Page 20 - CSERI Annual Review eBook

DURBAN UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY
of my learning experience during the incubation programme: Access to Funding, Access to Procurement Portals, Access to Growth Wheel Platform, Access to a network of Entrepreneurs, Opportunities to become a DUT Service Provider, Opportunity to pitch to investors. These opportunities have helped me grow and take our business onto the next level. Our turnover has increased by 15% as at the end of this financial year and our business managed to grow. As a result we now have 14 employees.
Q. What advice would you give to entrepreneurs who wish to follow in your footsteps?
There is always an opportunity to learn in your journey as an entrepreneur. Be open to it. Resilience is a person’s ability to bounce back from adversity and grow from the challenge. Sometimes growth comes in places you least expect it. Never think that you have arrived. Always look for ways to empower other entrepreneurs because someone took the time to do it for you.
Business Owner: Seshme Holloway Tel: 031 811 2738
Email: seshme@jrssolutions Website: www.jrssolutions.co.za
DUT CSERI ALUMNUS STRIVES IN
THE HOSPITALITY SPACE
Durban University of Technology (DUT) alumnus Chef Philani Ncube is the founder of Bon Appetite Foods, a multiservice catering company that offers a wide range of services that guarantee excellence and go beyond catering for both domestic and corporate events, to providing for commercial catering establishments such as cafeterias, canteens, co- operative businesses, bakery, decor and catering events. As a Hospitality graduate, Philani ventured into catering industry in 2019 after finishing his qualification. The young driven entrepreneur joined the DUT-CSERI incubator in 2020. “It is our honor and privilege to be part of the DUT Centre for Social Entrepreneurship Incubation, which has been a crucial lifeline for Bon Appetit Foods and many other businesses like ours where we have and leant to improve business compliance, build good systems and processes, learnt new ways of marketing our business to increase sales. It has also given us an opportunity to hire more people. With the help of the centre Bon Appetit now employs six full time staff”
said Ncube. The young entrepreneur’s biggest dream is own a franchise, and bakery and establish a food and beverage training academy. “The DUT CSE Programme has truly been our biggest champion and we are proud to call ourselves one of its success stories. The Programme has helped us advance to a new level and we’re grateful for all the support and are excited for the growth and new opportunities we’ll be exposed to in 2023” said Ncube.
Ncube says the advice he would give to other entrepreneurs is that they should love their businesses, take good care of their employees and align with industry bodies and continuously build business skills and knowledge in order to take their businesses to the next level.
Business Owner: Philani Ncube
Tel: 0761791616 / 0691403538
Email: Address: pphilani.pty.ltd@gmail.com
18 CENTRE FOR SOCIAL ENTREPRENUESHIP RAPID INCUBATOR