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Radley learners make the judges panel at the Nedbank Pitch & Polish Competition

Radley learners make the judges panel at the Nedbank Pitch & Polish Competition

November 15, 2024

Radley Private School learners, Aaryan Parmanand, Kaydee Govender, and Oyama Moroeng, enjoyed their roles as part of the Nedbank Pitch & Polish Competition’s judges panel, deciding the best business idea from the challengers.

Three Radley Private School learners were part of the 2024 Nedbank Pitch & Polish Competition’s judges panel.

The competition is a blend of one-on-one mentoring and entrepreneurial learning. The contestants engage in a gripping battle of business pitches while competing for the ultimate prize worth an incredible R1m. The entrepreneurial skills and knowledge they learn during the process also increases their chances of obtaining investment and establishing sustainable businesses.

To be selected, the young entrepreneurs were invited to present a pitch to Raizcorp CEO Allon Raiz, also an official adult judge in this year’s competition. He selected the top three based on their confidence and ability to answer business-related questions.

Raiz believes that if a businessperson can’t articulate what they do in a way that a child can understand, then they don’t actually have a clear idea of what they’re doing, which was one of the reasons for this challenge.

Grade 4 Aaryan Parmanand (9), Grade 3 Kaydee Govender (9), and Oyama Moroeng (10) were the judges of the competition, now in its 14th year.

Aaryan explained that being a judge on Nedbank Pitch & Polish was an amazing experience. “I got to see different people share their ideas and it was really cool to have a say in who had the best business idea. It was exciting and made me feel powerful because I was helping to make a real decision that could change someone’s business.

“The most exciting part was getting to write down the winners’ name. It made me feel like I was part of something important. The whole set was buzzing with energy from the cameras and lights, and being surrounded by the other judges, who are my friends, was so exciting too.”

Kaydee said, “It felt like I was the boss, and I was proud of myself for getting that achievement. It will be awesome to see myself on TV, and also for other people to see me.”

He added that at Radley, they want them to experience business from a young age, which gives them a head start on how to become a successful businessperson.

Oyama explained that she learned to be honest, brave, ask questions, and have answers. “I’d like to be a judge again in the future.”

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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.