South African CSI brand news, Johannesburg — now in its 2nd year, meet the three new inaugural Sorbet-Preneur winners who are owners of their own brand-new Sorbet stores.
Nomalanga Mhlungu from Alexandra, Julia Simelane from Kyalami in Johannesburg and Zelma Matinise from Cape Town will each receive tailor-made business training, funding and the support they need to set up their very own Sorbet franchise stores.
A great entrepreneur need to not only know how to sell but be a strong leader who is able to effectively communicate, find new, innovative solutions to problems and take risks in order to grow and scale their businesses.
Likewise, the trio who are Sorbet employees, known as Sorbet Citizens, came up top from a carefully-selected talent of 13 exceptional finalists from across the country, who impressed a panel of judges for showing great aptitude for entrepreneurship.
Building on the success of the winners of the 2023 inaugural programme, all the finalists were given the opportunity to present business plans to a panel of esteemed business women and men from varying backgrounds.
Excited to present the trio as this year’s top performers during a special ceremony in Sandton, Johannesburg, Linda Sinclair, CEO of Sorbet had this to say: “The quality of this year’s applicants far surpassed our expectations, and we unanimously decided to increase the number of finalists this year. After a rigorous selection process, the three winners – all of whom show exceptional entrepreneurial potential – were selected.”
The Prize
The three winners’ lives are about to change for the better as they now become new Sorbet salon franchisees.
Each of the women will receive 50% of the capital investment required to fund their own Sorbet store in the form of a grant from the competition partners Bidvest Bank, Clicks Group and Sorbet. This will enable them to enter into franchise agreements with Sorbet, who are waiving the initial franchising fee for the winners. The remaining 50% will be a business loan payable over five years aligned to the franchise agreement.
Further support includes a 12-month mentorship programme provided by all the sponsors and delivered by African Pursuit. In addition, each winner will be assigned a personal banker by Bidvest Bank, which will also provide access to a credit team to help them effectively manage their business finances.
Hannah Sadiki, MD of Bidvest Bank was delighted once again to be part of the programme designed to empower young, aspiring entrepreneurs. “Throughout this process the participants have demonstrated a high level of business acumen and entrepreneurial spirit,” Sadiki said, adding: “The winners will be equipped with the necessary skills, resources and support to establish and grow successful, sustainable businesses that will have an impact on the communities they serve.”
Bidvest Bank Sorbet-Preneur is aligned with Sorbet’s vision, which is not only to deliver the ultimate beauty and grooming experience for its guests but to elevate individuals, families and communities through its holistic approach to doing business.
“The aim of Bidvest Bank Sorbet-Preneur is to facilitate socio-economic upliftment by providing career and life skills opportunities and training to enable interested individuals, especially women, to enter into and thrive in the beauty and grooming industry,” Sinclair added.
Measure of Suceess
As Sadiki explained at the ceremony, Bidvest took a great gamble and believed from the start in the franchise model of the training, conceptualised during times of uncertainty at height of Covid-19, along with the and rising inflation.
The inaugural Sorbet-Preneur surpassed their expectations, she said, with the stores managing to go above double digits. “To see that type of growth in this economy is huge for us and speaks volume to say ‘we went into this initiative when it was just after Covid-19, and people were just doing their own nails … that’s what we’re told. So we’re very proud of the growth we’ve seen.”
Elaborating on a series of training and mentoring-based interventions administered, Sadiki said the participants are incapacitated to want to think first and foremost about their businesses from a financial point of view.
Not only that, they’re also trained “to understand fully what it means to run a business from all aspects of marketing your business, all aspects of the sales in your business, as well as all aspects of managing your productivity and leading your team and helping grow it.”
As an investment bank, it’s important to capacitate that they can stand on their feet and run, Sadiki further said; “because what we want as a business is having them stand by their own feet rather than having a crutch, that when we step back they then fall down. For us the important principle that we want to drive is really about sustainability. We have to run sustainable businesses because from a relationship point of view, we have to ensure that our clients are successful.”
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