It was a special two days at the innobiz DUT Centre for Entrepreneurship and Innovation as the Centre hosted The Entrepreneurship Talk with Mr Penuel Mlotshwa, bringing together student entrepreneurs, innovators and business leaders for conversations on entrepreneurship.
At the heart of the engagement were stories of humble beginnings, setbacks, resilience and perseverance, as a panel of five entrepreneurs from the three phases of the innobiz incubation programme shared their journeys, challenges, lessons and ambitions.
The panel, led by Mr Penuel Mlotshwa and innobiz DUT Centre Manager Ms Nontokozo Ngcobo, comprised Mr Mlungiseleli Bucu, founder of 4th AI; Ms Melokuhle Ntleko, founder of Takkie Wash SA; Mr Nkanyiso Dlamini, founder of Ruth Concepts; Ms Sinalenjabulo Ndlovu, founder of Nondela Project; and Ms Humeira Hassan, founder of Aquagreen Technologies.
Mr Penuel Mlotshwa.
Led by Mr Mlotshwa through his popular YouTube podcast, The Penuel Show, in collaboration with innobiz DUT, the engagement aimed to connect student entrepreneurs with potential customers and expose them to practical insights from an established voice in South Africa’s entrepreneurship space.
Ms Ngcobo thanked the University’s Executive Management Committee, led by DUT Vice-Chancellor and Principal Professor Thandwa Mthembu, for creating an enabling environment for entrepreneurship development within the DUT community.
“Prof. Mthembu always talks about an enabling environment and he has created DUT to be an enabling environment for entrepreneurship development not only because of the high unemployment rate that we have in South Africa, but also because there are people who are not made to work, people who show characteristics of being an entrepreneur and universities are safer spaces for that,” Ms Ngcobo said.
She highlighted the importance of integrating entrepreneurship into the curriculum to support the development of students who may have strong ideas but lack basic business and financial management skills.
“That’s why we bring you into the programme to teach you those critical financial management skills. Through innobiz we cover basic financial and business management skills, how to market your businesses, and how to integrate AI into your businesses.
“The University is currently going further than just creating entrepreneurs by ensuring that there is integration of entrepreneurship into the curriculum, ensuring that we start to ignite the entrepreneurial mindset from the classroom,” Ms Ngcobo said.
She also thanked the University for supporting opportunities that expose students to international markets, entrepreneurship trends and global best practices through benchmarking expeditions.
“We thank the University for supporting our crazy ideas. When you talk of exposure, we now have a budget for local and international exposure and that exposure contributes to how you think, the perspectives of other people in the entrepreneurship space and critically contributes to your business growth,” Ms Ngcobo said.
Mr Mlotshwa also recognised DUT’s support for student entrepreneurship through programmes such as those offered by innobiz.
“We speak about it in passing, but I don’t think you guys understand how difficult it is to run a department like this. There are a lot of institutions in South Africa that speak a big game about entrepreneurship, ‘we need entrepreneurs, entrepreneurs are the ones that create jobs’, but when you actually get on the ground you realise there’s a lot of red tape and a lot of pushback.
“We are not sure why this is, but we are hoping some of these institutions will engage us so that people like Ms Ngcobo can assist them and show them how this thing actually works. From my side I would also like to thank Prof. Mthembu and his executive team and the whole of DUT for creating an enabling environment for what this is and I’m looking forward to taking this on the road to other universities because this is desperately needed in the country,” Mr Mlotshwa said.
The entrepreneurs on the panel then shared their experiences of navigating the challenges and opportunities of building businesses.
Mr Dlamini spoke about the importance of maintaining accurate financial records when seeking investment. He explained how detailed documentation of every transaction in his businesses helped demonstrate financial discipline and made his businesses more attractive to investors and financial institutions.
Ms Hassan, whose business is based on the commercialisation of her research, spoke about the challenge of bridging the gap between research and commercialisation. She highlighted the importance of ensuring that research translated into products and services that address societal needs and have a meaningful impact on communities.
Ms Ntleko, who runs seven businesses, shared her experiences of managing older employees as a young entrepreneur. She spoke about the importance of leadership, accountability and consequence management while navigating business growth.
Mr Bucu encouraged young entrepreneurs to believe in their ideas and remain focused despite doubts from others. He emphasised the importance of putting in the work, refining ideas and continuously developing their businesses.
Ms Ndlovu spoke about operating in the male-dominated electrical construction industry. She said she approached the challenge by believing that she belonged in the sector and competing through the quality and competence of her work.
The session also included a question-and-answer segment, where participants engaged the panel on practical ways of navigating different sectors, including accessing funding, commercialising research, protecting ideas through intellectual property and establishing market linkages.
Through The Entrepreneurship Talk with Penuel, innobiz DUT provided student entrepreneurs with a platform to engage with experienced entrepreneurs, gain practical insights and explore opportunities to grow their businesses beyond the University environment.
Pictured: The panel discussion that took place during the session.
Photographer: Khonzinkosi Magcaba
Samkelo Mtshali
