Friday 14 October 2016

The Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) Network for Social Entrepreneurs (NSE) together with the British Council, Barloworld and SAB Foundation, will be hosting the 3rd annual Social Entrepreneurship Festival of Ideas Competition at the GIBS campus on 15 November 2016.

The Festival of Ideas is a dynamic search for sound business ideas that drive social change. The event is a platform that gives opportunity to mavericks and disruptors to pitch their unique ideas to a panel of experts for a chance to bring them to life.

“Social enterprises bring together the opposite worlds of business and civil society, delivering services that specifically develop and add value to our society while making profit. Our social enterprises work in all sorts of fields from health, education to food security – but unlike charities, the income that they earn mean that their work can be sustained and scaled,” said Itumeleng Dhlamini of the GIBS NSE. “It is this merging of two normally contrasting worlds that makes social enterprises and the social entrepreneurs who create them so innovative and disruptive.”

“The British Council is committed to promoting the development of social enterprise and social investment to help foster a more sustainable, inclusive and prosperous future for us all. Our programmes draw on expertise from across the globe, striving to share best practice and create opportunities between the UK and other countries.  Through our Entrepreneurial Africa programme, we look forward to being able to provide a global platform to encourage entrepreneurial skills, creativity and innovation among young African social entrepreneurs,” said Yani Horn, Head of Business Development, British Council South Africa.

The Festival rewards high impact ideas, with R200,000 available in a pool of prize money to simply get the idea going. South Africa’s entrepreneurial failure rates are well documented with the gap in available financing leading to a lack of confidence amongst people to just ‘give their idea a go’.  Winners will receive cash awards of up to R25,000 and the top four will travel with the British Council on an all-expenses-paid learning experience to the UK and Ghana to participate in the participate in the British Council’s Entrepreneurial Africa Social Entrepreneurship Experiential Learning Programme.  

How to enter:

  • Send a two-minute voice note of your idea on WhatsApp to 076 462 7377, include your full name and email address.
  • Or email it to dhlaminii@gibs.co.za with your name and contact number. 

Entries close on 26 October 2016.

Terms and Conditions apply.

Ends.

 

For more information, please contact:

Itumeleng Dhlamini
Tel: 011 771 4000
Email: dhlaminii@gibs.co.za

Yani Horn
Cel: 0792342209
Email: Yani.Horn@britishcouncil.org

Notes to Editor

About GIBS:

Founded in 2000, the University of Pretoria's Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) is an internationally accredited business school, based in Johannesburg, South Africa's economic hub. As the business school for business, we focus on general management in dynamic markets to significantly improve responsible individual and organisational performance, primarily in the South African environment and increasingly in our broader African environment, through the provision of high quality business and management education. In May 2016 the annual UK Financial Times Executive Education rankings, a global benchmark for providers of executive education, once again ranked GIBS as the top South African and African business school. This is the 13th year running that GIBS has been ranked among the top business schools worldwide. In October 2015 the GIBS MBA was ranked among the top 100 business schools globally in the prestigious Financial Times Executive MBA Rankings. GIBS is the only business school in Africa to appear in this ranking.

GIBS is accredited by the Association of MBAs (AMBA), the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB), the Council on Higher Education (CHE) and is a member of the South African Business Schools Association (SABSA), and the Association of African Business Schools (AABS). For more information, visit www.gibs.co.za

About the British Council

The British Council is the UK’s international organisation for educational opportunities and cultural relations. We create international opportunities for the people of the UK and other countries and build trust between them worldwide.

You can keep in touch with the British Council through Twitter @zaBritish and Facebook: British Council South Africa