PTI Centre Launch
Propella has ushered in the new year with our brand new Propella Township Hub in the Neave Industrial Park in Korsten. The Township Hub, which is a joint initiative between Propella and SEDA, is up and running and already running a number of programmes and workshops. The new incubator has been designed to bridge the gap between technology and ease of access to entrepreneurs in the township. An official launch of the center is coming soon, but we are fully open for business!
ICT Programme Bootcamp
The Propella team hit the ground running in 2021 with preparations for our annual ICT Bootcamp which officially began on the 1st of February. With COVID-19 restrictions in place, this year’s bootcamp took place virtually and allowed prospective entrepreneurs from all over the country to apply. Out of 325 initial applicants, 107 participants completed the bootcamps with 55 of those participants successfully submitting pitch videos and progressing to stage 2 of our ICT programme.
ICT Ventures:
Get Interview
Get Interview is an online application that links organizations with the most suitable candidates whether for a Job vacancy or bursary. Get Interview uses a process called the bait induction process which ensures that all candidates that are provided to the organization are the most suitable candidates. Candidates are recruited through a virtual interview and presented in a video format to the organization.
Early this year Aphelele Sodinga (Get Interview founder) met Susan Dube from Standard Bank to assist her with recruitment for a learnership in Financial Banking to see how many candidates would make it into the interviews. Within 3 days, they managed to interview 40 candidates from different rural areas in the Eastern Cape, Northern Cape and the Free State, thus proving the efficacy of the Get Interview platform.
Specification Innovation
After completing Stage 4 of the Propella Business Incubator ICT Programme, Specification Innovation continued building their business. They have since developed a Tribology training programme geared towards engineers working in the mining environment to improve their understanding and use of lubricants. They are currently pursuing various funding/investment opportunities to enable the completion of their software development. They are also expanding their reach with their marine fuel filtration solutions tailored for the West African environment.
StoresSA
StoresSA is Africa’s 1st Online Mall for the African Fashion and Retail Industry with the aim of enabling designer brands, businesses and local retailer shops to sell products online, and for the mass customers to shop and buy online. They have partnered up with the Living and Learning Programmes Department as well as the Nelson Mandela University Fashion and Textile Department. They have gathered and donated their time and talents to raise funds for 2 deserving NMU textile and fashion design students.
The initiative is called BLACK: a passion project between Gugu Peteni and Xolela Madlanga, both who are Nelson Mandela University alumni and practicing artists who have seen and experienced a lack of financial assistance when it comes to pursuing a qualification in the creative industry. In its first day of launch, the initiative managed to raise just over R2 500.
Industrial Ventures:
Prosthetic Engineering Technologies (PET)
PET is in the process of finalising a 3rd prototype to produce a desirable, lower cost silicone liner for amputees, with a suitable shore hardness to support total comfort and reduce potential infections for the wearer. The plan moving forward is to package a micro-franchised ‘business in a box’ that supports the necessary infrastructure and business practices to mitigate against early failure.
Tofaa
Tofaa is a technology design start up that is developing an energy efficient egg incubator for South African markets. A scaled industrial pilot study of the energy efficient egg incubators is nearing completion at the Maranatha Centre for homeless people in Gqeberha. The hatch rate efficacy is at 90%. The plan moving forward is to develop a medium sized hatchery and abattoir to provide food for the 110 people living within this socially responsible initiative and once piloted at Maranatha to expand into South Africa followed by making the solution available to small scale farmers throughout Africa.
