Online Reporter
Judith Phiri, Business Reporter
WOMEN-led businesses in Bulawayo are increasingly adopting the innovative concept of business showers to commemorate their entrepreneurial milestones.
These events not only celebrate the launch of new ventures but also provide opportunities for the businesswomen to receive support in cash or kind, fostering collaboration and synergy, among local businesses.
As start-up founders embrace this trend, many are finding valuable assistance from their social networks to help propel their newly established enterprises forward.
In an interview, an entrepreneur in retail, Mrs Nokuthula Ngwenya-Moyo who owns One Stop Savers in Tsholotsho said they have adopted the business shower model to empower more women-led businesses and put them in the limelight.
“As Uplift Business Ladies Business Clinic, we host several business showers in a year to empower each other as women who run businesses in various sectors.
“We looked into some of the challenges that we are facing in our day-to-day business activities and found out that there is a lack of capital and if you want a loan from banks, they need collateral, which most of the ladies in business do not have,” she said.
“We then came up with the idea to capitalise on the large network we have. As a group of women, we do business showers where we crowd-fund among ourselves and our main objective is to practice accountability with the money we give to each other.”
She said in their business shower concept, they offer each other ideas and financial literacy so that they can be able to account for the money and boost their businesses.
Mrs Ngwenya-Moyo said as entrepreneurs, they come together to network, grow, benefit and empower each other just like what is done during a baby shower where mothers come together and support an expecting mother with baby preparation.
The business shower event is also characterised by exhibitions where those who will be showcasing their businesses pay for stalls at reasonable prices. Business showers have inspired, motivated and given support to those starting businesses. New entrepreneurs have benefitted a lot in getting to understand what experiences and challenges others went through before their businesses became big.
Corporate trainer and small to medium enterprise (SME) Business Strategist, Ms Nomalanga Ndlovu who is also the founder and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Money Soiree said women empowerment is critical.
The Money Soiree is a women empowerment organisation that has been designed to bring women in business and corporate together to network and create long-term business synergies across all sectors of industry.
The annual spectacle presents a unique experience for women in business to strengthen business connections, while learning from industry leaders that are not ordinarily accessible.
Ms Ndlovu said: “Women empowerment is very important and it’s constantly going to be a conversation or platform that is necessary for us to have. The reason why women empowerment platforms such as business showers are necessary is because we do not have enough women examples that we can refer to, so the reason why such platforms are important is that women can learn and see that there is somebody else that is doing this or breaking the barrier.”
She said they motivate women to know that somebody else is growing out there and they can draw inspiration from them.
Ms Ndlovu said as people celebrate Women’s Day and Month, women should always celebrate the possibilities of what it means to be a woman and the opportunities they are still yet to harness out there.
“Take a new leap of faith in terms of who we can be and continue to empower the next generation as well as continue to even get inspiration from women that have gone ahead of us.
“When you see another woman at the front of the stage or at the top, you know that you can also be able to get there one day,” she said.
