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The Department of Small Business Development, in partnership with the Mpumalanga Department of Economic Development and Tourism will host the 2014 Technology for Women in Business Awards (TWIB) ceremony at the Church on the Hill Conference Centre in Nelspruit on 30 October 2014.

The TWIB Awards recognises women achievers for their zeal in employing  cutting-edge technologies with potential to radically transform their businesses and propel them into mainstream economy. The annual event has seen creative businesswomen innovate forward-looking devices and developing effective systems and processes that significantly impact their businesses and increases efficiency.
The Deputy Minister of Small Business Development, Ms Elizabeth Thabethe says the TWIB programme was designed to assist women entrepreneurs access the applied science and technology required to catapult their businesses into the big league, and assist them to harness technology in order to enable them to make the progression into the mainstream economy.
“This year’s awards themed “Twenty Years of Democracy, Moving Women’s Agenda Forward through Technology" will be contested over three categories, namely the small business, very small, and micro-business categories,” says Thabethe.
The overall winner will take home a non-financial Small Enterprise Development Agency (Seda) Technology transfer intervention worth R600 000, the Black Business Supplier Development Programme (BBSDP) incentive worth R200 000 and a trip to the 2015 Global Summit for Women in Brazil.
The following finalists were announced by Deputy Minister Thabethe at a function in Nelspruit early this month:

Small Business Category
Phindile Machweu of Sasamela Trading Enterprise and Projects (Limpopo)
Shammen Kumandan of Washtub Industrial Laundry services (Western Cape)
Very Small Category
Thembisile Sithole of G and T Auto Body (Gauteng)
Dudu Mofokeng of Legac’I Dry Cleaners and Laundry Services (Gauteng)
Micro-business Category
Tsholofelo Majeng of Maiktronix (Northern Cape)
Khaya Cokoto of X Spark Design and Advertising (Eastern Cape)
The awards ceremony will be preceded by a Women Entrepreneurs Network Conference that will be hosted earlier in the day at the same venue.

Mpumalanga Department of Finance, Economic Development and Tourism