programme. It earned the award based on its unique model, innovation, outputs, funding streams, and partners. Property Point’s growing network of partners include Growthpoint, Attacq Limited and the Department of Small Business Development (DSBD).

Shawn Theunissen, head of Property Point and head of Corporate Social Responsibility at Growthpoint, says: “We are delighted to win this prestigious award, but even more excited about the awards that the Property Point graduate businesses won. These superb businesses and successful entrepreneurs richly deserve the recognition they are achieving. We couldn’t be more proud of them.”

Thatego Holdings won Outstanding Graduate Entrepreneur of the Year. With the award, owners Thabo and Dorcas Malefetse collected R300,000 for their business. This award recognises entrepreneurs who are successful post incubation/accelerator support. It is judged on turnover growth, job creation, diversification, technology improvement, honours received and corporate social responsibility. Makasela Air, owned by Tiyani Khoza, was awarded second runner-up in the category.

Kusile Hygiene ‘n Industrial Services won the Outstanding Accelerator Client Award, with owners Olga and Sifiso Ncube collecting R300 000 for their business. This award recognises an outstanding client of an accelerator programme that has shown innovation, impact through problem-solving, at least 30% growth in turnover and employment creation within the first year of its accelerator support. Mila Cleaning was awarded first runner-up in the category. It is owned by Charlotte Khoza and Annemarie Mostert.

Property Point was launched by Growthpoint in 2008 and has established a decade-long track record of successfully developing sustainable small businesses. Over the past 10 years, it has changed the small business landscape in the property sector. It has facilitated market opportunities worth R1.14bn for the 168 SMEs that have taken part in its two-year enterprise and supplier development programmes. It has also created more than 2 405 full-time jobs. Its SMEs report an average 44% growth in revenue.

Released by:
Property Point Shawn Theunissen, Head of Corporate Social Responsibility at Growthpoint Properties and Founder of Property Point
Tel: +27 (0) 11 833 0340
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For more information, or to book an interview, please contact Mahlatse Bojanyane on 011 783 0700 or on 083 453 6668 or email Mahlatse@marketingconcepts.co.za.