Evelyn Buda of Buda Foundation Project in Limpopo is the winner of FunDza’s Business Plan competition, walking away with a R5000 cash prize to invest in her business.
From September to November, FunDza ran the Own Your Destiny course on the fundza.mobi site. This provided young people with advice on setting up and starting a small business. At the end of the course, successful completers could enter the Business Plan competition with a BIG prize – R5000 investment in their business.
There were 520 entrants for the competition, representing small businesses (or small business ideas) from across the country. It was incredibly hard for our judging panel to decide between the different and diverse operations.
We found out about hair salons, nail and beauty spas, fruit and vegetable sellers, clothing retailers or clothing designers, spaza shops and fastfood spaces, tour operators, after-school tutoring programmes, tilers and builders, and internet cafes! It was heartening to hear about all the different enterprises and ideas. Congratulations to all the people who entered.
We selected Buda Foundation Projects because it is already operational and serving the community. Through it Evelyn grows vegetables and sells it door-to-door, and also sells to local creches, NGOs and schools. She also had a specific need – fencing for her plot as well as seeds, etc. So the investment can serve an immediate purpose.
We also loved the fact that the business was not just about making money but about helping people in her community. Evelyn wrote in her motivation: “My business doesn’t only inspire me or help me but it inspires and helps people around in my community to eat healthy food without spending too much money when they buy it.”
On hearing that she’d won the competition, Evelyn cried and said: “Winning this competition means a lot to me and my business. I will be able to buy more seeds and plant more vegetables and will also use some money to buy a fence for my garden.”
Congratulations to Evelyn… may Buda Foundation Project grow and flourish in years to come!
And, well done to everyone who completed the Own Your Destiny course, and the Business Plan competition. We hope that this will encourage you to work hard at your entrepreneurial ideas so that you can build them into strong and successful enterprises in the future.