Bwasa’s Tshepo Mathabatha reflects on her first 100 days

The Chairperson of the Limpopo branch of the Businesswomen’s Association of South Africa (Bwasa), Tshepo Mathabatha believes that a journey of a thousand miles begins with one step and is confident that the organisation will be able to create 10 woman millionaires within the near future.
“When I took my first step 100 days ago, I could not have imagined how empowering it would be for me. I took the baton from a seasoned and much loved leader, Mmabogoshi Msiza, as Chairperson of the most prominent business women’s organisation. Fear of the unknown took its grip and it all seemed too daunting a task but the nurturing voices of former Executive Committee members quickly calmed my nerves. I would like to thank each of you for your advice and support,” Mathabatha said.
Mathabatha reported that the collective efforts of the new Exco members and regional coordinators have delivered two high impact activities, being seminars on Branding Success and Social Media Training. “Responsibilities were assigned and deadlines set, teething problems emerged and we worked on them,” Mathabatha said.
“We will be making some tough decisions to ensure that we build a cohesive team that will deliver a vibrant Bwasa branch to the next generation,” Mathabatha said and extended her gratitude towards Land Rover Jaguar Polokwane, Monaqua Lifestyles, Moka Lifestyle, Uhuru Lifestyle Emporium, Ko Khoneng and Shidila Lodge for their support.
Mathabatha mentioned that Meet & Greet sessions were held in all districts in an effort to grow and retain membership by holding regular activities within the particular localities to ease participation in Bwasa’s programs. “We enjoy the support of aspiring, emerging and established businesswomen mainly in the Capricorn, Sekhukhune and Mopani Districts in all our programmes,” she added. “We are committed to increasing our numbers in Waterberg and Vhembe Districts to ensure that we reflect a true representation of businesswomen in Limpopo.”
Mathabatha also thanked the South African Local Government Association (Salga) for intergrating Bwasa into their programs to empower its product owners through exhibition platforms and other strategic programs. “We realise that people don’t know what they don’t know and that contributes to the lack of participation of women in the mainstream economy of our province.”
“We will continue to create platforms for networking and learning for our constituency in Limpopo. We plan to reach the most remote villages to encourage women to formalise their businesses to enable growth.
We urge the government, its parastatals, the business community, non-profit organisations, learning centres, traditional leadership and chambers of commerce to keep their doors open for us to engage on how to best to support women who are a solution to the high unemployment rate in Limpopo.”
“In the next three years we plan to build capacity of our entrepreneurs, expand membership, create an enabling environment for business growth and deliver a minimum of 10 new women millionaires,” Mathabatha concluded.

Story and photo: BARRY VILJOEN
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