Women empowering women on Human Rights Day

Women empowering women is the idea     behind a new organisation, Mofani Services, which was launched in Parys on Human Rights Day, 21 March. The former magistrate of Parys, Leshnee Pillay and local business woman, Gerda Heyman, worked together to start the organisation that will help women start or grow their businesses to ensure they can provide for themselves.
More than 160  women from all over the country attended the launch of Mofani Services at the Woodlands Conference Centre. Mofani means ‘giver’ and ‘provider’. The vi- sion of the Mofani’s directors is to empower women to provide in the community of Parys and Fezili Dabe.
Mofani Services aims to empower women in the business world by starting a one-stop SME hub as a business growth point in Parys for the hometown of the premier of the Free State, Ace Magashule. Mofani Services also wants to work closely with the surrounding district municipalities, the Free State Development Cooperation, blue chip corporations and all funding organisa- tions to offer entrepreneurial growth to the community of Fezile Dabe.
The main aim of Mofani is to create a   support framework for the end result of job creation, to enable survivalist entrepreneurs to become viable and opportunity-driven in their business activities. Therefore, Mofani wants to enable all current and new SMMEs in the community of the Fezile Dabe district to sustain their livelihoods.
Although the govenrment provides funding, research has shown there is no evidence of theoretical and practical support given to SMMEs and recipients are not trained to sustain their businesses. Mofani Services’ consultancy division aims to bridge this gap through consulting and guiding SMMEs to grow their business from a small business to at least become Qualifying Small Enterprises (QSEs).
While government focusses on radical transformation, Mofani wants to assist government to help entrepreneurs become viable in their business activities.
‘It is also important to empower women with the necessary skills. More than half of small businesses that receive government contracts do not survive in the long term. Entrepreneurs must be trained to handle the   administrative side of their businesses and find other opportunities in the business world. Too many people only focus on government contracts,’ says Pillay.
‘We want women to remember that they can be whatever they want to be. We want them to believe in themselves, have a teachable, open mind, be passionate about their services or products and be a brand ambassador for their products or services,’ Heyman said.
The main sponsor of the event was Tradeworx 197 Pty (Ltd), a 7CE, 6GB construction company based in Sasolburg, which supports the upliftment of women in the construction industry.
The mayor of Ngwathe, Ms Joey Mochale, gave the keynote address and welcomed the initiative by Mofani Services to empower future providers in the Ngwathe district. ‘As the deputy chairperson of the ANC Women’s
League in the FS and the  mayor of Ngwathe, I look forward to  working closely with Mofani Services to   empower women in business and business in our community, she said.