Billionaire dare-devil Richard Branson is hosting a summit of entrepreneurs in South Africa this week to mentor and listen to proposals from a group of budding entrepreneurs in developing countries. He has also teamed up with Tonic.com to raise $50,000 to provide capital for these mini-Bransons in training.
The main event of the trip is a fashion show launching the 2011 winter collection from Lesego Malatsi, an entrepreneur financed in part by Branson's non-profit Virgin Unite.
Launched in 2006 by Branson and Virgin Unite, the non-profit foundation of the Virgin Group, the Branson Centre of Entrepreneurship is supporting aspiring small business owners in South Africa with access to practical business skill and mentors as well as seed funding.
"In my life I have been privileged to travel extensively and meet so many fantastic people and I truly feel that we all have an opportunity to make a huge difference in the world," Branson told Tonic.com. "How we do that is by never accepting what's unacceptable and giving people the chance to build a life filled with the dignity they deserve."
The Branson Centre and Virgin Unite are helping people like Cleopatra Simelane, a 23-year-old who founded an empowering magazine for South African youth which offers career and personal advice.
This year Cleopatra wants to hire full-time staff to produce the magazine and find a mentor from the Branson Centre to help her adapt her business model. It might just be Branson himself.
More than 4,000 aspiring entrepreneurs have attended workshops put on by the Centre in Johannesburg, nearly 100 businesses have been started and 15 have begin given initial capital investments.
The $50,000 Branson and Tonic hope to raise this week can help numerous small businesses get their start-and maybe someday, found a very comfortable and reasonably priced airline.
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