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Here are the four gutsy female winners of Sorbet-Preneur

With support from Bidvest and Sorbet, four inaugural winners of the Sorbet-Preneur competition will each receive an opportunity to start their own beauty franchise. We attended the emotionally-charged prize giving ceremony in Johannesburg, where we listened to compelling stories of exceptional courage, leadership and dedication these truly inspirational women demonstrated to get where they're.

𝗪𝐚𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐭’ 𝐚𝐛𝐚𝐟𝐚𝐳𝐢, 𝐰𝐚𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐭’ 𝐢𝐦𝐛𝐨𝐤𝐨𝐝𝐨’ - (𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐒𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐚 𝐰𝐨𝐦𝐚𝐧, 𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐒𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐚 𝐑𝐨𝐜𝐤⁣⁣)

The phrase above, famously used in South Africa to celebrate and honour women, came to life on Wednesday (March 15) – in the back of the International Women’s Month – as beauty and grooming brand Sorbet and Bidvest Bank announced the winners of the inaugural Sorbet–Preneur competition.

⁣⁣Boasting a combined experience of 32 years at Sorbet, the four newly announced winners (namely Sharon Dikgale, Zimkita Yeki, Palesa Kouakou and Sibongile Dlamini) are on their way to owning their own Sorbet Salon or Nailbar. Consequently, they will receive 50% of the investment required to set up their businesses in the form of unencumbered cash from Bidvest Bank.

Who is eligible? The competition is developed for Sorbet Citizens, as the workers employed across the Sorbet Group franchise-owned stores are called, who aspire to become franchise owners but are not in a position to raise the funding. In this regard, Sorbet will waive the initial franchise fee, meaning that this portion of the funding can be used to set up and equip the store.

Bidvest Bank will also provide a business loan to cover the balance of the funding needed to get started, which will also cater for initial operating costs. The amounts will be repayable over a five-year period aligned to the franchise agreement.

Sorbet-Preneur; inspiring sustainable businesses that give back to communities

Adressing the guests, Linda Sinclair, CEO of the Sorbet Group said: “It’s an absolute honour to be here, at the most inspiring and emotional event. I just looked at our franchise partners, and the tears in their eyes drove me too to tears.”

Sinclair added: “We’ve been on an incredible journey over the last 18 months, but in particular over the last five months. The Sorbet-Preneur initiative was really about creating entrepreneurship for these women who are so inspired to be their own business owners, and Sorbet is about just doing that; touching lives and we’re going to be changing four incredible women’s lives, so that they can give back to their communities every single day.”

Linda Sinclair, CEO of the Sorbet Group, and Hannah Sadiki, Bidvest Bank CEO with Sorbet-Preneur Winners.

For Hannah Sadiki, Bidvest Bank CEO, entrepreneurship is essential to building a prosperous future in South Africa “and it is very important that finance providers are able to respond to this need” – by enabling access to finance. Explaining the importance of Bidvest role in the initiative, Sadiki says: “For us it’s about empowering young people to own their own businesses, that’s the first thing. Secondly, if you think of the most successful developing countries, it’s because of SMEs. Secondly, we wanted to create a space for SMEs to employ people; companies can only employ so many people, which is why need a lot of SMEs to create a higher number of employment.

“Thirdly, we wanted to support female entrepreneurs to build sustainable businesses. We don’t just want to throw them with money, with (non-effective) mentorship and they don’t become successful. And this is why we partnered with African Pursuit, and employed a proper, tried and tested model that has been successful like that of Sorbet.”

⁣⁣

Tankiso Komane
Tankiso Komane
A Tshwane University of Technology journalism graduate, Tankiso Komane has a vast experience in print & broadcast media business and has worked for some of the country’s biggest daily newspapers, including The Sowetan, The Citizen, The Times, and The New Age. Through her varied work as a journalist, notably as a copywriter for SABC1 (On-Air promotions) and as a publicist for Onyx Communications, she has developed an in-depth understanding of the nature of the media business and how to use it for the purpose of exposure. Her expertise in journalism across various disciplines, coupled with a good reputation, has laid the foundation of a new kind "trust in Journalism" as the media ecosystem continues to digitally evolve.
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