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Entries Open For The Nedbank Pitch & Polish 2025 Competition

More than a competition – Pitch & Polish is a game changer

April 1, 2025

Nedbank Pitch & Polish is returning for its 15th season, once again offering ambitious business owners across South Africa the opportunity to compete for a life-changing prize worth R1 million. For the past 15 years, Pitch & Polish has been a launchpad – equipping over 11 000 entrepreneurs with the skills, mentorship and exposure they need to refine their pitches, improve their chances of securing funding and take their businesses to new heights.

At its core, Pitch & Polish isn’t just about who wins – it’s about what every contestant gains along the way. The competition blends intense pitch battles with 1-on-1 mentorship and real-world business learning, giving entrepreneurs the tools to sharpen their ideas, make their businesses more sustainable and pitch with confidence. Last season raked in an incredible 8.6 million views, proving just how invested South Africans are in the high-stakes entrepreneurial programme. In the end, it was Braden Snyman and Avi Maja of Breaze Delivery who claimed the top spot in 2024. With a powerful 3-minute pitch outlining their vision to become a household name, they clinched the grand prize worth R1 million.

The competition is fierce, but the rewards are even bigger

This year, 16 entrepreneurs will be selected from thousands of hopefuls, each competing across multiple elimination rounds and refining their business pitches with the support of expert mentors from leading incubator, Raizcorp.

“Pitch & Polish, despite its name, is not just a pitching competition – it is that and a whole lot more. It is a door to new markets, massive business exposure, new friends, potential investment, incredible learning, lots of fun, and – of course – the R1 million in prizes, which includes R650 000 in cash. Pitch & Polish is a game changer for so many of the people who enter, whether they win or simply participate,” explains Raizcorp CEO, Allon Raiz.

Three of the competing entrepreneurs will claim life-changing prizes that could transform their businesses. The ultimate winner will walk away with a prize worth R1 million, which includes a cash injection of R650 000 along with a R350 000 bursary for a 2-year business development programme with Raizcorp. The 1st runner-up will take home R100 000 in cash, while the 2nd runner-up will receive R50 000 to help propel their businesses forward. But even if they don’t make the final cut, Nedbank Pitch & Polish offers an incredible learning experience that can transform the way entrepreneurs think about and grow their businesses. Every contestant gets access to expert mentorship and business training – so, whether they win or not, they walk away better prepared for success.

And it’s not just the contestants who benefit. With episodes streaming online via Facebook, YouTube and the Pitch & Polish website, anyone can watch, learn and be inspired – plus, viewers stand a chance to win fantastic prizes just for tuning in! 

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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.