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PLAYING BY THE RULES: Princess Nobulali Mbembeni of Crown Locks hair salon in the Joburg CBD shows how its done in the hair business. PHOTO: Tsheko Kabasia

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Princess Nobulali Mbembeni could not claim her prize because she did not understand the rules when she entered a business mentorship competition.

She thought she would win the cash and did not realise that the R30,000 would be paid for the needs of her business.

Gibsy Diale, of the University of Johannesburg, said Mbembeni now understands that she must comply with the rules.

"All competitions have rules and this one is no different," Diale said.

Mbembeni, 27, owns Crown Locks Beauty Salon and Hair in Pritchard Street, central Johannesburg.

She opened the salon in April last year.

"I started the business with 10% capital and 90% guts as my mentor at UJ, Mr Ackerman, used to say," she said.

After receiving an SMS from UJ in Soweto, she entered the competition.

She had to submit her business plan to be eligible for the prize.

"I saw this as a great opportunity to build my business," she said.

She said that months later she was told her business plan had been selected.

"I won second prize and was presented with a big cheque board of R30000. There was no contract of the terms and conditions attached," she said.

Mbembeni said she was told she would get her prize in January this year, but this has not happened.

"I called them in January because I did not have money to pay rent. It was only then that I was told that I would not be receiving the cash," she said.

Mbembeni said she was told to submit her rent receipts and they would transfer the money into her landlord's account. She did this, but the rent was not paid, she said.

She said her landlord evicted her for a month because the rent had not been paid.

"UJ's explanation was that the money was paid to Business Partners, but they denied ever receiving it," Mbembeni said.

She said when she went to a newspaper to have her story published in the paper, a UJ administrator asked her to reconsider her decision. She went ahead but the story was not published.

Mbembeni said she thought UJ would honour their word when they told her to submit her rent bills.

"I have done everything they said I should, so I don't know what to do now to claim my prize."

She said her landlord later felt sorry for her and allowed her back to reopen her shop.

Diale confirmed that Mbembeni had won second prize, but added that Mbembeni had not complied with the rules of the competition.

She said Mbembeni needed to go through a mentorship programme to have her business assessed before UJ could pay out the prize.

Diale explained that the prize would go towards the needs of the business.

"As our ex-student, she knows what to do. Tell her to call her mentor and to comply with the rules," Diale said, adding that those who had complied would be paid soon.

Comments

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Wed Jun 19 00:32:20 SAST 2013 ::

Jun 6, 2012

Mnikazi

Hhay!!! EGOLI uzodliwa, even on competitions.
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Jun 6, 2012

Deepstick-C

You run a business that cannot pay its rent from its bottomline and expect funds from competitions to cover your operating costs? Who is your mentor? He/She is a joke...
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Jun 7, 2012

CAKE

Wellcome to JOZI
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Jun 7, 2012

tpaz

@Deepstick-C , i have to agree on the other hand the organizers are not being open and truthful from the beginning.
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