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Nedbank Pitch & Polish awards R1m to Gauteng startup founder

P&P 2024

Nedbank Pitch & Polish awards R1m to Gauteng startup founder

November 25, 2025
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After 16 weeks of competition, Gauteng entrepreneur Prudence Mabaso, founder of The Kitchen Wrap Company, has won the 2025 Nedbank Pitch & Polish competition, taking home a prize package worth R1m, including R650,000 in cash and a R350,000 bursary for a two-year Raizcorp business-incubation programme.

Nedbank Pitch & Polish is a 15-year-old competition combining pitching, mentorship, and entrepreneurial learning. The programme supports entrepreneurs in refining business models, gaining investment readiness, and developing sustainable businesses.

Competition overview

The awards attracted more than 2,200 entries and 10 million online views. Sixteen contestants, plus a wildcard entry, competed in multiple rounds of pitching and mentorship to reach the final.

A business born from resilience

The Kitchen Wrap Company offers a non-invasive kitchen cabinet wrapping solution, providing home renovation upgrades without dust or demolition. Mabaso started the business while unemployed and raising a child as a single mother.

“This win validates years of persistence and problem-solving under challenging circumstances,” Mabaso said.

She plans to use the prize to expand inventory, launch a proprietary range of interior vinyl films, and introduce a tech platform, Renvr, to streamline quoting, bookings, and project management. Her five-year goal is to make the company a leading brand for premium non-invasive renovations across the continent.

Runners-up

KwaZulu-Natal entrepreneur Blessing Sithole, founder of Bakers Creationz, finished second and received R100,000 in cash. The company produces modernised nostalgic snowball cakes, selling over 6,000 per week through national retailers.

Wildcard entrants Langelihle Zulu and Tshega Mampshika of AlgoAtWork Robotics Academy placed third, receiving R50,000.

Allon Raiz, CEO of Raizcorp, highlighted the quality and resilience of this year’s contestants and the importance of practical support for entrepreneurs.

Monique Chinnah, senior manager at Nedbank, noted the notable participation of women entrepreneurs driving change in families, communities, and industries.

Success Stories

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.