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COMPETITION

Pitch. Polish. Change your business forever.

Now in its 15th year, Nedbank Pitch & Polish sees 16 ambitious entrepreneurs go head-to-head in a high-stakes battle of business pitches, fighting for their shot at a R1 million prize package. But here’s the real win: EVERY contestant walks away with expert mentorship, real-world business skills and a stronger, more investment-ready pitch.

WHAT CAN YOU WIN?

R100 000

Cash

R1 MILLION

R650 000 Cash / R350 000 Raizcorp Incubation Programme

R50 000

Cash

WATCH NEDBANK PITCH & POLISH

South Africa's biggest and longest running pitching competition

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HOW IT WORKS

Enter

It all starts with your online entry. If your business is already trading – and even better, has the potential to scale – this is your chance to get in the game. The most promising shortlisted entries will be invited to submit a 90-second video pitch along with supporting documents. From there, just 16 standout entrepreneurs will earn their spot in the competition and take their first step toward winning R1 MILLION in business prizes.

Polish your pitch

Before stepping into the spotlight, the top 16 contestants head to Johannesburg for an intensive, hands-on business bootcamp designed exclusively for Nedbank Pitch & Polish by Raizcorp. Over two power-packed days, they receive practical entrepreneurial training and meet their Raizcorp mentors, who will guide them through the challenge ahead. It’s not just about perfecting their pitch, it’s about sharpening their business strategy, boosting their confidence and getting them one step closer to the prize worth R1 million.

Competition Rounds

Contestants battle it out in four color-coded groups – red, blue, green, and yellow – with only the top two from each advancing to round 2.

The remaining two contestants from each group go head-to-head, but only one per group advances – leaving just four entrepreneurs standing in the semi-final.

The contestants compete for just two spots in the final. But there’s a twist – at the end of the semi-final, a wildcard competitor enters the game.

It all comes down to this – the final showdown! The two finalists face off against the wildcard, battling it out for the top spot. One walks away the champion, one grabs first runner-up (and R100 000), and one claims second runner-up (and R50 000) – but they all leave as entrepreneurial powerhouses!

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Florence Duval

Florence Duval is a seasoned strategist with over 25 years of experience leading sustainability, stakeholder engagement and social impact initiatives across public and private sectors. 

As CEO and founder of IN TOUCH, she guides cross-sectoral teams to deliver high-impact advisory solutions that strengthen institutions, enable public-private partnerships and secure both the legal and social licence to operate. Her expertise spans compliance, community development, issue management and sponsorship development – always anchored in sustainable development principles. 

A former mining executive and committed social activist, Florence is known for her ability to build meaningful partnerships, navigate complex regulatory environments and drive transformative impact through purpose-driven leadership

Monique Chinnah

Monique is a curious, serial questioner who wants to take the mystique out of business and finance to make it practical and relevant to entrepreneurs. ‘Why?’, ‘Why not?’ and ‘How can we help, for real?’ are her favourite questions.

She is the Senior Manager of Segment Design and Development in Retail Relationship Banking at Nedbank, and she is responsible for ensuring that small businesses are fully supported through Banking and Beyond® solutions and most particularly as the product owner of the SimplyBiz® platform. Monique believes that keeping business strategy simple, real and practically implementable is fundamental to success. She also believes in the power of fun. If you don’t like what you’re doing, don’t do it!

Monique draws on her own entrepreneurial journeys and extensive management roles in various industries to ensure that solutions are conceptualised and delivered with small-business owners’ needs in mind.

She believes in life-long learning and being a sponge through immersions in over 300 000 businesses, various tertiary and educational programmes, and she is a YouTube and social-media hustler. In 2012 she was awarded a scholarship through Goldman Sachs UK to attend the 10 000 Women entrepreneurial programme through the Gordon Institute of Business Science, and she has been recognised with several Top Achiever Awards in Nedbank.

Allon Raiz

Allon Raiz is regarded both locally and globally as a pioneer and maverick in the business-incubation industry. He is the founder and CEO of Raizcorp which, according to The Economist, is the only genuine incubator in Africa and which currently supports over 500 businesses.

A two-times PhD dropout, Allon is the best-selling author of three entrepreneurial books. He hosted the first national radio show on entrepreneurship in South Africa in 2004; wrote and hosted the first South African prime-time entrepreneurship reality television show; and created and published an entrepreneurial cartoon strip. Allon is currently hosting his 15th season of the popular The Big Small Business Show on Business Day TV.

Allon is a co-founder of the Entrepreneurs’ Organisation South Africa and Rural Roots, and is on the advisory and judging boards of numerous local and international NGOs and entrepreneurial awards. His passion for and focus on the development of entrepreneurs attracted the attention of the World Economic Forum (WEF) which, in 2008, recognised Allon as a Young Global Leader.

As an accomplished international speaker, Allon was invited to speak at the 2011 WEF Annual Meeting held in Davos, Switzerland. In 2011, he became a member of the WEF’s Global Agenda Council on Fostering Entrepreneurship, making him one of 15 recognised global experts in the field. More recently, he became a member of the WEF’s Global Future Council.

In 2013, Allon received the Entrepreneur of the Year Award at the Oliver Transformation and Empowerment Awards. The following year, he became the country winner, regional winner and continental winner of the Titan Award for Building Nations.

Between 2014 and 2016, Allon guest lectured at Oxford University where he was recognised as the Oxford University Saïd Business School’s Entrepreneur-in-Residence.

In 2015, Allon received an invitation from the White House, on behalf of President Barack Obama, to speak at the Global Entrepreneurship Summit held in Kenya.

Nonkqubela Maliza

Nonkqubela Maliza is the director of Corporate and Government Affairs at Volkswagen Group Africa. She has held the position since 2006 and also chairs the VW Community Trust and VWSA BEE Initiatives Trust. 

Prior to this, Nonkqubela was a senior executive at Metallon Corporation, a pan-African mining and financial services company with operations in South Africa and Zimbabwe. She also served as a chief director at the Department of Trade and Industry and has strong experience in the financial services sector. 

Nonkqubela holds an MBA from the University of Cape Town, a BA Honours in Economics from Rhodes University and a BA in Psychology and Economics from Rhodes University.