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Tsitsi Ndabambi Lifestyle Correspondent
Gone are the days when only men were considered rich and famous. Women are now organising themselves to create rich lifestyles without support from men. Women are coming together to share business ideas and work on money-making ventures. Pictures of women leading lavish lifestyles from their own businesses are now common on social media platforms.
Various “round table” networks have been formed to encourage and support women in various ventures.
One of such networks is Today’s Businesswomen Development which prides itself of more than 40 000 members. TBD recently had a members’ conference, which doubled up as their $5 000 project challenge.
“Realising that many women who are tired of being doormats and tails, we created this platform where women come together not for gossip or to show off their latest shoes and handbags, but to learn to build their own businesses,” said TBD director Uzzillah Hove.
In their respective groups of 20, Uzillah and her colleague Gladys Wright set them up on a 90-day challenge whereby each group is supposed to come up with a business that will earn them at least $5 000 dollars.
Each group comes up with a business idea in which the TBD Trust injects a $100 startup capital for the proposed project.
Vibrant Women, Women Power, Destiny Makers, Women Forward, Virtuous Women, Today’s make up and Legacy Creators were the first to launch their business which motivated the rest of the attendees to create their own groups on the day.
They proudly displayed their own original products, Women Power Group introduced cordials, team Vibrant had peanut butter which they claim to be it is the original thick creamy one that your grandma made in the village.
Some are venturing in fruit, vegetable, beauty products and sausages that trapped the nostrils from their aroma on the braai stand.
“These projects have brought us together as women, we are no longer time wasters, some of us were vendors, house maids or unemployed university graduates who are slowly becoming financially independent,’’ said Esther Totwe, “out of these projects we have learnt teamwork, using our different tasks and talents for business benefit”.
“It was not easy at first to work together since we were total strangers who were brought together by this project, only through motivation and mentorship from Hove and her team we fit in together hand in glove according to our strengths and abilities,” she added.
Guest speaker and South Africa business woman Charity Chakombera shared with them how she started her own makeup line Chic Blush discouraging them from skin bleaching.
Who knows probably TBD is helping make the first lady billionaire as they help rewriting the women’s story from rags to riches.
Uzzillah graduated her organisation from gathering women on social media from doing kitchenware, money and grocery rounds to motivating low income women to buy residential stands and cars.
Years later she is pushing them into the manufacturing sector, erasing the low self-esteem mentality from “I can’t to I can”.
Online Reporter