Moving from a start-up to an enterprise is no small feat but women at the forefront of entrepreneurship in South Africa have taken it in their stride and come out victorious.
The Mastercard Index of Women Entrepreneurs Index (MIWE) 2022 report, highlighted an increase in the number of women making strides as entrepreneurs. South Africa is one of only 12 economies where 11.1% of working-age women engaged in early-stage entrepreneurial activities.
Robyn Smith is the founder of Faithful to Nature, a brand true to its name. Founded in 2006, the online and physical store provides products that help save the planet.
Smith, who hails from Kommetjie in Cape Town, said one of her biggest challenges was when the business was millions of rands in debt and she was on the verge of throwing in the towel.
“A big retailer approached us to buy into the brand, but after six months I walked away from that deal. Those six months taught me a lot, but especially that my business was undervalued,” she said.
“Four months later we became the only privately owned e-commerce company and I had four investors approach me.
Smith was 26 when she started Faithful to Nature’s online store out of a passion for natural and organic cosmetics - a gap she identified in the South African market
“When I told my friends and family I was starting an e-commerce business in 2006, they started sending me job adverts,” she said.
The number one lesson she’s learned in business is to do business like a woman, Smith said.
“Women have an incredible ability to create brands because of our empathetic and intuitive nature, it’s easier for us to connect,” she said.
“I believe that our success is because I did business like a woman, instead of like a man.
Thandi Mbulaheni is the CEO of leading skincare brand, Skoon. The brand prides itself on being non-toxic, sustainable and cruelty-free.
Skoon was founded by engineer Stella Ciolli in 2015, who brought Mbulaheni on board for her experience in leading innovation on global brands.
Mbulaheni said when she came into the business it was already established, and it was her job to explore and find growth opportunities.
“Although Afrikaans white women were what grew this brand in the beginning, I wanted to share the message that skin is skin. We sell skin and that’s how our growth acceleration started,” she said.
“After defining opportunities for growth in regions and our target market, we needed to look at physical redistribution channels. This is how we moved from an online store into Woolworths and Foschini.”
Moving from a career in the corporate world to leading a start-up meant sacrificing the big financial package, Mbulaheni said.
“What I used to earn and what I now earn are worlds apart but I receive my payback when I see the company growing and making sure this business is where I want it to be,” she said.
“In corporate, I was invested in return on investment but now I focus on the return on responsibility.”
One of the most important lessons that Mbulaheni learned from working in corporate was to switch perspectives from looking at what consumers need, to create a product they never knew they needed.
“In entrepreneurship, you must move away from the need. As an entrepreneur you must give the customer something that they never thought they would need,” she said.
“We need to start looking at how to build and offer the customer something they never thought could exist,.”
Zubeida Goolam is the co-founder of Valiant Agency, formerly known as BrandTruth and was founded in 2015. The digital-first agency has worked with top brands like KWV, FNB’s eBucks and Spur, to name a few.
Many people view working in digital marketing as just posting on social media, but there is lot more to it, Goolam said.
“We are selling ideas and feelings. We tell stories and share narratives in the digital space,” she said.
Goolam, who is from KwaZulu-Natal, said when running one’s own business, it was important to know when to ask for help.
“We think we can do it all and do it alone but approaching problems with someone’s guidance can help us navigate it,” she said.
When Goolam and her former business partner started Valiant, they used their retirement annuities from their corporate jobs as seed money
“We have doubled our income every single year since we started. I think this bottles down to the relationships we have with our clients. It bottles down to luck and grace,” she said.