Entrepreneurship, according to economist Israel Kirzner, is a “tendency for profit opportunities to be discovered and grasped by routine-resisting entrepreneurial market participants”.

Kirzner, an alumnus of the University of Cape Town and emeritus professor at New York University, is celebrated for his work defining entrepreneurship. The successful market actor, he says, is always “spontaneously on the lookout for hitherto unnoticed features of the environment which might inspire new activity”.

The Route to Market competition – now in its third year but its first featuring uMngeni-uThukela Water as a category sponsor – is designed to support and accelerate the growth of emerging businesses in the country’s most critical industries. Through partnerships with Aspen Pharmacare (medical and health category), DHL (logistics) and uMngeni-uThukela Water (water), the competition provides entrepreneurs with real access, real networking and real opportunity.

The Route to Market competition – now in its third year but its second featuring DHL as a category sponsor – is designed to support and accelerate the growth of emerging businesses in the country’s most critical industries. Through partnerships with Aspen Pharmacare (medical and health category), DHL (logistics) and uMngeni-uThukela Water (water), the competition provides entrepreneurs with real access, real networking and real opportunity.

The Route to Market competition – now in its third year – is designed to support and accelerate the growth of emerging businesses in the country’s medical and health industry. Finalists receive specialised mentorship and business learning from GIBS faculty and industry experts and undergo intensive pitch preparation, culminating in two rounds of pitching to senior executives and decision-makers from Aspen. 

Sbu Khumalo, founder of FlexDeployHydro, has been named the winner of the uMngeni-uThukela Water GIBS Route-to-Market Challenge 2025. The business aims to build small, hydro-power plants to provide electricity to rural areas.

Anza Muntswu, a chemist and founder of GreenZA, has placed second in the uMngeni-uThukela Water GIBS Route-to-Market Challenge 2025. The Limpopo-based startup offers a range of solutions aimed at tackling water pollution.

Dr Hillary Mukudu, founder of TeledoctorSA, has placed third in the Aspen GIBS Route-to-Market Challenge 2025.

The idea for TeledoctorSA began as a fix for challenges in Mukudu’s own GP practice, where he sees patients while his wife, Pearl Zikalala, oversees the back office. They were spending heavily on outsourced electronic health record (EHR) systems that lacked the features they needed. So they built their own.

Colin Mkosi, the founder of Cloudy Deliveries, has emerged as the winner of the DHL GIBS Route to Market Challenge 2024. The business offers last-mile delivery services primarily in township markets by using bicycles to

Tim Peach, the Director of Ortho-Design, has emerged as the winner of the Aspen GIBS Route to Market Challenge 2024. The business specialises in designing and manufacturing orthopaedic and soft-tissue fixation devices with a focus

Markets often get an unfair rap as creatures of selfishness. Of course, markets can be manipulated to be exclusionary, winner-take-all, and exploitative beasts. However, functioning markets feed economic and social inclusion. A winning entrepreneur building