Next year will mark the sixth rendition of the very successful Enterprising Women Programme as hosted by the North-West University’s (NWU’s) bhive Enterprise Development Centre (EDC) in Vanderbijlpark.

What started out as a short learning programme with only seven participants in 2013, has grown into one of the NWU’s flagship empowerment initiatives, benefitting female entrepreneurs across central South Africa. The Enterprising Women Programme – or EWP as it is known – represents a short learning programme to assist start-up female entrepreneurs to achieve their goals and realise their business dreams.

Two new bhive EDC initiatives will play a cardinal role in the rollout and further development of the 2018 programme, namely the EWP Programme Ambassadors and the establishment of an inaugural EWP Alumni Association.

EWP Programme Ambassadors

According to Johann Landsberg, manager of the bhive EDC, the recruitment process for the 2018 EWP intake is in full swing and all applications must be submitted before 14:00 on Tuesday, 30 January 2018.

“The 2018 recruitment drive takes on an exciting dimension as previous participants in the short programme will step to the fore as Programme Ambassadors, “says Johann and adds that these ambassadors will be available to share their experiences and outtakes from the programme with interested female entrepreneurs. The reasoning behind this new recruitment drive is to put participants at ease in terms of what is expected of them and to show them first-hand what value to programme can add to start-up ventures.

To information sessions – to be hosted on 16 January and 30 January respectively – will give applicants the opportunity to interact with the Programme Ambassadors as well as the EWP Coordinating Team. For more information on the information sessions please contact 016 910 3393 or send an email to bhive@nwu.ac.za

Inaugural EWP Alumni Association

The EWP Alumni Association was announced earlier in the year as part of the programme’s fifth anniversary celebrations. The aim of the association is to not only strengthen ties between participants and the bhive EDC, but also to create a hub of entrepreneurial skills and experience within the Vanderbijlpark region. 

Heading-up the initiative is Esme Coetzee, who has been elected as the chairperson. The following EWP graduates are part of the association’s management committee:

Esme Coetzee	Chairperson
Elaine van Eeden	Deputy Chairperson
Tsoana Nhlapo Ninya van Zyl	Marketing and Events
Nicky Jansen van Vuuren Prescious Leshilo	Mentoring and Coaching
Mpho Matsela	Administration
Helena Kramer	Communication