LEBOHANG MKHWANAZI GETS RECOGNIZED AT THE START UP SCHOOL COMPETITION 2020
In keeping with our focus on women and girls’ empowerment, we’re super excited to profile Alumni member, Lebohang Mkhwanazi. This 26-year-old Sharpeville resident recently won the Start-Up School Entrepreneurship competition for small and big businesses.
As the ATS 2020 Business Summit Winner, Lebohang is no stranger to success. Still, being recognized by the Start-Up School and receiving R 20 000 towards her business is a pretty awesome achievement! Lebohang started her beauty salon in 2020, using her very first stipend from our YES Programme to fund what would be the beginning of her dream. She’ll be using this most recent award to focus on business renovations and expansion.
Because Lebohang’s business income grew from an initial R1 500 to R3 000 monthly, she’s now able, as the breadwinner, to provide a better quality of life for her family, including her beloved 4-year-old. She’s also managed to set aside savings for a beauty and salon course, a move she knows will position her even more strongly in her field.
She credits the YES Programme for strengthening her skills in the workplace, and a subsequent Human Entrepreneur online course that provided her with insight on increasing business profits. But its Afrika Tikkun she believes was pivotal in providing the foundational support she needed to thrive in the professional space. “I’m very thankful to Afrika Tikkun for their support and for getting me through the 3rd Annual Business Summit,” Lebohang says. “Now I can lead and run a business.
In the next three to four years I’d like to own three more salons around the community and employ more youth in my business.” Lebohang also advises young people to take advantage of opportunities that can improve their financial situation, adding that they should “hustle as much as they can to sustain their income.”
