August is traditionally about celebrating women, but we believe every month should honour the strong ladies that make our world go around.
Here, courtesy of Investec, are five inspiring tidbits of advice to fire you up for slaying the rest of your work week. Like a (woman) boss.
Learn from your mistakes – and everything else
Palesa Moloi, the former accountant, now successful businesswoman and technologist who created parking app ParkUpp, advises, “Never stop exploring, and learn from your experiences, books and other people. All our ideas are usually initially wrong.”
“Your journey as an entrepreneur is about becoming less wrong about what you’re doing and finding out how you can be right over time,” she adds.
It’s all about repetition
“If I could go back and advise my younger self, I’d tell myself to never give up. It’s just a matter of being consistent – I would tell myself to just go out there and make the world your oyster,” says eighteen-year-old Ongeziwe Mali, who was the youngest player in the South African women’s hockey team at the 2018 World Cup.
Don’t focus on the hate
A successful woman is bound to face plenty of hurdles and resistance. Which is why the advice of Mmane Boikanyo, Marketing Manager for TuksSport at the University of Pretoria, is testament to this .
“Don’t get distracted by things like gender inequality, ageism or racism, because what you deliver will be the true judge of your competence and potential,” she says. Her words recall the famous line by the great Reverend Jesse Jackson: ‘Excellence is the best deterrent to racism and sexism.’
Go all in
Freelance photographer Tshepiso Mabula knows that following your heart to find your dream work has ups and downs. Which is why she advises others to commit – to believing 100% in themselves. “When you take the decision to bet on yourself, everything else is bearable, because in the end, all the hard work and tears are going to culminate in success,” she says.
Follow your passion
Kate Groch certainly stands by that. The founder of the Good Work Foundation, which helps educate and inspire rural kids in the Free State, Groch says to follow your heart first, no matter your circumstances.
“We’ve got young people who are studying Fine Art, which is not a normal thing to be studying from a poor community, because the typical mindset is, ‘what’s the job afterwards?’ But you don’t just have to have a job – you can start a career. Kids often haven’t had the luxury of really looking at what they’d love to do, and where they would add the best value to the planet.”