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The Sorbet Group has partnered with Bidvest Bank to create Sorbet – Preneur to help aspiring beauty entrepreneurs set up a Sorbet salon franchise.
Sorbet - Preneur has been developed for Sorbet ‘Citizens’ (i.e. employees across the Sorbet Group’s franchise owned stores) who aspire to become a franchise owner but who are not in a position to raise the funding.
The driving force behind the initiative are the CEOs of Bidvest Bank and Sorbet Group – Hannah Sadiki and Linda Sinclair respectively. Both are seasoned, visionary businesswomen who lead businesses dedicated to the empowerment and development of successful entrepreneurs.
African Pursuit has been contracted by the two partnering companies to ensure that the new entrepreneurs are successfully incubated as franchise partners. Beyond the initial finance required to open a store, a dedicated team, led by Sadiki and Sinclair, will mentor and coach the successful citizens in a rigorous 12 month programme. The mentors are all successful women and business people who are driven by their commitment to empowering women and building successful small businesses.
“The beauty industry contributes around R9 billion to GDP,” says Sinclair, “and is therefore a viable sector for investment; one that also offers innovative ways of opening doors for young black women to become business owners.”
Sadiki adds: “Entrepreneurial drive and ambition is key to building a prosperous future in South Africa and it is very important that finance providers are able to respond to this need. At Bidvest Bank we know that access to finance is a key driver in the creation, survival and growth of innovative new ventures and we are very encouraged by the response to this innovative new partnership with Sorbet.”
Sorbet - Preneur invited entrepreneurs to pitch their business ideas to a judging panel and motivated why they should be selected as the next Sorbet Franchise Partners in the hope of securing investment finance.
The successful entrepreneurs will become franchise owners of a Sorbet Salon or Nailbar, receiving 50% of the investment required to set up their businesses in the form of unencumbered cash from Bidvest Bank. Sorbet will waive the initial franchise fee, meaning that all of this portion of the funding can be used to set up and equip the store.
Bidvest Bank will also provide a business loan to cover the balance of the funding needed to get started, which will also cater for initial operating costs. The amounts will be repayable over a five-year period aligned to the franchise agreement.
The applicants are South African citizens who have been employed within the Sorbet franchise store network for 12 months or more.