MALKERNS – A former finalist of the Business Plan Competition (BPC) has come out to say that the competition assisted her in starting her business.

 

Speaking during the graduation of the top 55 finalists at House on Fire on Friday, Hlobsile Mdlovu of Ludziwo Foods said the training offered by the competition was comprehensive although most of the course work was familiar to her as she is a commerce graduate.

 

She said she needed a refresher course to further her business acumen and exposure before she could venture into this new business.

 

“After the training, I definitely felt a lot more confident and motivated to face the business world, the banks and the customers. Though I did not make it to the top 20, I ensured that I polished up my business plan as per the judge’s recommendations and started implementing it . Two months after graduation from the Believe Begin Become (BBB) programme, I was able to secure funding from the Swaziland Finance Development Corporation (FINCORP) and this was achieved through my fellow mentor Sabelo Mabuza who is working for SIPA,” she explained.

 

Mdlovu elaborated that not making it to the top 20 did not mean the end of her journey and she maintained her focus and relationship with TechnoServe. She said she then joined the BBB Alumni which keeps all the graduates of the programme together to develop their businesses.

 

She thanked TechnoServe for assisting her even after the competition.

 

Giving a brief background about her business, she said it a business unit of a holding company called Ludziwo LweMaswati (PTY) LTD.

 

She said Ludziwo Foods’ mission was to manufacture and distribute a variety of high quality nutritious food products such as Summer Cool emahewu emabele, fruit juices and lolly pops.