The Winner of the Student Entrepreneur of 2019 Award, who also won in the Existing Social Impact Business Category (Category 3) of the Entrepreneurship Intervarsity Competition 2019 says growing up, he had no desire to become an entrepreneur. The bug only bit him during the last two years of his high school years.
The 21-year-old University of Cape Town student, Mvelo Hlophe, took home a total cash prize of R60 000 from the inaugural national Entrepreneurship Intervarsity competition. The money comprised the Overall Winner R50,000 award as well as the R10,000 prize for winning in Category 3 of the competition representing Existing Business: Social Impact.
After he scooped the Overall Winner award, his excitement was clearly evident. “When they announced my name I was like ‘yoh!’ I paused for a moment, letting it sink in. I was shocked but very excited.” He recalled at that time that “one or two people had said that I could potentially win in my category. But no one predicted that I would walk away with the overall prize.” Hlophe adds that word on the ground had also been that a top winner was likely to emerge from the technological category because of the high quality of pitches received in that category.