I’ve been thinking lately about what it is to be a mother, a wife, a daughter – in short, what it is to be a woman. All of these different aspects are part of who I am, but to me the most challenging one is to be a mother. It’s so important to me to be a role model to my daughter, both in how I support her dreams and plans, and by trying to run a eco-conscious, sustainable business like KURO-Bō – something she can be proud of.
Women have always made history, shattering glass ceilings, and forging their paths in a number of previously male-dominated fields, from STEM to space exploration and competitive sports. Through hard work and hard-won achievement, women have fought for and advanced equality everywhere.
9 August is Women’s Day in South Africa, and the month of August is National Women’s Month. This is an opportunity to celebrate our nation’s women and the important role that women of all races and religions have played and continue to play in South African society today. This is also an opportunity to celebrate those women close to you. To appreciate their strengths and the sacrifices, big and small, they might have made during their lives.
So on this day, let’s honor each and every woman, wherever she may be in the world. Whether they are in the public eye and fighting for equality, or just quietly going about their lives and making a difference in their neighbourhood. Women nurture us, they give us life, and we celebrate them.
To try and make things easier for all those amazing women juggling so much in their lives, we’ve launched our 3-monthly Recurring Order Service. Order once every 12 months and receive your KURO-Bō Filters at a 10-20% discount, delivered to your door for free, every three months. One less thing on your “To Do” List!
I recently (informally) interviewed a few fellow female entrepreneurs who inspire me through their focus on building sustainable, eco-aware brands or organisations. If you want to read the whole interview with each of these lovely ladies, click on the “Read More” button. I thoroughly enjoyed reading their thoughtful answers to my questions, and I hope you will too:
Meet Aaniyah Omardien – Founder of The Beach Co-Op
1. What difference are you hoping to make to your customers and the world?
“We hope to encourage and support the communities that care for our marine environment.”
2. If you could give female entrepreneurs one piece of advice, what would that be?
“Ensure that you make time for yourself. Self-care is the key to any successful endeavour. “
3. What does women’s month mean to you and what message would you like to share with women?
“It is a celebration of the feminine in all of us. I would like to share a quote by Musimbi Kanyoro – The biggest layer of our lives is in our female community.”
4. What inspired you to set up The Beach Co-Op?
“I wanted to give back to the place – the beach – that brought me so much joy. I reached out to ex-colleagues to see what the need was and where I could make the most impact with the interests I had and came across the work that Prof. Peter Ryan was doing on marine plastic pollution. That’s how it all began.
5. Having to juggle many roles (often including mom!), what would your advice be when it comes to personal and professional life balance?
“I believe in planning, having a list, and prioritising – this helps me to know what the most pressing issues are. That and setting deadlines for yourself, on both a personal and professional level.”
6. We all need help in this tough climate, are there some other small brands you’d like to give a shout-out to?
“Khween Shebar and Ori Organics are both amazing female-led businesses that specialise in plastic-free, fragrance free and chemical shy beauty products and I adore them!”
Meet Janneke Blake – Founder of Shop Zero
1. What difference are you hoping to make to your customers and the world?
“Shop Zero is here to help people on their journey to reduce their waste with our products that are curated to promote health and the wellbeing of our planet. Unnecessary packaging and disposable items have turned us into a careless society, disconnected from the well-being of our planet. We love this planet, and we love helping you look after it!”
2. If you could give female entrepreneurs one piece of advice, what would that be?
“Just start! You don’t have to have funds, you don’t have to have perfect technology or set up gear. Start a social media account and start planning your ideas. Just take that single first step! It’s okay to start small at first. Trust your gut and believe in yourself!”
3. What does women’s month mean to you and what message would you like to share with women?
“It’s so important for women to know that we are a crucial part of this world. We stand tall. We make our voices heard. We work hard and we SHOULD work hard for what we want. I am so proud to be a woman!”
4. What inspired you to set up Shop Zero?
“Several years ago I started using natural and organic goods, but after becoming a mother in 2016, my desire to live more mindfully intensified even more. So, during Women’s Month, in August 2017, I established Shop Zero™ to bring one of South Africa’s pioneers in zero-waste shopping to Cape Town. I got the motivation to go for it after following the three inspirational women: Bea Johnson, Kate Nelson, and Lauren Singer and realising that there was a gap in the South African market for a space with everything you need to reduce your plastic footprint. The claim that there will be more plastic than fish in the oceans by 2050 also made me pursue my life goal to inspire positive environmental change even more.”
