Sibabalwe Sesmani was born and raised in a small town in the Eastern Cape. Siba has always had an entrepreneurial spirit, when at the tender age of 11 she hustled to raise money for her first cell phone. She went on to graduate with a Bachelor of Commerce in Economics & Econometrics. While completing her 3rd year in 2013 she was the youngest and only undergraduate chosen to be part of 20 young women from around South Africa, to participate in ABSA’s Young Pioneering Women conference. Siba hosts monthly women’s entrepreneurship breakfasts in Johannesburg called the Women’s Youthpreneur Breakfast. The women’s entrepreneurship breakfast seeks to close the gender gap for women entrepreneurs in certain industries, by bringing decision makers, industry players, together with the women entrepreneurs. In 2015 Sibabalwe produced a 2-hour show on Maboneng radio, called Open Wednesdays that interviewed entrepreneurs working in Maboneng.
Sibabalwe co-owns a public relations and communications company called Unorthodox PR and Media Group, which focuses on providing their clients with media exposure to achieve their objectives. She sits as a director at Arigo Investments on the Executive Board, as well as the Phenomenal African Woman (PAW) Board, where it’s objectives are to improve women’s lives all over Africa. Its headquarters are in Nigeria and she is the youngest member of the board. Siba was also featured in publications including Lionesses of Africa and Destiny Connect and was interviewed on Power FM radio about her Women’s Youthpreneur movement.
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Key takeaways:
- You need to constantly work on the vision for your business
- If you don't have confidence in your product or service offering, you won't demand the value you deserve Click To Tweet
- As small business owners, instead of seeing each other as competition, see each other as collaborators. Collaborating can help you plug the gaps in your skills or knowledge
- You need to be persistent and you need to have the audacity to ask
- When people say no to you, ask them “Why not?”!
- Depending on your vision and ambition and how far you want to go in life, you can do anything Click To Tweet
- Always under-promise and over deliver
Links and resources in this post:
- 90 Rules for Entrepreneurs – The Codex of Hustle
- http://www.lionessesofafrica.com/blog/2015/7/19/the-startup-story-of-sibabalwe-sesmani-and-zuziwe-mkhwanazi
- http://www.destinyconnect.com/2016/05/18/young-talented-game-changer/
- http://www.powerfm.co.za/shows/power-talk/?podcasts=show#inline39062
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