Tree planting and volunteerism company Greenpopwalked away as the unanimous winner of last night’s Enterprise Elevator pitch event, which was sponsored by Italian based entrepreneurship platform U-Start. The event, which took place at the Dream Factory in Cape Town was attended by industry players and high net-worth businesses and individuals looking to invest in profitable impact orientated businesses.
Future Power Solutions, a local wind power solution and Iono Broadcasting, a mobile audio technology that provides customisable teaching content to both teachers and students, were placed second and third respectively in the SMS audience vote.
Photo: Max Pichulik (Impact Amplifier), Lauren O’Donnell (Greenpop) and Gary Graham (Future Fit)
MC’d by Cape Talk morning show host Kieno Kammies, the seventeen finalists will receive business coaching valued at R510 000 by FutureFit, South Africa’s leading person-centred impact entrepreneurship development organisation and investment readiness incubation by Impact Amplifier, an accelerator for impact entrepreneurs.. FNB awarded an overall cash prize to the winner.
“Our judging criteria was straightforward,” Enterprise Elevator judge and founder of local consultancy, Sense2Solve, Itha Taljaard said. “The winning pitch needed to demonstrate commercial viability, scalability and transparency; Greenpop demonstrated all three of these, as well as really good systems thinking. Their business model has many dimensions and it has an excellent value proposition for a large and varied audience. At any point investors are able to track the impact being made – this a huge and attractive draw card for anyone wanting to invest seed capital into a business.”
“We’ve reached a point where we’re ready to grow Greenpop into key areas in South Africa and Africa,” co-founder and director of Greenpop Lauren O’Donnell said. “The demand is evident and the time is right, we just need the infrastructure, staff and support to do this. We’re very excited to be the overall winners, and are looking forward to the many doors that will open up to us as a result.”
The Enterprise Elevator pitch event was the first of many more to come, with the next activity being planned to take place in Johannesburg early next year. For more information on Enterprise Elevator visit www.enterpriseelevator.co.za.