Calling all potential and established entrepreneurs: This is YOUR chance, your opportunity for YOUR aspirations, YOUR dreams, YOUR ideas, to take root and bring you the business success you have been waiting for, the success that is so tantalisingly close and yours for the taking! How to achieve it? Simple: by participating in the ENGEN Pitch & Polish entrepreneurial workshop and competition programme. Pitch & Polish is proudly the only programme of its kind in South Africa listed on the ANDE Entrepreneur Ecosystem Map* as a capacity development provider. Why should you attend? Because during one exhilarating, invigorating FREE day you will discover, in a learning and feedback environment, how to polish your pitch in the most professional manner, together with the audience encouraging you to go for gold, simultaneously learning with you. It’s within your grasp: it’s on your doorstep; and in the words of one of the 2015 contestants, “Brace yourself! It is a fantastic lesson, a rollercoaster with constant learning. Make it Count!” Learn instantly and directly how to transform your dream, your idea, into reality and how to reach for the sky. Register NOW to compete or participate and gain all the possible benefits you can from this invaluable experience, brought to you by Engen Petroleum Ltd, Nedbank, Raizcorp and SAfm, and supported by the Youth Chamber of Commerce and Industry as well as local partners NYDA and SEDA. You can register as a delegate for the workshop, or, if you feel you are bold enough, then go ahead and complete an entry form and stand the chance of being selected as a contestant! When completing the entry form, here are some Insider Tips to consider: Include your full name and the name of your business or business idea Double-check your spelling and grammar Simple is best: don’t get carried away by emotion Be real, be yourself And then, whether a delegate or contestants: Be on time for the event Book NOW …
Entrepreneurship release: Pitch-a-Phobia
PITCH-A-PHOBIA… And how to overcome it Imagine this scenario: You’re ready to pitch your well-practised polished business pitch or idea for an innovative business to potential investors and/or partners, but at the moment of delivery, you suffer from acute vocal paralysis. No sounds, only terror – pitch-a-phobia. Is there a cure? Sure. It’s called ‘systematic desensitisation’ and is based on the principles of behaviour modification, which means that by using basic learning techniques you can change your current conditioning. That’s a win for the pitch-a-phobics. As an entrepreneur, it’s particularly important for you to overcome this fear as you are always pitching, in one form or another. Whilst a certain amount of nervousness is healthy, this fear can be debilitating. The only way to overcome ‘pitch-a-phobia’ is by confronting it using a hierarchical system where each level is a small step towards overcoming the fear. “You cannot go from zero to hero in 60 seconds, as you will fail, and the fear will intensify. You have to take small steps, each systematically reducing the fear,’ explains Bronwyn Echardt, Project Manager at business incubator Raizcorp, who herself has used this system to overcome her own paralysing phobia. Tips to create your hierarchy: Remove any excuses of why you cannot pitch Remember you are not trapped nor being targeted, this is part of the entrepreneurial journey Evaluate the opportunity costs of not pitching Practise a relaxation technique that you can utilise just before the pitch Begin with your pitch written on cue cards in bullet point form only – this is to trigger your memory – you are not saying a speech Pitch into a recorder – listen, tweak and repeat Pitch to one person who will offer constructive criticism and feedback – tweak, practise, repeat Present to a few close and trusted companions and take in their comments – tweak, practise, repeat Pitch to work colleagues with a Q&A section – …