Entrepreneurship

SOUTH Africa’s luxury hotel, casino and online sports betting operator Sun International has introduced a new app to streamline communication for its Most Valued Guest (MVG) programme.

Anthony Leeming, chief executive of Sun International, said: “The Covid-19 pandemic has catapulted the world into the digital era and has forever changed customer expectations and how we communicate with them.

“Our MVG’s are no longer prepared to spend hours trying to access information about the best room rates or to confirm how many points they have to redeem.

“They want instant access to information and they literally want it at their fingertips. The new app gives this to them.”

The group’s MVG loyalty programme, which was first launched in February 1994, can now use the app to get the best rates at Sun International hotels and leisure facilities, invitations to functions and events, offers to participate in promotions and entry into competitions.

They can manage their loyalty points and casino customers can also view jackpots and see which slot machines have paid out, and at which casino.

“When we first launched we had approximately 10 000 members, whereas now we are seeing sign-ups of 12 000 to 15 000 new members a month,” Leeming said. | Staff Reporter

MASELLO Mokhoro, the founder of Starlicious Enterprises, is the only South African to have made it to the top 26 entrepreneurs selected for 2021 in the Anzisha Prize, out of hundreds of African entrants who had to pass multiple stages of vetting and evaluation.

Formally established in 2019, Starlicious Enterprises is an agribusiness whose primary operation is the rearing of broilers and pigs for sale to local individual buyers.

Purchased as day-old chicks, the broilers go on sale at six weeks old.

Hailing from the Free State, 22-year-old Mokhoro holds an advanced diploma in agricultural management and has served as a peer mentor and an active member of student organisations.

The entrepreneurs, who are between 18 and 22 years old, will each receive more than $5 000 (about R72 764) in funding and more than $15 000 worth of venture building support services over three years.

“We’ve seen clearly that a transition from secondary or tertiary education directly into sustainable entrepreneurship requires both financial and learning support,” said Josh Adler, the executive director of the Anzisha Prize.