Women still fail to impress

MBABANE – Just like in the past two years, women have failed to impress judges through coming up with sound business plans.

The past two winners of TechnoServe’s Believe Begin Become (BBB) business plan competition were males and this year, Mandla Masuku claimed the grand prize of E125 000 at an occasion held at the Royal Villas on Friday evening.

Phila Msibi was the winner in 2006, while Mduduzi Dludlu won last year’s competition.

In this year’s competition, women participants only managed to win in the category sectors.

TechnoServe Country Director Leslie Johnson said about 30 percent of this year’s participants were female and they were hopeful that this figure would increase in future.

"We had a substantial amount of entries from females who took part in the competition. Even though they are still less than the male folk, we are optimistic that these figures will increase," she said.

Women category winners include Allyson James, Zandile Dlamini and Sibongile Gray.