The winners of the annual FAIRLADY Santam Women of the Future Awards at an exclusive VIP luncheon emceed by businesswoman and Women of the Future judge, Johanna Mukoki. The event took place at Summer Place in Hyde Park on Friday, 16 August.
Phillipa Geard of RecruitMyMom was named the 2019 Fairlady Santam Woman of the Future (awarded to a female entrepreneur who has survived the first 1000 days of business). RecruitMyMom is a South African-born online recruitment agency meeting the needs of skilled women looking to integrate their careers with their family lives. “Winning the Woman of the Future Award is the acknowledgement that my team and I are making a difference in the lives of thousands of women by creating employment opportunities,” says Phillipa.
Renshia Manuel of Growbox was named the 2019 Fairlady Santam Social Entrepreneur (awarded to a female entrepreneur who is making a real difference in her community). GrowBox promotes urban food gardens by supplying vegetable garden boxes to impoverished and malnourished communities in densely populated urban residential areas. “I am planning to use the prize money to take GrowBox’s flat-pack product range to market and to increase production at the nursery in order to impact more households,” says Renshia.
Nondumiso Sibiya of Boombadotmodi was named the 2019 Fairlady Santam Rising Star (awarded to a female entrepreneur who is still within her first 1000 days of business). Boombadotmobi is a waste management business that tries to reduce illegal dumping by collecting waste from its source, connecting waste generators with waste collectors and ensuring that the waste is disposed of responsibly. “Winning the Rising Star Award means recognition of the work I am doing in the community, and it will enable me to buy the tech I need to automate the business,” says Nondumiso.
The three winners were selected from a shortlist of nine finalists by a panel of South African judges – Fairlady editor Suzy Brokensha; Trust Chair for Social Justice at Stellenbosch University and founder of the Social Justice M-Plan and the Thuma Foundation, Professor Thuli Madonsela; executive head of Human Resources at Santam, Enid Lizamore; social entrepreneur Dawn Nathan-Jones; entrepreneur and philanthropist Johanna Mukoki; and media entrepreneur and international speaker, Jo-Ann Strauss.
The prizes awarded to the three winners are R80 000 in cash to the Woman of the Future and R50 000 each in cash to the Rising Star and Social Entrepreneur from Santam.
All the winners received an invaluable mentorship session with one of the judges, a luxury beauty hamper from Clarins (beauty sponsor), a short course from the IMM Graduate School worth R15 000, a Karissa business bag and spinner from Samsonite worth R7 298, a ladies watch from Obaku worth R2 195, a R1 000 shopping voucher from Superbalist, a pamper session from Camelot Spa and a media training session.
A special thank you to Santam for partnering with us to honour and celebrate South African female entrepreneurs.