Portia Nondo is a business leader and entrepreneur and is a McDonald’s franchisee based in South Africa. She is passionate about empowering other aspirant entrepreneurs on the African continent; she firmly believes that empowering fellow African entrepreneurs is one of the most sustainable ways of stimulating job creation and economic growth.  Personally, done her bit through recently co-founding Zettuu, an eCommerce platform that partners with budding entrepreneurs to help them grow their own businesses by scaling up into global markets.

Nondo previously worked in the banking industry in South Africa responsible for providing financing to start-up and small businesses, amongst other roles. This exposure provided her with the insight, understanding and appreciation of the different challenges (as well as opportunities) start-up and small businesses face. She herself became a McDonald’s franchise operator in 2007 and has since grown to be a multi-store owner. Indeed, her success as a business leader was exemplified when she was recognised for a prestigious award within McDonald’s Corporation globally in 2018; she received the Fred Turner Global Award, presented to the top performing 1% of franchisees that year. Furthermore, she currently serves as a Non-Executive Director of a significant bank in South Africa.

Nondo’s doctoral research intends to investigate the lending risk appetite of Southern African investors in the diaspora, who may be looking to fund start-up entrepreneurs in their home countries. This research will investigate this lending appetite in relation to the current lending

Academically, Nondo holds an MBA from Wits Business School, South Africa (2001) and a MSc degree in Textile Engineering Degree from the Technical University of Mechanical and Textile Engineering, Liberec, Czech limitations of traditional financial institutions and funding options. She will focus on establishing if this lending risk appetite is favourable and can be practically applied to provide capital for start-up entrepreneurs. Republic (1990).

Empowerment and enablement lie at the centre of her ambitions to play her part in assisting the efforts of fellow Africans, to become more self-dependent and self-sustaining. She firmly believes that with the right training and backing, the continent’s business leaders will rise, leading to the continent eventually rising to reach its true potential.

Nondo is a business leader and entrepreneur who believes in the empowerment of the African entrepreneurs in order to positively impact on the economic growth of the continent. Nondo’s doctoral research intends to investigate the lending risk appetite of Southern African investors in the diaspora, who may be looking to fund start-up entrepreneurs in their home countries. This research will investigate this lending appetite in relation to the current traditional lending options.