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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 showdown of smarts, strategy, and storytelling. They’re not just pitching ideas – they’re pitching for their lives (okay, their business lives) – all for a shot at a R1 million prize package that could change everything.

But here’s the real plot twist: every single contestant walks away a winner. That’s right – while only one may take the crown, everyone gets access to expert mentorship, invaluable real-world business skills and a pitch so polished it practically shines. Whether they’re seasoned hustlers or brave beginners, every contestant leaves sharper, smarter and more investment-ready than before.

WHAT CAN YOU WIN?

Silver Trophy

R100 000

Cash

Gold Trophy

R1 MILLION

R650 000 Cash / R350 000 Raizcorp Incubation Programme

Bronze Trophy

R50 000

Cash

WATCH NEDBANK PITCH & POLISH

South Africa's biggest and longest running pitching competition

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HOW IT WORKS

Enter icon

Enter

It all kicks off with your online entry – simple, quick and possibly life-changing. If your business is already up and running (bonus points if it’s ready to scale!), this is your golden ticket to step into the spotlight. We’re on the hunt for big thinkers, bold doers and businesses with serious potential. If your initial entry stands out, you’ll be invited to share a 90-second video pitch and some supporting docs to back up your brilliance. Next up: the main event – just 16 standout entrepreneurs will make it through to the main competition, where the journey to a R1 MILLION business prize package begins.

Polish your Pitch icon

Polish your pitch

Before the cameras roll, our top 16 head to Johannesburg for an exclusive business bootcamp like no other – designed by the entrepreneurial experts at Raizcorp just for Nedbank Pitch & Polish. Over two power-packed days, contestants get stuck into hands-on training, sharpen their pitches and connect with the Raizcorp mentors who’ll be by their side throughout the competition. It’s not just about perfecting a pitch – it’s about building confidence, fine-tuning their business thinking and gearing up for the competition of a lifetime. Because from here on out, every decision brings them one step closer to that R1 million prize package.

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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.