Sister In Law (Pty) Ltd
What does your company do?
Sister In Law educates and empowers women on various legal issues pertaining to family law, domestic law, employment law and constitutional law. This is done by using social media and other digital and print media to share information on legal developments and various aspects of the law in an easy to understand manner thus empowering women to take steps towards accessing the justice system. The company also provides legal consulting services at competetive rates in comparison to those offered by traditional law firms thus enabling women with low to middle incomes to afford quality legal services. As an extension to the social and digital media platforms, I host workshops which are held in-person and provide women with a platform to engage with expert legal practitioners on various issues of the law. The third pillar of the company is mentorship of previously disadvantaged black female students. Since 2019 I have dedicated considerable time in mentoring black female law students through webinars, in-person workshops and sharing of information through my social media pages and podcast as a way of providing invaluable insights to students to empower them in accessing the different career options that exist within the legal profession.
What is your biggest success?
In 2021 I was selected as a Mandela Washington Fellowship candidate. The fellowship selects young leaders from various parts of Africa between the ages of 25 - 35 to take part in a 6 week fellowship program which is aimed at empowering young Africans in the areas of business, civic engagement and public management. I was honoured to be selected under the business institute at Notre Dame University where I learned extensive knowledge on topics such as mentorship, networking, public speaking, market research and social entrepreneurship to name a few. The program reaffirmed the importance of the work that I do and gave me confidence to continue expanding the reach of Sister In Law across the country and even the continent.
What has been your biggest hurdle?
During the first year of running my legal consulting company I made a mistake which set the company back by R22,000. Having no financial back-up and no consistent clients, the debt took over 2 years to re-pay. I did not allow this to deter me but instead used the set back to teach me on how I can avoid future cases of non-compliance and also make my (future) clients aware of industry specific compliance issues. I am more vigilant of some of the bad financial habits I had in the past. I use that mistake as a benchmark when I am preparing to host workshops aimed at empowering women in that I always make decisions which will not leave my company in financial distress. I have incorporated financial literacy in the law based workshops which I host in an attempt to make women more aware of their relationship with money.
