Dr Nonhlanhla Sitole (left) and Thato Schermer are the co-founders behind Zoie Health. Picture: Supplied
It takes more than a great business plan and the financing to build a successful business and as the year begins, we look at the top ventures that are expected to make it big in 2023.
Every year the online learning platform Heavy Chef recognises the work of five start-up companies they expect to shine in the coming year.
Heavy Chef previously gave a nod to businesses such as the Valenture Institute, an online learning platform, as well as payment system platform Yoco as ventures tipped for success.
These are top five start-up companies to look out for this year, based on the Heavy Chef Top 5 awards.
Zoie Health
This is an all-in-one women’s digital health-care clinic that is a cellphone application. Its co-founder Thato Schermer was shocked at how expensive it was to visit the gynaecologist, receive a contraception prescription and pay for it at the pharmacy, which motivated her to create a hub that fills all those needs.
Co-founder Dr Nonhlanhla Sitole was motivated by motherhood and having experienced postpartum depression and feeling like she needed a sense of community. The two joined heads and created Zoie to give women affordable access to health care digitally. The platform has multiple qualified clinicians at one’s disposal and offers online support groups where needed.
Curbon
This company offers an e-commerce plug-in that offsets its client’s carbon footprint with each sale. Curbon is on a net zero mission – which means they would like to negate the number of greenhouse gases produced by human activity by providing a no-fuss solution. The Curbon e-commerce plug-in is fully customisable to pair with your site’s design. Once set up, the team evaluates the business’s emissions and gives customers the most accurate carbon-offsetting solution.
Floatpays
This business actively works to promote financial wellness at work, allowing users to access their earned wage on demand, have pay cheque-linked savings and offer financial education and practical tools. In short, it is promoted as an employee benefit that will help them better manage their finances. Financial stress is a factor in employee wellness which can cause absenteeism, low engagement, decreased productivity and increased error rates. Floatpays’ goal is to solve that.
Franc
This business allows for smart investing through a simple and easy-to-use application, where you can invest within minutes. Co-founders Sebastian Patel and Thomas Brennan wanted to enable more of the population to invest. The application provides users with goal-based investment and gives them access to the best investment funds. Franc is personalised to the user. Their business was founded in 2018 by Patel, an actuary, and Brennan, an engineer. Their goal is to make investing affordable, accessible and social.
Parket
This is a digital access parking management system which provides cashless and ticketless public parking. Their goal is to reinvent the parking experience with their new parking technology solution. To use Parket, you have to register on their website and add your licence number and bank card. Thereafter, you can enter one of their parking lots and a boom will open using licence plate recognition, and the same when you exit. Billing is automated which means no queue, no physical tickets and no struggling with payment. An hourly rate is charged in the parking lot. Parket also allows you to pre-book a bay of your choice if you’d like.
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