From backyard buckets to boardrooms
Local woman, Shameem Kumandan, shares how she has built her way to the top in new book: Her Story, Her Success.
When Shameem Kumandan started her laundry business, she was not chasing a dream of entrepreneurship; she was trying to make ends meet.
With nothing but a washing machine, a borrowed family car, and pamphlets she printed at home, she built a business… One doorstep at a time.
Read more: Business to Brand Summit calls SA entrepreneurs to build iconic brands
On August 22, at Hotel Sky, she explained that the small backyard operation has since transformed into a nationally recognised enterprise, employing 60 people, and run from a custom-built facility, equipped with industrial-scale machines.
Her story is now featured in Her Story, Her Success, a new book that captures the journeys of 100 South African women entrepreneurs.
Beyond laundry, her company partners with schools to wash sports kits, going further by supplying sanitary pads and offering life skills training to schoolgirls.
She pointed out that her success is not just measured by revenue or awards, although she has won several industry accolades; rather, it is in the way she has used her platform to uplift others.
“As an Indian Muslim woman in a white, male-dominated industry,” she said, “I often faced bias and exclusion. Success is not about where you start; it’s about the values you live by, the lives you uplift, and the courage to keep building, despite the odds.”
Follow us on our Whatsapp channel, Facebook, X, Instagram and TikTok for the latest updates and inspiration!
