The saying goes that a boer makes a plan. This could be said for an enterprising former student from Sand River, as well.

While studying, she saved her NFSAS grants to start her own business, and even after completing her studies.

According to Zinhle Mayabane (24), she initially used the money to find employment. She realised that looking for jobs and travelling for interviews and making copies to apply for employment was becoming too expensive for her.

“I then decided to stop looking for a job and start my business. I realised that people from my village like to wear traditional clothes, and there was no one selling them. I did my research on where I could find and sell them. It was a bit difficult, but I ended up getting a supplier and selling them to locals. Some were supporting me, especially family members, and then the business continued to grow, because now people from outside my village were also buying from me,” she said.

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In 2022, she became part of the Shabalala Cultural Experience Centre, which enabled her to sell her products to international tourists. Traditional leaders would invite her when they celebrated Umemo to come and sell her products.

“Since then, I have never looked back, and have created jobs for myself and five more people. I am planning to create more jobs. However, I would like to challenge young women who want to be independent to start their own thing and make their own money rather than depend on other people,” she urged.

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As a young woman, the challenges Mayabane faces, are men who approach her to assist in return for sexual favours. She also said that in some instances, people take her products without paying her on time, or do not pay at all.

“At the moment, my biggest customers are international tourists who visit the Hazyview area. My message to young people is that they must use whatever they can to create their own jobs, because if they wait for someone to give them a job, it may not even come. I used my NFSAS money to start without other funding and am succeeding,” she said.