Two dynamic achievers were recently accredited by Enablis, a global organisation that supports ICT entrepreneurs in Africa. This accreditation follows a list of awards from the local ICT industry.
Fairoz Jaffer and Shanaaz Scharffenorth are the two founders of Abnoba, whose individual and company expertise has been recognised by the industry. Currently their company is listed as a `Technology Top 100 Company` and qualified as a finalist in the `African Achievers for Top ICT SMME` awards. Shanaaz Scharffenorth, an Abnoba co-founder, is a `Finalist for African Achievers for Top Black Women in ICT` and in 2001, Jaffer was a finalist for the `Black ICT Professional of the Year` and `Infopreneurs in Africa`.
Enablis provides assistance to selected entrepreneurs, including mentoring, coaching, strategic marketing and business plan development. Accredited entrepreneurs also gain access to loan financing, through the R50 million Enablis Khula Loan Guarantee Fund, which was established with Khula Enterprise Finance and FNB.
Shanaaz Scharffenorth, Operations Manager for Abnoba, adds: "Enablis will help Abnoba to be a force to be reckoned with, by ensuring we have the resources of a serious market player."
Fairoz Jaffer, CEO of Abnoba, agrees: "Enablis offers entrepreneurs valuable business support that hones their skills and capabilities to develop them as successful business people. This is fairly unique in SA and covers skills such as sales, marketing, HR and financial."
Part of Abnoba`s success comes from its having developed a solution to automate, eliminate and reduce manual paper-based business processes. What distinguishes its service offering is that clients receive a total integrated solution from a 100% BEE software solutions provider. According to Jaffer: "Companies that offer holistic ICT solutions are rare in this industry and we are delighted with the additional Enablis endorsement of our skill set."
Martin Feinstein, CEO of Enablis SA, says: "Shanaaz and Fairoz are the type of entrepreneur that SA needs, and their business passion, integrity and vision is what Enablis is all about. We hope to help accelerate their business growth and sustainability, and in so doing, have a ripple effect with job creation and technology skills development. Enablis is an entrepreneurial network that enables individuals like Shanaaz and Fairoz to assist others and make valuable links and connections to benefit their business - both of them have already shown that this fits their vision. With individuals of this calibre, we believe that being an accredited Enablis member will become a valuable endorsement."
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Abnoba is a South African-based software solutions provider that has followed BEE principles since inception. The team provide business solutions that focus on business process automation to improve productivity and reduce operational costs. Abnoba enables customers to leverage existing ERP and line of business investments by accessing and storing business information, automating processes across the organisation, enabling online, real-time collaboration around transactions. Abnoba is 100% black owned with 50% black female ownership, a "Technology Top 100 Company" and a "Finalist for African Achievers for Top ICT SMME". Shanaaz Scharffenorth, Abnoba shareholder, is a "Finalist for African Achievers for Top Black Woman in ICT". www.abnoba.co.za.
Enablis
Enablis is a new and innovative global non-profit organisation of entrepreneurs dedicated to help bridge the digital divide by helping other entrepreneurs develop sustainable businesses. The Enablis team aims to achieve these objectives by supporting member entrepreneurs with small and medium enterprises (SMEs) that use, or are intending to use, the power of ICT in ways that expand digital opportunities and social impact, and widen access to technology. Enablis already supports more than 50 member entrepreneurs in SA, where it delivers a unique programme of business support services.
For more information on Enablis, go to www.enablis.org.
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