Mihlali Ndamase says she’s secured R1 million deal as an influencer

Multi-award winning content creator Mihlali Ndamase joined DJs Banques and Venom on YFM yesterday and spoke about her career, life and future endeavors.

The 24-year-old said her love of makeup began when she was  in high school.

“I attended a boarding school and had a lot of free time that I spent on the internet. That’s when I discovered the online beauty community on YouTube and that’s also when I began my YouTube channel,” she said.

Ndamase said she knew she wanted to make money from her hobby. “I knew it was something I wanted to do as a hobby because I didn’t know how to monetise it until I actually started.”

She laughed when she was asked the largest amount she had ever been paid for creating content.

“I can’t mention the brand that will be paying me the large amount of money because I just signed with them but there’s something I’m doing with them soon and they will be paying me 1 bar (R1 million) to post my content and things like product placement,” she said

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Pineapple Neon influencer marketing agency co-founder Gilda Narsimdas said brands that paid influencers such amounts was possible.

“It depends on the length of the campaign. For once-off campaigns it’s very easy to pay R100,000-200,000 which might include a video on the social media feed and Instagram  stories. What influencers do is create packages for their pay which can include different types of content. If they have a large following like Boity and Bonang, they could definitely command large amounts so R1 million is doable,” she said.

“Such an amount would be for a long period of time, maybe a couple of months or even longer, and also depends on the type of content that will be created.”

Ndamase said she was happy to have graced Forbes magazine.

“What’s amazing about being on Forbes is that it goes beyond being on the cover, you get added to WhatsApp groups with previous winners, which is an opportunity to build opportunities and network,” she said.

The digital beauty and lifestyle content creator added that she wanted to go back to school to finish her degree.

“I studied at Lisof where I was doing marketing and media fashion as well as make-up but I got bored with the fashion media course. Then I went Vega for strategic branding communications because I thought that would help my brand. I haven’t graduated, because in my final year my career took off which meant putting my studies on hold but I want to go back, probably next year.”

The beauty influencer said her purpose included making a positive impact.

“One of my purposes is just to show  young women that it’s possible to break boundaries and create a fulfilling life for yourself. I’d also like to leave behind something that will live beyond me and impact other people, basically build an empire,” she said.