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The Western Cape’s top entrepreneurs have been celebrated with the announcement of the winners of this year’s Premier’s Entrepreneurship Recognition Awards (PERA).

Stuart Forrest, of Bergvliet-based Triggerfish Animation, took the top award. Forrest was named as overall winner during last night’s (19 November 2015) ceremony, which took place at the Cape Sun Hotel in the city centre.

Premier Helen Zille congratulated Triggerfish Animation Studios adding that the studio was a global leader in its field.
“Criteria for the overall winners included the ability of the business to create jobs and grow its turnover. Triggerfish achieved excellently in both those areas.
“Triggerfish Animation Studios is a world-class enterprise, making a major impact on economic growth in our province. They develop films which are translated into over 27 languages and licenced in over 150 countries. Their films have generated over R1 billion at box offices across the world. Employing 85 people, they are also an important source of employment for local residents.”

This year over 300 businesses entered the awards, which was launched three years ago by the Western Cape Government.
PERA is co-sponsored by Absa, Deloitte, Business Partners and Entrepreneurs’ Organization.
Apart from the top award, businesses were also celebrated in 13 other categories.

The winners shared R1.8 million in prize money, with the overall winner also receiving an overseas trip.
Alan Winde, Minister of Economic Opportunities, wished the winners well and commended all the entrants for their contribution to economic growth.
“Small businesses employ about 500 000 people in our province. Tonight’s winners are showcasing our entrepreneurial excellence. They are innovative and in many cases, industry leaders. I am pleased that through this initiative, we are able to provide a platform to celebrate and acknowledge their good work and offer the support they need to grow their enterprises,” said Minister Winde.

The full list of winners below:

OVERALL WINNER AND BUSINESS OF THE YEAR
Triggerfish Animation Studios

BEST EMERGING BUSINESS
Learning Lab Apps
Learning Lab Apps develops web and mobile-based educational apps to make learning and teaching easier.

BEST ESTABLISHED BUSINESS
NCC Environmental Services
Founded in 2003, NCC is an environmental consultancy that focuses on the provision of conservation and biodiversity services, environmental management, health and safety consulting services and training and development programmes.

BEST INNOVATIVE BUSINESS
AgriProtein
AgriProtein diverts hundreds of tons of organic waste from landfill every week, using the nutrients to grow flies and their larvae – maggots – the natural feed for chickens and fish. Each ton of its product thereby allows up to three tons of fish (ground up into fishmeal and used in agricultural feed) to be left in our seas.

BEST JOB- CREATING BUSINESS
Mpower Waste
Started in 2007, this waste collection and recycled plastics manufacturing business now operates from Van Rhynsdorp, approximately 300km from Cape Town, in a local community where up to 80% of the population were previously unemployed. Today the business employs 89 full-time and 55 part-time employees – one person from every household in the surrounding community.

BUSINESS WITH GLOBAL REACH
Triggerfish Animation Studios

BEST SOCIAL ENTERPRISE
Township Patterns
When the founder of Township Patterns first visited the homes of women in Khayelitsha, she was amazed at the colour and vibrant patterns on display. To create the township® range some years later, a group of Paris-based designers interpreted and translated recurring township colours, patterns, shapes and textures into distinctive print designs.  To date more than local 120 women have received sewing skills and business training and there are now eight autonomous co-operatives that earn an income sewing Fair Trade bags and fashion accessories for the company.

BEST GREEN BUSINESS
Postwink Recycling Solutions
Postwink’s wide range of recycling bins encourages separation of waste at source, look good even in sophisticated offices. Postwink developed a recycling igloo suited to the South African context – one that all collectors can empty by using manual labour and a small vehicle. The company has continued to innovate and now supplies a large range of bins, services and signage, as well as a new planet-friendly enzyme cleaner.

BEST INNOVATIVE STUDENT BUSINESS IDEA
Cuppa Campus
The idea for Cuppa Campus started in 2013 when the owner, then a first-year student at Stellenbosch University, realised that walking around campus with a cup had become a status symbol. He then installed Nescafe Coffee vending machines at different spots on campus to provide students with hot beverages at affordable prices. The cups are now used as advertising medium and the marketing income has enabled the business to sell beverages at below-competitive prices thereby increasing the number of cups sold per month.

BEST EMERGING REGIONAL BUSINESS
Hermanes Clothing Manufacturing
Founded in 2014, this CMT (Cut, Make and Trim) operation based in a Greenfield location has already succeeded in securing orders for ladies’ garments from some of South Africa’s biggest fashion retailers.
In setting up the business, every effort has been made to provide not only job opportunities, but also skills training for poorly educated and unemployed people from the local community. Consequently, as many as 73 people are already employed in the business. The business is run on participative management principles and every effort is made to ensure that all employees are engaged in driving the success and future growth of the company.

BEST EMERGING TOURISM BUSINESS
Cape Canopy Tour
After 10 years of scouting for the perfect nature location in which to set up a canopy experience, the owners’ eyes were opened to the majesty of the Hottentots Holland Nature Reserve. After a few more years of discussion with CapeNature in order to get the necessary permissions, construction of this engineering feat took a year to complete.
Cape Canopy Tour now takes clients by 4x4 high into the Hottentots Holland Mountains. Here it makes use of a series of cables to slide guests between the cliffs and past waterfalls on an exciting tourism adventure. The whole tour is fully guided and showcases the awe-inspiring Western Cape natural environment. The tour has gained rapid popularity and the Lonely Planet travel guide has named the Cape Canopy Tour second in its list of hottest new experiences for 2015.

BEST EMERGING AGRO-PROCESSING BUSINESS
Espinaca Innovations (Green Health Innovations)
Espinaca Innovations produces a range of items, primarily baked goods incorporating spinach, and sells them from a container shop alongside a busy intersection in Khayelitsha. To keep up with demand, the company has recently increased production to also supply a few external retail outlets.
The owner sources his vegetables from organic micro-farmers through the Abalimi Bezekhaya Harvest of Hope, ensuring that the agricultural produce is sourced locally. Apart from his business ambitions, the ‘Spinach King’ hopes to inspire township residents to develop healthier lifestyles by incorporating more vegetables in their diets and where possible, by encouraging them to start their own food gardens

BEST SCHOOL BUSINESS IDEA
Smart Alarm (Jana de Villiers and Louise Buhrman of Hoër Meisieskool Bloemhof)
The idea of the Smart Alarm is that a means of security could be offered to people in low income houses at an affordable cost. After a Smart Alarm is installed, the home owner/occupier would nominate a number of people living in close proximity to his/her house to be “guardian angels” and these guardians would be notified via cell phone if the alarm is triggered. In this way, the monitoring and response costs associated with traditional alarms could be eliminated. As the alarm would be built using cell phone technology, the power requirements for setup and operation would also be minimised.

Please see attached image of Stuart Forrest of Triggerfish Animation Studios. High-res images and profiles of all of the winners and finalists are available.

Issued by Western Cape Government