Western Cape Entrepreneurship Recognition Awards 2020 winners

The Western Cape Entrepreneurship Recognition Awards (WCERA) took place as a hybrid virtual event at the Cape Town International Convention Centre (CTICC), during which twelve inspiring entrepreneurs were recognised for their hard-work and resilience during the Covid-19 pandemic, with Ntombi Nonxuba from Rise Uniforms winning the title of "Business of the Year".

Rise Uniforms is based in the Philippi area, employs 46 people from the surrounding area and is a manufacturer and supplier of locally produced uniforms, corporate wear and complementary garments. During the Covid-19 pandemic, Nonxuba pivoted her business to also provide Personal Protective Equipment and in so doing was able to keep her business going and her staff employed during a very challenging time.

Ntombi Nonxuba (centre) from Rise Uniforms won “Business of the Year”

Winners

Category	Company name	Owner
Youth-owned Business: Winner	Ground Culture	Sebastian Daniels
Youth-owned Business: Runner-up	Veldt Boerdery	Ansell Langeveldt
Woman-owned Business: Winner	Rise Uniforms	Ntombi Nonxuba
Woman-owned Business: Runner-up	The Wren Design	Wendren Setzer
Township Business: Winner	4Roomed eKasi Culture	Abigail Mbalo
Township Business: Runner-up	Ntlantsana Accountants and Auditors	Simphiwe Joseph
Social Enterprise: Winner	Genesis Community IT Initiative	Llewellyn Scholtz
Social Enterprise: Runner	Click Africa Digital Pty	Jade Wyngaardt
Most Innovative Business: Winner	Hout Bay Air Water	Ray de vries
Most Innovative Business: Runner-up	Renegade Wine	Jaap Pijl
Emerging Business: Winner	Aizatron	Ansu Sooful
Emerging Business: Runner-up	Contour Enviro Group	Sabelo Lindani

Now in its eighth year, the Western Cape Entrepreneurship Recognition Awards (WCERA) celebrates the hard work of entrepreneurs and their contribution to job creation and economic growth in the Western Cape. Importantly also, the winning businesses are awarded with prize money and business support services that will help them to sustain or expand their organisations.

Congratulating all the winners during the keynote address, Western Cape Minister of Finance and Economic Opportunities, David Maynier, said: “Our entrepreneurs deserve to be celebrated because they play a critical role not only in creating jobs, but they also support skills development and provide opportunities for those who need it most. And they are role models for others, especially young people, who can learn from them and be inspired to start their own businesses. We support and encourage our entrepreneurs, now more than ever, because their entrepreneurial spirit is exactly what we need as we continue to fight both a health pandemic and an unemployment pandemic in the Western Cape.

“And so, since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, in addition to our many initiatives to support businesses, we have also been working hard to support entrepreneurs in the Western Cape. I’m incredibly proud that we have been able to help our entrepreneurs, because it is their brave leap into the unknown that results in disruption, in competition, in better ways of working and in the new ideas that we need to bounce back in the Western Cape.”