Our second stop on our national MatchME2Funding journey was Mariental, situated 267km south of Windhoek in the Hardap region. Mariental was matched to funding on the 27 – 29 September 2021 where the 20 successful shortlisted participants attended a 2-day micro-entrepreneurial training course, followed by a pitch day event.
The pitch day boasted a variety of attendees, judges and guest speakers that joined both physically and virtually through our live stream. Our esteemed judges for the event included Mr. Andre Izaaks (Property Officer at NIDA); Mr. Ivan Pieters (Ministry of Sports, Youth and National Service); and Mr. Tobias Iileka (The Head Economist at Ministry of Industrialization and Trade). The judges were joined by the guests; Mr. Antonius Veii (Branch Manager Agribank); Ms. Veruschka De La Harpe (Marketing Manager at Nedbank Namibia); Mr. Gernot De Klerk (Head: Marketing & Communications at Nedbank Namibia); Illona Tjikuua (SME Analyst at Development Bank of Namibia); and of course, all our partners from Startup Namibia.
We were honoured with the presence of the Chairperson of the Hardap Regional Council, Honourable Gershon Dausab, whom made the welcoming remarks. Honourable Dausab spoke about his own journey as a businessman and how he got to be the man he is now. He also emphasized the need to have a solid business plan in place as well as the need to know yourself so that you know how to act in different environments.
The 20 eager participants all presented well structured and detailed pitches which captivated the judging panel. Ultimately, the judges’ votes were tallied and we had our three winners. In 3rd place, winning N$6500.00, was Ms. Aina Petrus with her business Ondjambi Aquaculture which produced oysters and abalones. Ms. Petrus describes herself as a hardworking mother who loves networking and aquafarming. She has currently already stared her aquaculture business and required funding to strengthen a few loose ends. In 2nd place, winning N$8500.00, was the bubbly Ms. Christina Links with her business Hats by Tina. Ms. Links designs and sells hand-made custom hats for all occasions, such as weddings, birthday parties, confirmations and funerals. Christina said that her business is all about passion and aims to grow her production team with equally as passionate team members. And finally, in 1st place, winning a grand total of N$10000.00, was Mr. Griffin Fisch with his business Homenet Online Realty, which is an innovative real estate app including horizontal and vertical integration. Mr. Fisch believes making connections and networking is very important as those are the people who share his adverts and promotes his services. With the awarded funding Mr. Fisch aims to expand his business to other towns outside of the Hardap region.
As Impact Tank, in partnership with Startup Namibia, matches further regions with business funding, we plant and spread the seed of entrepreneurial culture and initiate growth for Namibia through a grass roots approach.
Stay tuned for updates from Gobabis MatcME2Funding!