Macufe Business and Networking Brunch

A unique eye for business opportunity prompted Bafana Nzimande to host a networking brunch during Macufe, reports Ace Moloi

When we meet, Mangaung is in its wokest, most festive season. It’s a Saturday. Every home is empty and every street is overflowing. The Free State Development Corporation (FDC) office block is as quiet as a cemetery, and the only office that has life is his. I stop pondering and start knocking.

Yes, I have arrived at I CAN Leadership Co. Free State CEO Bafana Nzimande’s office to learn more about his Macufe Business and Networking Brunch, which has the good-humoured Dr David Molapo, the insightful Vusi Thembekwayo, the industrialist Vanessa Masilo and the medically distinctive Dr Wian Stander.

The genius of the brunch is not just its explosive line-up, but its timing as well. Hosted during the Macufe rush, the aim of the business gathering is to equip and connect entrepreneurs through expert presentations and networking opportunities.

The art of networking

Brunch host Bafana Nzimande tells me networking is to an entrepreneur what oxygen is to all of us.

“In business, networking is essential. It enables you to market yourself and establish business relationships, while learning more about your industry and exposing your brand to a wider audience,” says the South African Men of the Year Awards finalist, born and bred in Bethlehem, Free State.

“The strategic significance of hosting this business brunch during Macufe lies in the social currency that flocks into Mangaung. This rich and diverse network has to be exploited in our favour as entrepreneurs, using the fertile platform which Macufe provides.”

It is this unique eye for business breakthroughs that prompted Bafana Nzimande to conceptualise this gathering, which will be held at Ilanga Estate, in order to give a new meaning to the generally groovy Macufe atmosphere.

The fountain of wisdom

If public speaking is a band, Vusi Thembekwayo is the rockstar. He is a speaker with a voice of authority on business concepts, business leadership, business strategy, expansion and more. Boasting a wild global speaking portfolio, VT delivers presentations that burn a desire for excellence in the hearts of entrepreneurs. Using his years in the corporate world and his conversations with great leaders, he packages his content in the giftedness of speech only he possesses, so that his is not just an empty eloquence, but a lesson-oriented and impact-driven talk.

If anybody ever told you old people cannot relate to the youth, they definitely had not heard Dr David Molapo speak.

Those of us who have encountered the teachings of Dr Molapo will agree without a shadow of a doubt that he has his own style of speaking which is timeless. He is witty, hilarious, practical and bold. With a strong sense of engagement, he locks everyone in the room, keeping them actively present and emotionally involved.

Every young entrepreneur who is looking for a living work-in-progress in the game cannot miss Vanessa Masilo’s talk at the Macufe Business and Networking Brunch. Her company, Krystal Klear Visions, is a product of her crystal clear vision. The company is divided into three sections: SHEQ consulting, general supplies and ICT.

Hailing from the Parys town of Free State, Vanessa is a lively entrepreneur with a spirit of endurance and a heart for humanity.

Her presence on the brunch stage will surely move the audience towards action.

Keeping the brunch slim and healthy is none other than Dr Wian Stander, Chief Executive Officer: ReGenesis Bio-Technologies. He is a University of Pretoria MBChB graduate who holds memberships in health bodies such as the Health Professions Council of South Africa, the South African Sports Medicine Association and the South African Society of Travel Medicine, among many others.

His medical philosophy is of keeping the patient healthy and not just treating the disease. With this philosophy, his talk promises to go beyond the fact of entrepreneurship and tap into the healthy ingredients necessary to prolong the lifespan of entrepreneurs.

BRUNCHING out into greatness

The Macufe Business and Networking Brunch will take place on 7 October 2017 at Ilanga Estate. The ticket price of R300 also includes a breakfast buffet. Registrations begin at 07:00 and the event kicks off at 08:00 op die kop.

For those in attendance, some of the key objectives of the gathering will include collaborative partnerships, ideas exchange, social networking, experienced commentary on their own enterprises and many more benefits that cannot be traded for anything.

With THE POWER OF COLLABORATION as its theme, this is an event tailored for entrepreneurs, artists, thought leaders and students who understand that it is no longer who you know that matters, but who knows you.

Business is a people’s game in which only those with the healthiest of human relationships live to narrate their success stories. Be sure to be present when speaker of the day share their own stories.

@Ace_Moloi is the Director of Art State Media Pty Ltd and Editor of Art State Online.