Mampho’s story

I first heard about the app from AWIEF (Africa Women Innovation and Entrepreneurship Forum) and I was immediately interested. Ever since I downloaded HerVenture, I have learned a lot about how to grow my business. There’s been a big improvement, a big growth from where we were to where we are now.

On an everyday level, the app has taught us at Golden Rewards, including myself, how to manage our documents well. Now, if I’m not here, people at the company know exactly what to do. If I’m not reachable at any time, they know where the documents are accessible. So the app has really helped us with that.

On a broader level, HerVenture has given me greater confidence. For small businesses and women-led businesses, a major disadvantage is the lack of confidence. This app really pushes you to believe in yourself, to have courage to do the things that you think you cannot achieve. I think it’s important for you to believe in yourself before others begin to believe in you. Even though our business is still small, there is big potential for growth. Before I came across the app, I thought that you need to be somewhere in business for you to attain such things. With the app, I realised that you need to know your business, you need to be compliant, and you need to always be ready to talk to other businesses.

That means you need to network, and this is another area where I have benefitted from HerVenture. I’ve learned that you need to be able to pitch your business in a minute, and market it. Earlier, I just didn’t feel like talking to people and I was scared to approach new clients. But now things have changed. Now, I’ve learned how to approach new clients, how to get them on board, and how to keep old clients. So in that way, the revenue has grown, the people have grown, and so have our assets and equipment.

Before HerVenture, we were operating from a very small office here in Cape Town. Like I said, the app teaches you how to dream big, to go out there and push. So for us, we took that decision to really go after what we wanted to do, what we thought would help us grow. One of the things was to move from a small office to a big office. Also, now we have a responsibility to access the market better so that we can afford the staff that can help us grow. And for me, I’ve learned all that from HerVenture.

When I think about the word HerVenture, I think about a woman who is supporting another woman. To make sure that this world becomes a better place. As women, we deal with a lot of social issues. This app not only builds your business but also builds you individually and your home. Before the app, I used to run around like a headless chicken trying to finish everything, and I was failing to do most of the things I had planned to do in a day. Now, I’ve learned how to structure my life, structure the business, and structure the processes within the business. And that means, at the end of the day, my time is my time, business time is business time. So even my family has now become tighter and my kids are happier because mom is always home with warm, cooked meals. Earlier, it was impossible.