L ES EG O S ER O LONG
out of the box and to further develop the
IN 2017 YOU WON THE
WHAT HAVE BEEN SOME OF
STANDARD BANK TOP WOMAN IN
YOUR MAJOR STRIDES AS A
AGRICULTURE AWARD. HOW HAS
BUSINESSWOMAN – AND HOW HAS
THIS IMPACTED ON THE WORK
SIMPLYBLU AFFECTED YOUR JOURNEY?
YOU DO?
Simply Blu helped us quickly setup
It has given me a broader platform to share my story and entrepreneurial
journey with ordinary South Africans and young entrepreneurs. The
recognition has certainly challenged
me to think deeply and meaningfully
about ways we could use business as a catalyst for sustainable social and
economic impact. i.e. how we care for
those who work for us and help support our vision.
It has also challenged me to hone my skills set and be more open minded,
focusing on what I do well and learning to delegate - something we sometimes struggle with as entrepreneurs. I have learned to be more adaptable, as
things can change pretty quickly across all industries globally - COVID-19 is
a perfect example. Business requires authenticity, resilience, grit and commitment to a vision.
It’s often easy to share the positive side of
entrepreneurship/business,
when in fact, we don’t often
hear about the hardships we go through to get to where
we are today. Being in the
spotlight has afforded me an opportunity to share
more about Bokamoso’s successes, being more vulnerable
about our setbacks and failures at the same time.
I N T E RV I E W
honey brand by creating new distribution channels & identifying more beekeeping
farmers to develop, in order to boost our volumes of locally produced, traceable
our initial e-commerce presence for
honey and provide much needed
our honey brand, Bee Loved Honey, a
social impact brand under the Bokamoso umbrella; which identifies, trains and
revenue opportunities to our beekeeping farmers to ride out the Covid crisis.
supplies rural beekeeping farmers with
IS IMPACT INVESTMENT THE
buys back harvested honey through
AGRICULTURAL SECTOR?
honey to end consumers – Bee Loved
the future. In order to fully unlock this
source for the rural beekeepers, while also
invested in rural farmers, manufactures
beehives (manufactured in-house), then
WAY FORWARD FOR AFRICA’S
offtake agreements, and distributes the
I see Africa as the bread basket of
Honey provides a new sustainable income
potential, we need to find capital to be
repopulating dwindling bee populations,
and food entrepreneurs at the bottom
which are critical for food security.
of the pyramid.
• SimplyBlu is hosting our
HOW DO WE EMPOWER RURAL WOMEN TO ENSURE AFRICA BECOMES
e-commerce platform.
THE BREADBASKET OF THE WORLD?
• The establishment of a food
We will empower women through capital
manufacturing and packaging
investment, access to information/
company. The thought that adding
opportunities, mentorship and skills
value to your product through
packaging and processing could earn you extra money, really excites me.
development to empower them to thrive in their farming enterprises. Often rural women are overlooked and rarely are
afforded development opportunities due
Partnership with the Mine Workers
to communication barriers and access.
Development Agency, UNISA and
Rural women need to be prioritised as
support from Standard Bank through
the Standard Bank Africa Derek Cooper Scholarship programme.
they play an important role in creating
job opportunities in far flung areas and contributing to the economy.
HOW HAS COVID-19 IMPACTED BOKAMOSO IMPACT INVESTMENTS?
YOU ARE THE CO-FOUNDER AND
As a result of companies closing and
CHAIRWOMAN OF RAISE THE CHILDREN
people working from home, our sales
INTERNATIONAL. PLEASE DESCRIBE THE
drastically came down. However, our
WORK DONE BY THE NPO.
did far better than we had imagined, as
International, an NPO which identifies
local honey brand, Bee Loved Honey,
I co-founded Raise the Children
consumers started seeking out more
orphans from impoverished and rural
healthy, immune boosting foods such as honey; The pandemic forced us to think
communities of the North West Province
and mobilises resources for these children
S TA N D A R D B A N K TO P WO M EN L EAD ER S 23
