Zanele Zuma

What does your company do?

We provide free daily 2-hour exercise classes to women from marginalized areas with lifestyle related health issues. With these classes we tackle issues such as depression, anxiety, obesity, high blood pressure and other health related issues. We run two affordable fully equipped gyms in Park Rynie and Mthwalume which target price sensitive individuals, but the free classes are specifically for women to empower and educate them so that they can live healthier and longer lives. I have a YouTube channel TrainingbyZah , Tiktok- Zanele Zuma Fitness which showcase these classes and the transformations. It is our social goal to prove to people that gym, healthy living and exercise is not a luxury but is instead a necessity. The gym memberships for the gyms help keep it sustainable so that we can employ trainers and do maintenance and cover overheads and are not dependent on donations but the classes 5 days a week are all free and it is my passion to help these women so that they can prevent themselves from being dependent on medication, stuck in cycles of poor health, be healthy, confident and active to strive for better. Health is wealth. We uplift and empower from disadvantaged areas and backrounds through fitness, exercise and healthy interactive bonding.

What is your biggest success?

Running this programme for the first year and reaching 100 members has been my biggest achievement. I kept coming to the gym and training women even if there were only 2 and sometimes 1. I didn't want to give up on the women in the area so I would pitch up every day and do the classes everyday regardless of whether they were there or not. Even though the classes were free, the women were reluctant to join and when they saw that I wasn't going to give up on them then they slowly started to come in greater numbers and take this exercise fitness journey seriously. So, my greatest accomplishment was passing the milestone of 100 beneficiaries of this body transformation programme. Having helped so many women, I feel that I did something significant and this gave me motivation to keep going and expand. I also won UKZN Social entrepreneur of the year which was an achievement but more of an acknowledgement. I find helping these women and gaining participants my greatest achievement and it what strives to keep going.

What has been your biggest hurdle?

My biggest hurdle was to believe in myself and my cause and keep showing up every day and doing classes even if I had a few women. In the beginning many people were bitter and negative towards doing free classes for women especially in Mthwalume. They thought that I was wasting my time and money, but I went ahead and purchased equipment and did the classes daily 5 days a week. It took 3 months to build it up and get regular women participating. So, my biggest hurdle was tackling the self-defeating negative mindset people can have in marginalized poorer areas where they almost feel they don't deserve access to care and exercise classes and fun and this just keeps the cycle of neglect, poor health and poverty going. I had to prove to myself and everyone that I was willing to see this through and because of this I have helped over 50 obese women lose weight and now be active women, potentially avoiding serious life-threatening problems. I have had other hurdles such as cost of equipment, loadshedding, theft but tackling the mindset of these women in these communities and changing the way they view exercise and health has been my biggest hurdle and I was able to defeat this hurdle by setting a good example and by practicing what I teach. I grew up in a rural area called Nqabeni near ezinqoleni and I studied healthcare and then became a gym fanatic once I was exposed to gym in urban areas. I understand the mindset that I need to change and improve and health and wellbing of these women.