Advertorial – MTN: Sharing is caring, and the road to a great digital future

Sharing is caring,

and the road to a great digital future

Being an entrepreneur and having a good business idea is not enough, especially in the competitive and every-changing digital space. Success is directly linked to education; the more you learn about business, handling income and expenditure, legal requirements and running a business, the better the chance that what you create will be sustainable.

An app created by students for students

Notes Technologies, the recent MTN Enactus Digital Innovation Challenge winner, is a case in point. Notes Technologies, an app created by students for students, has reached the pinnacle of achievement through the Enactus Digital Innovation Challenge programme and as a graduate of the MTN-funded 12-month Business Support Programme for SMMEs within the ICT Sector.

At the 2022 MTN Business App of the Year event, the business, which is a part of the Enactus programme at the Vaal University of Technology, also won first place in the Campus Cup Challenge category, walking away with a R50 000 cash prize that will be used to take the app to the next level.

Notes Technologies’ success is based on the belief that by sharing notes, students can simplify their tertiary studies, help others and cut the costs of studying. Their app, built for mobile devices, enables students with good notes across various subjects to load their study notes for others to use. When others use the notes, they receive payment. For users, a fee of R15 a month gives unlimited access to material that can be filed in the app for easy

access. The MTN SA Foundation is a long-time supporter of entrepreneurs and South Africa’s SMME sector. Over the past eight years, the Foundation has taken a holistic approach to driving small business development in South Africa. Through enabling the success of many graduates of its various skills development and upliftment programmes, the Foundation has proved what can be achieved by strong partnerships and focused, complementary initiatives.

Developing future entrepreneurial leaders within the tech space

Notes Technologies graduated from the MTN Foundation’s annual Business Support Programme for SMMEs in December 2021. They joined another 99 selected ICT SMME entrepreneurs in the first national rollout of the programme. For 12 months, they participated in workshops, group training sessions, one-on-one mentorships and coaching, which focused on access to markets, funds, skills and access to technology.

Offered by the Foundation in partnership with Datacomb Development Hub, Hodisang Dipeu Holdings and the University of the Free State, the entrepreneurs were provided with training courses and learned about developing and drafting business plans – essential skills when looking for finance or backers.

“Enactus Digital Innovation Challenge, which MTN has funded for seven years, is vital to developing future entrepreneurial leaders within the tech space. The challenge requires university students to identify socioeconomic challenges across the agriculture, education, and health sectors, and create solutions that are technologically driven,” says Kusile Mtunzi-Hairwadzi, General Manager of the MTN SA Foundation.

“The development of digital services that address the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals, which is aimed at eradicating poverty and bringing global prosperity by 2030, is our key focus.

“Due to the sheer volume and success of businesses

that have been bred in the MTN Digital Innovation Programme, it has quickly grown into the most popular special competition within the annual Enactus South Africa roll-out. Over the years we have seen a steady increase in the quality of solutions that that are being produced from the universities and look forward to celebrating their growth trajectory as we are seeing with Notes Technology today”, says Enactus South Africa NPC ‘s CEO and Country Director, Letitia de Wet.

“Notes Technologies took these learning and growth opportunities, developed their app and excelled further to win the Campus Challenge at the MTN Business App of the Year Award-distinguishing themselves at what is now Africa’s premier digital event.”

The MTN SA Foundation believes that a holistic approach to encouraging growth in the SMME sector is essential “Student entrepreneurs first identify the top socioeconomic concerns within their respective province and then leverage the design thinking methodology to build and launch meaningful digital solutions to these challenges across the selected sectors. The best ideas are then funded so that a protype of the app can be developed,” adds Mtunzi-Hairwadzi.

Notes Technologies came out top in this process in 2019 when they, along with five other selected student-led project teams, were required to pitch their ideas and have them thoroughly scrutinised by a panel of experts.

“From six finalists in 2019 where Notes Technologies was the trailblazers from the shortlist, the Challenge has since grown to award 12 digital innovators each year, who all take home between R60 000 and R70 000 towards the

development of their winning app concepts, business registration (CIPC) and marketing-related costs for their businesses.

A holistic approach to encouraging growth in the SMME sector

if small companies and the entrepreneurs that drive them are to take their rightful place as innovators and future employers in the national economy.

“Key to achieving these two objectives is encouraging participation in the digitally based Fourth Industrial Revolution and creating a generation of young, digitally orientated entrepreneurs with the skills to ensure South Africa is internationally competitive. The MTN SA Foundation is proud that we are part of this nationbuilding process by enabling developers like Notes Technologies to develop their skills,” concludes MtunziHairwadzi.

For more information and other MTN SA Foundation programmes, visit www.mtn.co.za