It is often said that women are good at multi-tasking, they run households, own businesses and succeed in their careers all at the same time. It was critical to look at a young woman in this role, who from an outside perspective has managed to attain balance.
It is often said that women are good at multi-tasking, they run households, own businesses and succeed in their careers all at the same time. It was critical to look at a young woman in this role, who from an outside perspective has managed to attain balance. Thuthukile Nicoletta Ncube is one such woman with a blossoming career as a Computer Science Engineer in the telecommunications industry. To add to her titles, she is a wife, a Master’s degree student and the founder of Organic Jewel. The question remains, how does she do it?
In Life You Constantly Have To Make Choices And Whatever It Is That You Choose, Something Else Suffers.
From her own point of view, there is no balance in life but constant sacrifices for what brings the most benefit and satisfaction tomorrow. She reveals that in life you constantly have to make choices and whatever it is that you choose, something else suffers. “Sometimes I sleep late to meet an order sacrificing time with my husband. Then there are times when I have to do assignments sacrificing time for my business,” she said. A day is finite making it impossible to do everything within the limited hours available.
Organic Jewel Came While Experimenting With Natural Remedies For Her Skin Challenges.
Thuthukile is a Do-It-Yourself (DIY) enthusiast. She stumbled on the idea of Organic Jewel while experimenting with natural remedies for her skin challenges. She reveals that her skin was never perfect which made her research a lot on what could work. She would read and watch online videos on how organic products were made. Eventually she found a working formula that changed her skin for the better giving it a natural glow. With this discovery, she started sharing the products with family members and friends with skin challenges. They would give positive feedback and acknowledge that the products worked on their skins as well. This awakened Thuthukile to the realization that she could share this gift with many people and turn it into a business.
Organic Jewel is a hand-crafted bath and body products start-up that uses strictly organic ingredients to make products including lip balms, bathing soap and body creams. The products address skin challenges including dry skin and lips, scars, acne and eczema. Thuthukile emphasizes that all her formulas do not need short-cuts and are therefore hand-made and hand packaged. She gets inspiration from Lush Cosmetics an American company that produces hand-made bath and body products. She envisions her brand to become a household name with her products in large retail outlets, spas or beauty parlous. Like the desire of every entrepreneur, Thuthukile has a dream to employ many people and create a brand that will live on for many generations to come.
As is the case with most entrepreneurs, Thuthukile has not been spared from challenges and it required sacrifices. Before establishing Organic Jewel, she tried running a custom-made furniture company. She had to stop it after only 5 months of operation realizing that she lacked the requisite expertise and capital to fulfil her vision. Organic Jewel was less capital intensive, however running the company has not been a bed of roses. She reveals that as an upcoming brand, the market is not keen on testing the products. Furthermore, organic products are pricier in comparison to synthetic ones which makes customers easily defer to the cheaper established brands. To overcome that, she is now packaging testing samples which are distributed to prospective clients. Another challenge that she has faced is the unstable economy causing price fluctuations of ingredients. It has also affected pricing of her commodities making her resort to charging in foreign currency.
Start Early, It Will Give You Time To Change The Path If It Is Not What You Want
Running the business has been made smoother through the support she has received from her spouse. Her husband runs his own business and he has encouraged her to establish her own and run it professionally. Furthermore, he has assisted as a part-time driver, making deliveries of products when she is tied down at work. She also got a lot of inspiration from Jonah Mungoshi popularly known as Coach Jonah. She initially met him during her participation in the CBZ Young Entrepreneurs Program. Although she did not make it all the way, she reveals that she got invaluable lessons in running a business from the Coach. Thuthukile also finds online mentoring from pages like BossDivas and reading books such as Smart Money Woman by Arese Ugwu to be useful. Her recommendation for young people who want to start business ventures is to start early as this will give them enough time to change the path if it they realize that it is not what they want.It all needs sacrifices.
