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Dragon’s Den, South Africa style

Christie Constantine

31 Mar 2009 Christie Constantine

In January, Richard and Virgin Unite hosted a Wake Up Trip with a group of entrepreneurs from the US, UK and Canada and Germany to see first hand the impact of our programmes in South Africa.

Two lucky Virgin staff were selected in a global competition to come along on the trip: Peter Avis of Kensington Roof Gardens iin London and Tshepo Mathari of Virgin Mobile South Africa in Capetown. They kept a diary, complete with video clips, to document the trip for all other Virgin staff who weren't able to be there in person. Click here to check out the full diary.

Peter Avis

Staff winner Peter Avis
"I was so proud to work for Virgin before, but now knowing how much we do to help change this world we live in, I really feel blessed to be a part of it."

Young Entrepreneurs Challenge

During the trip, eight young entrepreneurs had the opportunity to pitch their business plans to Richard and his entrepreneur guests in the 'Young Entrepreneurs Challenge', a lively Dragon’s Den style event at the Branson School of Entrepreneurship.

Sonwabile Mngenela, founder of Mngenela Promoters, an up and coming ceramics designer and manufacturer, came out on top of the pack.

The panel awarded the winning students some fantastic prizes including 10K Rand investment in their business and an MBA training course at Cass Business School in London.

The Young Entrepreneurs Challenge will become an annual event thanks to a generous contribution of $50K by one of the panelists.

Meet the finalists online! Several of the young entrepreneurs participated in a video Q&A on Richard’s blog at entrepreneur.virgin.com .

Sonwabile Mngenela

Peter Cullum & Richard pose with challenge winner Sonwabile Mngenela
"We were humbled by the inspirational people we had the good fortune to meet and without doubt found the whole experience uplifting and life changing."

~ Peter Cullum, Chairman, Towergate Insurance

Andrew Black

Andrew Black
"I got so much out of this trip I'm brining my family back in August so that my children can gain this valuable perspective."

~ Andrew Black, President and CEO, Virgin Mobile Canada

SonwabileMngenela

Sonwabile Mngenela
"The advice I got from the entrepreneurs was very useful. You can't learn on your own--you learn from other people."

Mentorship programme launches

Following on the success of the Young Entrepreneurs Challenge, Virgin Unite is kicking off a new mentorship programme between successful entrepreneurs around the world and the young entrepreneurs at the Branson School. Yanik Silver, founder of Maverick Business Adventures in the US is helping us kick this off, and we are also developing an extensive mentorship programme between the School and the various Virgin businesses in South Africa. Stay tuned!