Describe your business purpose in four words and win

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Forget the elevator pitch, the UCT Graduate School of Business (GSB) and Knife Capital are running a competition where entrepreneurs must make their business pitch in a single tweet.

If they can do so they stand in line to win a free place on the popular GSB Find Make Grow Realise (FMGR) course running this March.

To enter, entrepreneurs and aspiring entrepreneurs must describe their business purpose in four words and tweet this with the hashtag #FMGR4WordStory by 12pm on Friday 21 Feb.

Keet Van Zyl, Director of Knife Capital, and course convener of the FMGR course says that all great businesses can sum up their core reason for existence in simple terms.

He said: “Some of the first questions a high-growth investor will ask is why does your business exist and what burning need does it address the market. If you can communicate this clearly you have the attention of the investor.”

FMGR also helps entrepreneurs to articulate these key concepts. The popular course brings entrepreneurs and investors together for an intensive two-day process that takes them through the steps of building a high potential business and optimising its potential.

“The FMGR course’s four word story is: high growth investment course,” said Van Zyl. It is also no coincidence that the whole two-day course curriculum is summarised in four words: “Find Make Grow Realise”.

Kumeshnee West, Senior Manager in Executive Education at the GSB says that the FMGR course seeks to build the entrepreneurship and innovation ecosystem of the country because this is a proven way to create sustainable jobs and growth.

According to new data released by Knife Capital this month, the average high potential startup company has plans to increase from six to 16 employees over the next three years while achieving 120 percent year-on-year growth rate.

Van Zyl said he believes that there are many other startups out there with high potential for such growth that can be carefully engineered through initiatives like the FMGR course.

For more info on FMGR course go to http://www.gsb.uct.ac.za/fmgr.