5. Having to juggle many roles (often including mom!), what would be your advice when it comes to personal and professional life balance?
“I am actually working on improving my work-life balance at the moment and one thing that I’ve learned on my journey is that my terrible work-life balance is not due to my responsibilities, but 100% due to my toxic habits. I am trying to set boundaries and attempting not to multi-task, but I definitely need to practice what I preach!”
6. We all need help in this tough climate, are there some other small brands you’d like to give a shout-out to?
“There are so many magnificent brands out there that bring positive change to their communities and the planet. It’s really difficult for me to keep this list short, as in terms of availability there are so many and they all warrant shoutouts, but I’d like to give a shoutout to new small brands I’ve recently discovered: Nord, Must Be Nice and Candor.”
Meet Sam Moleta – Founder of The Refillery
1. What difference are you hoping to make to your customers and the world?
“We really are trying to make shopping with less single-use plastic easier, more convenient and accessible , while also being an experience customers enjoy, with that very experience being the reason they come back again and again. Shopping by weight means you buy and subsequently use ONLY what you need, and this allows for less waste all round. In your home and pantries, we offer monetary savings, and less waste for the planet.”
2. If you could give female entrepreneurs one piece of advice, what would that be?
“You certainly don’t have to be perfect to be good at what you do – Being an entrepreneur isn’t always about victories and huge success stories – we make mistakes and we are continually learning. I’m the first to admit I have my moments completely ‘winging it’.”
3. What does women’s month mean to you and what message would you like to share with women?
“I believe it’s important to genuinely support one another, not just because you are both women but because you are good at what you do or what you sell or what you make. I feel if you want something, you have to work unbelievably hard to get it regardless of your gender. Always remember that If something is worth doing, it’s worth doing with style.”
4. Why did you choose to set up The Refillery?
“After working in the yachting industry for almost 6 years with my husband Dom – travelling the world by sea had so many perks, like seeing the beautiful world – but often we would have to clean up the beaches before sending our guests to them, or choose not to swim in the middle of nowhere due to huge amounts of rubbish floating around. It was always such a sore point for us seeing these perfect places ruined by human waste. After having kids and a few lifestyle changes we really wanted to try to tread lightly on the planet and chose to switch our disposables for reusables – straws, water bottles, coffee cups, take away containers and plastic wrap for sandwiches. We managed to do this fairly easily so we looked for the next step, so to speak, and found that the average trip to the grocery store was one of our biggest plastic contributors. So we decided to sell our house, quit jobs, leave the country we were in and move home to South Africa and open the Refillery. “
5. Having to juggle many roles (often including mom!), what would be your advice when it comes to personal and professional life balance?
“Having great support around you, be it a great friendship circle, an amazing family or a partner who you can be open with about everything, is key to keeping things on track [As best we can]. I’m lucky that I have these in my life. And can we stop feeling guilty for taking a day off for you – sometimes a good ‘You-Day’ is the best reset you didn’t know you needed!”
6. We all need help in this tough climate, are there some other small brands you’d like to give a shout out to?
“I personally believe during these incredibly trying times on small businesses we have to stick together #communityovereverything , but some brands that stand out would definitely be Earth Warrior, The Conscious Lifestyle Collective, Frank Bespoke and a new favourite coffee spot, Fab Diner.”
Meet Jane McNamara (& Teri Macduff) – Co-Founders of Maven
1. What difference are you hoping to make to your customers and the world?
“Each time we sell an item through Maven we have recycled a quality piece of clothing which has been taking up not only space, but headspace in someone’s cupboard. Our goal at Maven is to educate and inspire South African shoppers that they can purchase quality second hand clothes online.”
2. If you could give female entrepreneurs one piece of advice, what would that be?
“Find your passion and then do everything it takes to make it a success. Listen to all advice that comes your way and network. I have been so grateful for the many people who have offered their time and services to help our little business move forward. Get out there and connect with your peer group. You never know what that coffee might lead to.”
3. What does women’s month mean to you and what message would you like to share with women?
“Women’s month reminds me to be grateful that I am a woman and for the women in my life who love and support me. I believe all women in business should help and build each other up. By shopping at local female-owned businesses you really are helping to create a community of strong women, which is the example we want to set for our children.”
