Finweek and Aurik: R2.5 million in Gauteng Entrepreneurship Bursaries

This is well worth a look ladies and gents. Aurik and Marc Ashton from Finweek have been involved with the Mzansi Gold Investor Network project and I have immense respect for both of them. From what I've heard, the deadlines have been extended past 6 December 2011 for another week.

This is for Gauteng entrepreneurs only. Opportunities like this don't come along often. JUMP.

I've pulled out the important details here:

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Announcement

Finweek, in conjunction with business acceleration experts Aurik, is looking for 10 South African entrepreneurs in Gau- teng who are going to set the world alight in 2012. We have 10 entrepreneur- ship bursaries aimed at taking promising businesses to a new level and positioning your business to double its revenue over the next two years.


What are we looking for?

• The business must be registered as either a closed corporation or private company.
• The business should also be in the early stage of the business life cycle, trading for a mini- mum of two and a maximum of seven years.
• The lead entrepreneur and/or other members of the executive team should have been involved in the industry/sector in which the business is operating for at least five years.
• The business should have a minimum turnover of at least R150 000 a month. You will be asked to provide financial statements to support your application.
• The campaign is open to all business sectors but you must be able to demonstrate that the business is well positioned within a strong growth sector of the South African economy.
• The business must be located in Gauteng and you must be prepared to travel to the Aurik Head Office (Rosebank, Johannesburg) on a regular basis to attend the Aurik Acceleration sessions.
• The lead entrepreneur will be required to undergo an online entrepreneurial assessment as part of the selection process.
• All winners must be prepared to conclude a 24-month Acceleration Agreement with Aurik and to effect a co-payment of R1 000 pm over the 24-month period.

How to get a business noticed

• If you know of a deserving entrepreneur and would like to nominate him/her for this competition then visit http://www.aurik.co.za/accelerators-campaign-nomination/
• Alternatively, if you would like to nominate yourself, visit the website and complete your details and the relevant documentation will be sent to you.
• Entries close at midnight on 6 December 2011. (I think this has been extended - Andy)
• A shortlist of 20 will be released, with the 10 finalists being announced in January 2012.
• After that, it’s a case of following @finweek on Twitter, checking out the Finweek magazine and visiting www.fintalk.co.za to find out what our finalists are up to.
• There’s also a very exciting crowd-sourcing element which will be brought in as part of the second phase of the competition. This makes it one of the most innovative entrepreneurship initiatives out there.