FNB Business has announced the five judges who will preside over the selection process to determine the 2018 winner of FNB Business Innovation Awards (BIA) supported by Endeavor South Africa (EndeavorSA).
Candidates are being reviewed based on the stringent Endeavor selection criteria. Those who make it through the first Endeavor Local Selection Panel will be shortlisted as finalists. Finalists will then be interviewed over two judging days to evaluate them based on the FNB BIA criteria. The overall winner will be announced at a gala dinner in June this year.
Mike Vacy Lyle, CEO of FNB Business says, “We are encouraged to see the Awards continuing to attract the highest caliber of judges who are respected entrepreneurs and business leaders in their own right. Over the past three years, the FNB Business INNOVATION Awards have brought to the fore some of the country’s emerging entrepreneurs and gave them a platform to build networks that will help with scaling their businesses.”
The judges for the 2018 leg of the FNB BIA are as follows:
Phuti Mahanyele – Executive Chairperson of Sigma Capital an investment holding company. She was awarded the Forbes Woman Africa Business Woman of the Year Award as well as the Platinum Award by Motlekar Holdings BBQ Awards in 2014. She is the former CEO of the Shanduka Group, a principal investment firm specialising in investing in resources/resource investments.
Andile Khumalo – MD of POWER 98.7, COO of MSG Afrika and presenter of POWER Business on Power FM. A seasoned entrepreneur, deal maker and operator of growth businesses, Andile is the founder of I AM AN ENTREPRENEUR, an online and offline platform that supports and mentors younger entrepreneurs.
Bruce Morgan – CEO: GreatSoft group of companies comprising: GreatSoft CRM, GreatSoft CoSec, and GreatSoft Payroll. Over the past 10 years Bruce’s companies have built a highly successful cloud based suite of products installed in close to 1000 companies. This success has led him to enthusiastically study the world of Blockchain. He is at present evaluating various business opportunities to take advantage of this exciting technology, and to implement this within his client base.
Catherine Townshend – Managing Director of Endeavor South Africa. As MD of Endeavor, Catherine supports the South African chapter of a high-impact entrepreneurial movement which applies the science of scale, and harnesses the power of a global community. Since joining Endeavor in 2012, Catherine has acquired deep knowledge and expertise across industry verticals for scale-ups around the world.
Lukesh Govindasamy – FNB Business Bank Provincial Head for Gauteng North. Lukesh had a strong entrepreneurial spirit and a passion for property development before complementing his Bachelor of Commerce Degree with an MBA (Wits; UWO, Canada) and entering the world of banking in 2004.
“We believe that the contribution of each judge will add significant value to all the participants. As FNB Business, we have a major focus towards empowering women and black owned businesses, and we hope to see better representation in this year’s Innovation Awards,” said Vacy-Lyle.
