This month Raizcorp will launch, with the assistance of Bank of America, two business development programmes focused on elevating entrepreneurs affected by the significant recent economic unrest in the region.
The events which took place in July 2021 saw over 40,000 businesses dramatically impacted. The cost to the national economy, estimated to be approximately R50 billion, has been devastating to local business owners, their employees and families.
Richard Gush, Country Executive at Bank of America for South Africa said, “Entrepreneurs play an essential role in South Africa’s economic ecosystem.
Through this initiative with Raizcorp, we will provide expert mentoring, business development and business support to budding entrepreneurs and hope to help deliver long-term sustainable growth in the country.”
The first programme offers established businesses a “financial makeover.” This programme is ideal for entrepreneurs whose businesses are stuck or failing due to a lack of financial understanding and management.
The Financial Makeover programme runs for three months and the 40 selected businesses will be taken on a step-by-step financial learning and implementation journey.
Entrepreneurs receive the financial learning through Raizcorp’s exclusive Blue Eagle Club, a digital platform offering business courses for entrepreneurs.
They also receive one-on-one mentoring as well as bookkeeping setup, support and services. “It is crucial to understand the numbers in your business,” says Raizcorp CEO, Allon Raiz. “Finances steer every decision you make as an entrepreneur. If you do not grasp the finances of your business, you cannot make informed decisions.
This programme encourages entrepreneurs to face their financial fears and empower themselves by becoming financially literate.”
Aimed at fintech entrepreneurs, the second programme provides access to mentoring, a network of field experts and help to build their business proposal as they compete towards winning their share of a R1 million prize.
A select 20 entrepreneurs will take part in the Compression Chamber programme, which is run over two months, designed to help them further develop their fintech business proposal. At the end of the intensive programme, entrepreneurs will pitch their business plan to a panel of industry experts.
Candidates will need to carefully articulate their strategy, demonstrating market knowledge, projections, timelines, budgeting and how they plan to measure results, before taking questions from the panel.
The two winning entrepreneurs will receive R500 000 each and use this to work towards developing their business proposal, with careful guidance and business support provided by Bank of America and Raizcorp.
This next stage of the programme takes place in the form of six months on Raizcorp’s Flowcode Fast Forward, a high-touch, signature programme designed to sustainably scale businesses.