Cape Town, South Africa-based Pranary Business School has managed to help entrepreneurs and startups raise over $1.5 million in investments and has engaged with 50,000 entrepreneurs from 50 different countries since it launched in 2020 through online mentoring.
The business school helps entrepreneurs launch businesses and existing businesses to find investors and raise funds.
Pranary has been remote from the get-go, using online learning to deliver its courses, and getting its entrepreneurs to score investments without having met the investors in person — by adopting remote tools and technology.
“We have been remote from the get-go. We deliver programmes online using tech and our team is a remote tool. We have helped entrepreneurs get funding without meeting the investors. As a team, we also have not all met. Using technology it is like we’re in one place,” Sandras Phiri, CEO and Founder of Pranary said to IT News Africa‘s Zintle Nkohla during an online interview.
The company says what sets them apart from other businesses is that they don’t lean heavily on theory but bring practical solutions to entrepreneurs.
“What makes us unique is that we’re practical. We are not heavy on theory but helping busy founders to get their answers fast. We only have founders and investors as educators. We’re a school for entrepreneurs by entrepreneurs,” Phiri said.
Just like any startup, Pranary says they have had their fair share of challenges. They struggled to price offerings correctly, struggled with cash flow, including raising investments in the beginning until they mastered the process that they are now teaching other entrepreneurs.
During the pandemic, the business couldn’t host events with or meet people in person and that, in turn, negatively impacted the business because Pranary takes pride in being able to host events and teach growing entrepreneurs.
At their next event, Phiri says the company will be teaching startup entrepreneurs how to get funded by investors.
“People should expect to learn how to get funded from our investor, Sarah Dusek, the managing partner at Enygma Ventures. Sarah is very inspirational as she and her husband built a business from scratch and exited it for over $100 million. All entrepreneurs who are serious about fundraising should not miss this event,” he said.
Pranary has also has partnered with prominent companies in South Africa, including Shoprite, mLab, Sanlam, and PayFast.
By Zintle Nkohla
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