Barloworld Opens Up Barloworld Mbewu Programme For Social Entrepreneurs
Barloworld Opens Up Barloworld Mbewu Programme For Social Entrepreneurs. Social entrepreneurs are invited to submit their entries for consideration for incubation to the second leg of a Barloworld flagship entrepreneurial programme known as Mbewu. The entries for the 2021/2022 programme are open and close on 14 May 2021.
Mbewu was launched by Barloworld in 2019 to provide support to social enterprises and start-ups that work innovatively to solve challenges in society through their entrepreneurial activities. The programme seeks to drive economic sustainability, transformation and growth through development, funding and facilitating access to markets for small and medium sized enterprises.
“Since we launched the Mbewu programme three years ago, we have been encouraged by the zeal and enthusiasm that South Africans have demonstrated in developing innovative solutions that address socio-economic challenges in a sustainable manner. Through the Mbewu platform, we seek to unlock the potential of this growing sector of the economy and give promising start-ups in various fields the ability to scale up and blossom to their full potential.” Noluvo Vovo Ngcwabe, head of Corporate Social Investment at Barloworld told Biz Community.
Social enterprises that will be considered for incubation in the Mbewu programme are technology start-ups and those that are active in agriculture (including agro-processing), industrial services, the green economy, the creative industry and social innovation. The finalists who will be incubated into the Mbewu programme will join the ranks of past social entrepreneurs who are already blazing a trail in their respective industries. Successful candidates incubated into the Mbewu programme will receive mentorship, funding to scale up their operations and access to markets.
“We firmly believe that the private sector has an important role to play in helping social entrepreneurs to overcome the common barriers such as lack of financing solutions, human capital and a lack of information and networks. Through Mbewu, we believe that we can contribute positive to the growth of entrepreneurship with a social conscience and support a rare breed of men and women to foster positive change in a profitable and sustainable manner,” Ngcwabe added.
According to Biz Community, Barloworld is acutely aware of the challenges facing South Africa, and how the outbreak of Covid-19 has exacerbated the triple challenges of poverty, unemployment and inequality. Mbewu represents a tangible intervention that Barloworld has put in place to use the transformative power of social entrepreneurship to be a catalyst of positive social change.
