Both Dithage and Hlungwani have demonstrated resilience, determination and unwavering ambition, despite a lack of funding, a pandemic, loadshedding, crime and the myriad of obstacles that entrepreneurs in South Africa encounter. Their stories and businesses serve as beacons of inspiration, whilst playing a vital role in creating much-needed jobs and improving the local economy.

Dithage was born in a rural Kuruman village and raised in Mafikeng, where she completed all her schooling. Her grandfather owned a general dealership which her father later took over; this exposed her to the ins and outs of running a business from an early age.

“I always knew that I wanted to be an entrepreneur. I told myself that I’m not going to wake up every morning and work for someone else,” recalls the 31-year-old Dithage.

Despite her determination to open her own business, she focused on her studies and graduated from Tshwane University of Technology with a National Diploma in Events Management in 2015.

Studying exposed Dithage to the world of events, and she realised it wasn’t as she initially thought – all about weddings and children’s birthday parties. She saw that there are business opportunities in corporate events, conferences and festivals.

The challenges of starting up:

Dithage registered her business, Kura Events and Marketing, in 2016. “I started by registering on databases, I knocked on doors, I followed leads, and I bought newspapers where tenders were advertised,” she says. That year, Dithage landed her first client, a small business that she invoiced R800. A few months later, she completed her second paid gig, this time billing around R80 000.

But it certainly wasn’t smooth sailing. “When I started out, I was living in and working from an RDP house, and there were times I had to rely on my parents for groceries. I rented out a garage to store my equipment,” she says.

“In those tough times, I was unable to pay for my cellphone contract and this led to me having a bad credit score. This had a negative impact on my business when I need to secure funding. I had to borrow money from family and loan sharks in order to deliver to my clients.  I learnt about the importance of having a good credit score, and had to work very hard to improve it so that I can access funding for my business,’ she says.

Pivoting and seizing opportunities:

It’s now seven years later, and Dithage describes her business life as colourful and growing from strength-to-strength.

“Covid was a time when my business was supposed to go down because a lot of events companies were negatively affected during that period. Business did go down, but out of the blue, a project came up,” recalls Dithage.

“This opportunity required me to pivot and change my company focus. Events is still our main offering, but we now also offer corporate gifting, décor, entertainment, event marketing and much more. By diversifying our service offerings we were able to grab new business under the events banner,” she says.

Dithage is upskilling herself by studying towards a B-tech in Project Management as she believes this will help in running her business.

Describing her biggest accomplishments, she says: “I now have fixed credit, moved into a new home and I no longer live in a RDP house. I have also been able to build my own office, showroom and storage area, which enables me to service the increasing number of walk-in clients.”

Advice to fellow ‘treps:

On what being an entrepreneur means to her, she says: “To me, it means being resilient, innovative and courageous. One also needs to be open and honest.”

Her advice to fellow business owners: “You need to have a business plan that you can use to guide your business moves, even if it’s a basic business plan – but it’s important to have it in place. You also need to have a good credit record – don’t do anything to compromise your credit record.”

“Small business owners need to work together by collaborating and forming partnerships,” she concludes.

Like Dithage, Hlungwani’s father was also a business owner. But in contrast with Dithage’s early aspirations to become an entrepreneur, Hlungwani had no desire to be one. She blamed the family business for leaving them financially strained.

But as life would have it, it was financial strain that later led Hlungwani to starting her own business. Grabbing new opportunities and strategic decision-making is a huge part of entrepreneurship, and so Hlungwani, at the time a supply chain management professional, started her furniture-making business, BoldPearl, on the side because she was concerned about the high cost of living.

During one week in 2012, she went from stressing about affording increasing fuel prices to securing a R30 000 loan which she used to order 100 tiffany chairs. The chairs were in high demand and were constantly hired out, which solved her petrol problems.

She used her salary from her full-time corporate job to buy more chairs each month, and her stock increased to roughly 1 000 chairs.

In 2013, a fraudulent booking left her devastated and without any of her prized chairs. But instead of giving up, Hlungwani dug deep and returned to her business with even greater zeal, though it meant starting over. She secured another loan, re-ordered her chairs and was back in business. In 2016 she resigned from her full-time job to focus on her growing business. She even convinced her former employer to become one of her many corporate clients.

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Reflecting on her biggest challenges and lessons learned in the early days of starting up, she says: “When I started, I knew little about running a business. I educated myself daily. Coming from corporate, I thought things will be easier. All I knew was that I need to reach one person daily and teach them about my business to improve sales. Little did I know.

The business grew so quickly that concentrating on my corporate job and managing the business was a nightmare. I didn’t know where to go for help, I didn’t know what I was doing, trucks breaking down, and managing the team was also a challenge. That’s where the decision to leave my corporate position came in. That decision came with inheriting a mentor (Tryphosa Ramano), who took my hand and introduced me to running a business with big corporates.”

It’s all about growth and innovation:

On being asked what an entrepreneurial mindset means to her, Hlungwani immediately says it’s about daily problem-solving and innovation.

Covid-19 inspired Hlungwani and her team of nine to transition from furniture hiring to re-upholstering; the business even has plans to venture into manufacturing kitchenware. She is also focussing on expanding her client base and recently delivered her first international order to a hotel in Zimbabwe.

Her other focus is to be a positive role model to people in her rural community. “The legacy I want to leave is for people in Giyani to know that you can start something in a rural area and take it out anywhere. I have won the spirit of Raizcorp awards 2 years in a row, and am now running a multi-million rand business that I started from nothing; it’s possible to do more with your life,” says Hlungwani.

Perseverance pays off:

Hlungwani’s advice to fellow ‘treps: “Perseverance – You must want it so bad that you only think of it. Giving up is never an option. The satisfaction when you look back, is priceless.”

“Hambi nkuku wu nga ringi, ri ta xa (even if the cock does not crow, the sun will rise). Even if it does not look like you are progressing, one day you will look back and see that you have achieved your goals,” is her parting sage words of advice.

This article was first published in Your Business