Gqeberha business Sweet Thing Meringues, owned by Julie Coetzee and Briony Sparg, won the Nelson Mandela Bay Business Chamber Entrepreneurship Desk competition, earning R50,000.
The competition was conducted in partnership with the Ilembe Chamber of Commerce, Industry and Tourism, Airports Company SA and Nelson Mandela University, among others.
The winners and six runner-ups were announced during an awards ceremony on Monday.
They all walked away with cash prizes and a six-month chamber membership that they can exploit to boost their businesses.
Out of the 44 entries for the competition, 25 micro, small and medium enterprises were shortlisted and only 21 managed to stick it out until the end.
Established in November 2021 by business partners Coetzee and Sparg, Sweet Thing Meringues has become a household brand in some of the largest corporate companies in the Eastern Cape that also operate nationwide.
Coetzee said they started small, selling the meringues on a small scale in WhatsApp groups and to sports coaches.
“We were unemployed when we started, and after some time, people got to know about the business and we were able to grow the business to a point to supply our product outside this province,” Coetzee said.
“We have appointed seven other women who we’ve upskilled through training which we managed to offer thanks to funding from institutions such as the Eastern Cape Development Corporation.
“We also had to do some training for our business to meet the international health and safety standards, as we hope to expand even more in the future.”
Coetzee said they would use the prize money to buy an industrial oven.
Nelson Mandela Bay Business Chamber chief executive Denise van Huyssteen said the competition format pushed participants to do their absolute best.
“I’d like to encourage those of you who received chamber membership to use it and participate in membership activities because that’s how you will get the real benefit of our network.”
The Herald
