By Kefiloe Kajane
The Entrepreneurs Network (TEN) is back again. This time it is helping women in agriculture and technology with their upcoming businesses through competition.
As a way to celebrate and embrace women, TEN is inviting women who have business ideas in agriculture to submit three-minute videos pitching ideas on the problems they aim to solve and how they hope to do so. This increase their chance of securing funding, exposure and business training by professionals.
TEN’s Head of Marketing and Projects Seheshe Hoohlo told this publication that although August is a South African Women’s Month, they realised that they too can use the opportunity to celebrate women, given the fact that Lesotho has an ‘umbilical’ relationship with the neighbouring country, especially when it comes to business.
Hoohlo explained that the competition is going to have two parts. The first part, after all contestants have submitted their videos, they will be posted online where the top five videos that will receive the most reactions will go to the next round. He said the second part of the competition is where the top five will pitch their ideas in front of judges who are business professionals.
He indicated that because of the Covid-19 pandemic it was not possible to celebrate International Women’s Month in March, hence the decision to do it now. This also informed the standpoint to specifically target women and give them an opportunity to showcase their capabilities and dominate like their male counterparts.
“It is not that we are trying to shut men out; they will still get other opportunities since we host this event every two months. Already, we have specified that this competition is for women but there are already men that are submitting their videos and we said, you know what, maybe if we do not get enough women, we will consider some men too who have submitted their pitches,” Hoohlo said.
He explained that the competitions are not only about the winning pitch, but for all the people who have entered, to get the exposure.
He said they have many people who are now business professionals who were once contestants but did not win; TEN training got them where they are today.
