Indrani Govender, a construction business founder, creating jobs and changing lives

April 18, 2021 Melanie Hawken

Indrani Govender, founder, Ricinz Construction (South Africa)

Indrani Govender is the founder and owner of Ricinz Construction, a business established in 2010 in South Africa which today employs 20 people. The single mother of two boys, Indrani is an award winning entrepreneur recognized for her business and the number of jobs she has created in the community. Her passion is to uplift women and youth and ensure a better life for those who have given up on life. She now strives to create wealth for all her employees.

Gladys Kgorane, a South African agripreneur supplying farm fresh produce to her customers

April 11, 2021 Melanie Hawken

Gladys Kgorane, founder, Caleb's Farm (South Africa)

Gladys Kgorane is the founder and owner of Caleb's farm in Potchefstroom, South Africa, a niche agri business that supplies farm fresh products, eggs, free range chickens, sheep packages and pork packages for its customers. As a family oriented entrepreneur, Gladys is married with three children, she started her farming business on her smallholding back in 2013. Today she has seen it grow substantially from those early days, and now supplies 30 trays of eggs daily to customers, in addition to a wide range of farm fresh meat and fresh vegetables.

Shamilah Damons, a South African data scientist helping companies with their digital solutions

April 4, 2021 Melanie Hawken

Shamilah Damons, founder, Shammah Innovative Solutions (South Africa)

Shammah Innovative Solutions is an information technology company based in Johannesburg, South Africa. It is an EME with 100% black women ownership and Level 1 B-BBEE rating. Shammah aims to provide digital solutions to small and large companies. Data is currently considered as any organisation's most valuable commodity, and Shammah’s goal is to use intelligent data processing techniques to provide integrated business solutions that deliver accurate, efficient and timely results.

Nondumiso Pikashe, a South African entrepreneur creating a proud indigenous wine brand (2021)

March 28, 2021 Melanie Hawken

Nondumiso Pikashe, founder of Ses’fikile Wines (South Africa) — **Nondumiso Pikashe**, founder of Ses’fikile Wines (South Africa)

Exciting things are happening in South Africa’s winelands with a new generation of entrepreneurs making great wines for the local and global market place and building new brands to watch. Ses’fikile Wines, founded by Nondumiso Pikashe, is one such brand with high aspirations.

Millicent Motsoeri, a South African entrepreneur making vacations affordable for working people

March 21, 2021 Melanie Hawken

Everyone loves to take a vacation during the year, but often when the time comes to stop work and take a trip, funds can be in short supply. In South Africa, entrepreneur Millicent Motsoeri, co-founder of Heita Ngamla Holidays, has created a vehicle for customers to pre-pay for their vacations over time, making them more accessible to everyone.

Lesego Seloane and Dinah Kgeledi, two South African entrepreneurs turning a passion for botany and horticulture into a thriving landscaping business

February 28, 2021 Melanie Hawken

Lesego Seloane & Dinah Kgeledi, co-founders, Ronewa Creations (South Africa)

Lesego Seloane and Dinah Kgeledi are co-founders of Ronewa Creations Ltd (Pty) in South Africa. This is a family business between a niece and her aunt, respectively. Lesego has a background in Botany, having completed her studies in Biochemistry and Botany at the University of Johannesburg. While Dinah has a background in the corporate world, working in the IT field using her Diploma in IT. She worked for various companies before resigning from her corporate career to fully pursue landscaping as her passion. Once Lesego completed her studies at university, she went into landscaping and Dinah followed too, having studied a few courses in landscaping design and horticulture. The passion they have for plants comes from Lesego’ s gran, Dinah's Mother, who has an eclectic small garden in Soweto. So the two have always seen her tend to her garden over the years and been inspired by her work. They are passionate about creating beautiful spaces for their clients.

Olga Mundangepfupfu, a South African entrepreneur building a niche software consulting business

February 21, 2021 Melanie Hawken

Olga Mundangepfupfu, founder of CM Solutions (South Africa)

Companies large and small know that harnessing the power of technology to get business done can pay dividends, but getting the right tools and advice is key. In South Africa, Olga Mundangepfupfu, founder of specialist software consulting and data management business, CM Solutions, has the solutions to meet every need.

Phumzile Mthembu, a South African entrepreneur inspired to create a natural baby skin care brand

February 13, 2021 Melanie Hawken

Phumzile Mthembu, founder of PureB Baby Care (South Africa)

Inspired by her son who was diagnosed with eczema as a baby, South African entrepreneur Phumzile Mthembu created a natural baby skincare brand, PureB Baby Care, providing a solution to her own family and many others too. Today, her company Ingcweti (Pty) Ltd, trading as PureB Baby Care, is a wholly black-owned manufacturing company that specializes in producing coconut oil based baby ointments that are 100% natural and without harmful chemicals.

Rebecca Tshuma, a South African foodpreneur focused on supplying fresh produce to customers

February 7, 2021 Melanie Hawken

Rebecca Tshuma, founder of Becks Foods (South Africa)

From major food retailers to the hospitality industry, commercial customers look for reliable, high quality, fresh produce suppliers to meet their needs. In South Africa, Rebecca Tshuma, founder of Becks Foods, is building a reputation for supplying some of the freshest, healthiest produce direct from the farm.

Silungile Mokoena, a South African fashion designer creating much needed manufacturing jobs

January 31, 2021 Melanie Hawken

Silungile Mokoena, founder of Sluvin Designs (South Africa)

Silungile Mokoena is the passion-driven founder and CEO of Sluvin Designs a fashion house based in the city of Durban, KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa. The business was established in 1999 and now employs 6 full time employees and up to 10 part-time employees, contributing to the growth of the sector in the city. It also outsources some of the company’s accessory production to more than 15 women who specialize in beadwork and work from the comfort of their homes mainly in rural areas.