4. Why did you choose to set up Maven?
“Teri (my partner) and I met for a random coffee over two years ago and chatted about her journey of not buying new clothes that year. We had both worked together in advertising and had often spoken about what we really wanted to do with our lives. With my passion for fashion and her desire to live a more conscious lifestyle, selling proudly not new fashion was an exciting concept.
Although selling secondhand clothes is nothing new, we wanted to create a fresh secondhand shopping experience in South Africa through an online customer-centric platform. www.mavencollection.co.za offers a curated collection of quality designer, high street and boutique clothing through a seamless shopping experience. Customers are able to filter by size, piece or collection, reducing unnecessary time and frustration spent searching for pieces not in your size!
Underpinned by exceptional customer service Maven is also the only reseller to offer a full refund should the item not fit or be received not in the manner described.
Finally, we wanted to ensure our business was not only a sustainable but socially responsible business. By partnering with The Clothing Bank we have donated thousands of pieces of clothes to this amazing NGO and assisted our customers with clearing their space.”
5. Having to juggle many roles (often including mom!), what would be your advice when it comes to personal and professional life balance?
“Sjoe! This is a tough one. My kids are older and Maven is based at my home so am often guilty of spending many hours (even on the weekend) working as Maven is really my happy place!
After working in corporate for so many years, working on your own business is so much more rewarding and you are your own boss! I manage my time by trying to get as much done in the mornings when the kids are at school. I can then be more available for the kids in the afternoons and will often combine the gymnastics run, for example, with a drop-off or collection of clothes. Our customers are super understanding and seem to enjoy the personal relationships that we are building with them.”
6. We all need help in this tough climate, are there some other small brands you’d like to give a shout out to?
“Yes, there are sooooo many out there but I won a hamper from Kween Shebar recently and absolutely fell in love with their soaps and creams. 100% organic their Oosh Kream filled with organic hemp seed oil and shea butter is the most mosturizing and luxurious skin care you will ever find ”
Meet Nicola Kok – Founder of Simply Granola
1. What difference are you hoping to make to your customers and the world?
“I’d love to have a nutritious, good-for-you, honest breakfast cereal on every pantry shelf out there. A product where the front of the box is as honest as the back – that is, simply granola. We use a conscious selection of good-for-you ingredients for a reason and I would love to educate every consumer about the importance (and difference) of these.”
2. If you could give female entrepreneurs one piece of advice, what would that be?
“You’ve got this girl. And if you don’t have the answer now, do it anyway. Future You has got your back so hard and she is rooting for you every step of the way. Also, never be afraid to ask questions and ask for help. There are a ton of epic entrepreneurs around you who actually do want to help you.”
3. What does women’s month mean to you and what message would you like to share with women?
“Find a way to make sure more of us roar. I am endlessly passionate about women in business and making sure everyone who crosses my path and asks for help either succeeds or at the very least are better off after a chat / meeting / mail. My message would be: the world needs exactly what you’ve got. Even if they don’t know it yet. Be relentless in your pursuit of what sets your soul on fire.”
4. Why did you choose to set up Simply Granola?
“It was a chance beginning tbh. I grew up on a version of The Classic, always baked it for my own family, and then started selling to my girlfriends + colleagues in 2016. From requests and playing, I developed new flavours that year and thought it’ll be fun to give the product a pretty outer casing. Towards the end of that year/start of 2017, Poetry stores did a placement nationwide and the brand kind of gained traction and grew from there. I started doing it full time in 2017 and haven’t looked back since.”
5. Having to juggle many roles (often including mom!), what would be your advice when it comes to personal and professional life balance?
“I think we all still try and figure this one out 🙂 I guess the best advice I could give is to have boundaries on either side, when work must stop and when family and family time should be honoured. Working for yourself means work never stops. Ever. So enforcing healthy habits to step away from the get-go is crucial. My husband keeps me accountable which helps and I try to remind myself that I chose this life TO BE ABLE TO BE PRESENT. So I challenge myself to never lose sight of this amazing luxury and privilege.”
6. We all need help in this tough climate, are there some other small brands you’d like to give a shout-out to?
“Yes, I’d like to give Blooming Butter, Basque Imagery, Eten Health Bar a shout out”
I’d like to encourage you, the women of South Africa, to be proud of what you have achieved. Let the achievements of those who went before you inspire you to unlock your own strength and motivate you to make a difference in your family, your community or your country. Go out and celebrate the women that you are. Go out and make a difference this Women’s Month!