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Danisa Masuku
HER PARENTS made her believe in herself and a phone call from her friend became a launch pad to start a business in the beauty industry.
Michele Madawu is a woman with disability and has defied the odds in pursuit of her dream. She was born in Barbourfields suburb in Bulawayo. From a tender age, she had a dream and the dream was to own a hair salon.
After completing her Diploma in Secretarial Studies she secured a job at a local company. After that she started to put aside some funds to fulfil her dream and this was back then in 2010.
At that time, she enrolled for a course in beauty therapy. She never looked back and did her attachments at a local hair salon.
After that, she started to live her dream as clients started to trickle in bit by bit. While she was basking in the glory of her dream her friend who was about to wed called her to be her makeup artist.
At first, she refused as she thought she was not good enough. But her friend insisted till she accepted. Beaming with confidence which is a trait imparted to her by her parents she did her best, as such the occasion became her crowning moment of glory.
“I did not want to be her makeup artist but she believed in my capabilities. I went and delivered the best service. After that, everyone around my friend and those who saw the post on her Facebook timeline marvelled at the artwork.”
That beauty artwork service for her close friend changed the way people perceived her work because after that doors opened. Customers, she says, started to engage her.
She would make trips to their homes and in the end, she could not manage to serve all of them. That pushed her to open a hair salon.
“At first I did all the tasks alone but now I employ two workers while some come on a part-time basis. At first sight when some people step into my shop they doubted that I could do nice makeup but after I did two or three in their presence, the perception changed and they engaged me for more gigs,” she reveals.
Given that she is not vertically gifted one wonders how she does make-up for a tall person, the answer is she either climbs on a chair or a table.
“There are certain instances where I have to climb on the table or chair to perfectly do my client a make-up,” she says with confidence.
Due to her positivity and achievement in her line of trade, she is now regarded as an inspirational figure. Last week she was one of the guest speakers at a workshop organised by an organisation called Sight Savers in partnership with Federation of Organisations of Disabled People in Zimbabwe (FODPZ).
The workshop was attended by people with disabilities who wanted to venture into business and as a role model she articulately delivered a motivational lesson to the participants.
derick.khumalo