Noushinah Ganey, a South African entrepreneur passionate about wellness and aesthetics

January 24, 2021 Melanie Hawken

Noushinah Ganey, founder of Cowey Park Pharmacy & Skin Time Aesthetic Clinic (South Africa)

Noushinah Ganey is the Founder and Managing Director of Cowey Park Pharmacy and Skin Time Aesthetic Clinic. She has been a part of the Aesthetic industry for 18 years and the pharmaceutical industry for 5 years. She has been interviewed on many radio platforms and been a TV personality for 2 years hosting a weekly lifestyle show targeted at females. Noushinah was also recently selected to participate as a panelist for an International Cosmeceutical Company.

Tasneem Ebrahim Latib, a South African agri-processor with a taste for chillies

January 17, 2021 Melanie Hawken

Tasneem Ebrahim Latib, founder of Chill-e Organics (South Africa)

Chilli relishes and sauces have long been a favourite with food lovers, and no more so than in South Africa where they often the accompaniment of choice at mealtimes. For entrepreneur Tasneem Ebrahim Latib, founder of Chill-e Organics, this love of the chilli presented an exciting business opportunity. Today, her brand and much loved range of chilli sauces, chutneys and mayos are exciting palettes around the country.

Pitsi Ledwaba, a South African entrepreneur building a natural, organic beauty brand

January 10, 2021 Melanie Hawken

Pitsi Ledwaba, founder of Bonolo Naturals (South Africa)

Pitsi Ledwaba is from Polokwane in the Limpopo Province of South Africa and the founder of Bonolo Naturals, a growing natural, organic beauty brand. For the past 12 years she has been in the retail industry managing both local and international brands. It is where she fell in love with beauty, fashion and everything that makes people look and feel good.

Charlene Shapiro, a South African entrepreneur supplying the hospitality industry with quality food products

January 3, 2021 Melanie Hawken

Charlene Shapiro, founder of CNC Products (South Africa)

Charlene Shapiro is the founder and Managing Member of CNC Products in South Africa. She is an all-rounder entrepreneur and has 29 years’ business experience working in the hospitality industry. Charlene's business is focused on providing high quality service and affordable food products to the hospitality industry, corporates and home users at large. Her experience in sales and marketing come from her years spent in the newspaper industry. She is proudly continuing a family legacy of service and is proud to have her daughter, Kerry, continuing with the same passion at CNC Products.

Babalwa Fatyi, a South African entrepreneur providing solutions for the sustainable development value chain

December 20, 2020 Melanie Hawken

Babalwa Fatyi, founder of Myezo Environmental Management Services (Pty) Ltd (South Africa)

In South Africa, the need to help developers to run projects that are sustainable, whilst at the same time protecting the environment, is key. Myezo Environmental Management Services (Pty) Ltd, founded by entrepreneur Babalwa Fatyi, advises developers on how to remain profitable and respect the socio-economic environment in which they operate. The company provides a range of specialist environmental advisory services to developers across a variety of sectors.

Siwinile Khumalo, a South African engineering professional creating access to clean and healthy water

December 13, 2020 Melanie Hawken

Siwinile Khumalo, founder of Sucxeed Projects (Pty) Ltd (South Africa)

In South Africa, many people still do not have access to clean and healthy water supplies each day. For entrepreneur Siwinile Khumalo, founder of Sucxeed Projects (Pty) Ltd, addressing this challenge was the inspiration for her business building journey. Today she is a water solutions and services provider, changing lives and communities.

Lesego Mathate, a South African entrepreneur empowering women and girls with hygienic sanitary pads

December 6, 2020 Melanie Hawken

Lesego Mathate, founder of Nena (South Africa)

The problem of absenteeism of girls in South Africa’s schools due to the lack of sanitary pads is still a real challenge in the country. It is a challenge that inspired entrepreneur Lesego Mathate to start her business Nena in order to address. Her brand of hygienic and affordable sanitary pads is now retailing through major supermarket chains in the country, empowering women and girls to take control of their menstrual health and hygiene.

Tailored Group Life Cover for SMEs. At the speed of Life

November 29, 2020 Melanie Hawken

Absa acknowledges the vital role that your employees play in the success of your business, particularly if you are a small and medium enterprise (SME). In the event of tragedy, businesses and employers often feel morally obliged, and rightly so, to support their employees’ and their families, which can put a financial and emotional strain on the business. By covering your employees for unforeseen events, you are not only insuring their financial futures if something happens but you are also covering your business too. As such, Absa developed the Employee Care Plan, an extremely affordable group life insurance offering for SME’s to address this need and is available only to Absa customers.

Tanja Robinson, a wine industry entrepreneur growing the South African wine footprint globally

November 22, 2020 Melanie Hawken

Tanja Robinson, founder of Robinson & Sinclair (South Africa)

For many of the smaller boutique wineries in South Africa, getting their wines distributed into global markets can be a challenge. Tanja Robinson, founder of Robinson & Sinclair, is taking her passion for South African wine and helping producers to manage their international sales, growing their global footprints.

Micro-insurance opportunity for the funeral industry

November 8, 2020 Melanie Hawken

The professionalization of the funeral industry is long overdue to rid itself from unscrupulous dealers who have tarnished its reputation. The industry is now in a transformational phase due to regulations that are being phased in.

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