Stokvel platform wins entrepreneurship award

Stokvella, represented by Sebastian Daniels, won the Best Student Business Idea at the Premier’s Entrepreneurship Recognition Awards (PERA) at the end of November.

Approximately 11 million South Africans participate in stokvels, estimated to be worth R45 billion. Stokvella is a mobile platform that allows stokvel members to track and rate their savings.

“By putting trust back into stokvels, Stokvella aims to increase financial security, stability and education,” said the group in their pitch.

Daniels, a business science student, says, “We never thought of the process as a competition but rather as a way to build a business that could make the difference in South Africa that we wanted to see.”

A panel of ten judges scored this year’s finalists on a set of criteria including growth, job creation, innovation, industry relevance, sustainability, creativity and socio-economic impact.

Premier Helen Zille said: “Through PERA, we acknowledge and celebrate the important role entrepreneurs play in creating opportunities in our economy for others to uplift themselves.”

Caption: Tuskan Owen-Thomas and Sebastian Daniels demonstrate how Stokvella works at the networking session before the idea auction at the Labia last year. Photo Bev Meldrum.