Startup Story
Nicolene Schoeman-Louw is the Co-Founder and Managing Director of PocketAdvisor in South Africa. She is also one of the skilled facilitators at PocketAdvisor. Nicolene’s involvement is a passion and means through which reliable legal information can be made available to more people. Nicolene is also the Founder and Managing Director of SchoemanLaw Inc in Cape Town, South Africa. She is an admitted Attorney of the High Court of South Africa, Conveyancer, Notary Public and Mediator with a passion for entrepreneurs and helping them reach their most ambitious goals. Nicolene has enjoyed the confidence of many successful entrepreneurs (both locally and abroad) over the years and continues to do so. As a trusted advisor she has actively contributed to the successes of many businesses, helped and continues to help many entrepreneurs build lasting legacies.
Nicolene holds an LLB degree cum laude, LLM from the University of the Free State and a postgraduate diploma in financial planning (CFP) from the University of Stellenbosch. She lectured at the University of the Free State during her studies and presently guest lectures at Stellenbosch Business School. She also presents seminars and workshops on a wide range of legal topics for various organizations such as Bandwidth Barn, UnitedSucces, Women Presidents Organisation, WECBOF, Cape Chamber of Commerce and Industry and the Business, Retail and Marketing Indabas – to name a few.
LoA spoke to Nicolene to learn more about her latest impact-driven business venture, and her passion for helping other entrepreneurs to grow and build legacies of their own.
What does your company do?
We have 20 years of experience in the commercial law landscape; we know that a lack of legal compliance is the foremost reason businesses fail. We also understand that quality legal services are expensive and often out of reach for many entrepreneurs. And that even for those that can afford and engage legal services, the maze of regulation is often too challenging to navigate sustainably.
More entrepreneurs would grow and scale their businesses if legal knowledge is made more accessible, affordable, and packaged in a human way. That is why award-winning lawyer Nicolene Schoeman-Louw created PocketAdvisor. Our sessions are presented with or without facilitation so that you can access an expert throughout the course.
In addition, we test participants’ knowledge throughout the course to ensure optimal understanding and absorption are achieved. Further to this, each module is supported by the downloadable (free to course participants) contracts needed to enable you, the participants, to implement learnings immediately and to ensure practical experience cements the knowledge into the business.
“We know that a lack of legal compliance is the foremost reason businesses fail. We also understand that quality legal services are expensive and often out of reach for many entrepreneurs.”
“Around 75% of businesses fail in the first year because they are not legally compliant. Poor legal compliance is because most entrepreneurs cannot access reliable, sustainable, and affordable legal information.”
What inspired you to start your company?
Around 75% of businesses fail in the first year because they are not legally compliant. Poor legal compliance is because most entrepreneurs cannot access reliable, sustainable, and affordable legal information. The barriers are based on time and on financial resources. PocketAdvisor aims to revolutionize the way in which entrepreneurs become legally compliant and enables them to make better decisions.
Why should anyone use your service or product?
For under R3000 per person and in less than 5 hours, entrepreneurs can access reliable and practical legal information in their busy schedules (after hours) and receive all the required legal contracts. Going to a traditional law firm would take around 10 hours in normal business hours and the full suite of services would cost at least R85000.
Tell us a little about your team
Our small team comprises the founder (Nicolene), two accounts team members and one facilitator. We are dedicated to entrepreneurs and making their journey more profitable and sustainable long term.
“PocketAdvisor aims to revolutionize the way in which entrepreneurs become legally compliant and enables them to make better decisions.”
Share a little about your entrepreneurial journey. And do you come from an entrepreneurial background?
In 2007, at the age of 24, Nicolene moved to Cape Town from Bloemfontein. Not long after her relocation, an opportunity arose for her to establish her own law firm, which she eagerly embraced. This marked the birth of SchoemanLaw Inc, which has since evolved into the Preferred Law Firm for entrepreneurs, catering to businesses of all sizes. The firm's focus revolves around its clients, prioritizing their needs while upholding ethical standards. It prides itself on being technologically savvy, innovative, and entrepreneurial. As the Managing Director, she takes great pride in leading what she envisions as a progressive law firm of the future.
She is also the innovator behind Contracts4Biz, a legal tech product designed for SMEs and startups, launched in 2018. Additionally, she serves as a Director and co-founder PocketAdvisor (Pty) Ltd in 2016, a platform aimed at bridging the gap and providing accessible and trusted legal and business advice to South African entrepreneurs. Powered by state-of-the-art technology, PocketAdvisor strives to be a reliable advisor available 24/7 and affordable for all.
Her passion for business has led her to be actively involved in various ventures beyond SchoemanLaw and PocketAdvisor. She believes this expansion is a natural progression, as the dedication, resilience, and entrepreneurial spirit required for successful ventures have resonated with her for as long as she can remember.
As a legal professional, she has earned the confidence of many accomplished entrepreneurs, both locally and internationally, throughout her career. Serving as their trusted advisor, she has made significant contributions to the success of numerous businesses and helped entrepreneurs build enduring legacies. It is this profound calling that she considers an honor to answer each day.
She has overcome numerous challenges, particularly considering her young age when she established SchoemanLaw in a predominantly male-dominated profession. She candidly admits to often feeling isolated during those early years. While she is no longer a lone ranger on her journey, she remains fully aware that there will be more obstacles to overcome and further opportunities for growth to embrace.
What are your future plans and aspirations for your company?
I wish to expand PocketAdvisor outside of South Africa to assist entrepreneurs outside South Africa in building and managing key relationships better. Good business is about having solid relationships. To train lawyers on the African continent to change their thinking around the delivery of legal services. So that a better and more effective way of service delivery spreads throughout the ecosystem and economies, ultimately creating success and more employment opportunities.
What gives you the most satisfaction being an entrepreneur?
Being able to guide my young children in being creative, resilient, and valuable to/in society.
What's the biggest piece of advice you can give to other women looking to start-up?
Never give up.
Contact or follow PocketAdvisor
WEBSITE | FACEBOOK | INSTAGRAM | YOUTUBE | EMAIL info@pocketadvisor.co.za
Why LoA loves it…
For so many women entrepreneurs, being able to not just survive but thrive means knowing how to build a sustainable, legally sound and compliant business for the long-term. But navigating a pathway through the legal maze for business can be daunting for so many. That’s where Nicolene Schoeman-Louw and her team at PocketAdvisor Legal Solutions come in - and not just that, but they actually know how to successfully work in an entrepreneur-centric way, taking the angst and discomfort away from woman entrepreneurs when dealing with legal matters. This is the type of legal support service that is really needed in the market for women entrepreneurs. — Melanie Hawken, founder & ceo, Lionesses of Africa