by Nathan Adams
She never pursued entrepreneurship, but it caught up with Babongile Bidla. Now, the UWC postgraduate student is encouraging others to start their own businesses.
Her mother, Nyameka Peko, has a small business called Peko Funeral Directors, and previously owned and operated guest houses and real estate businesses.
Bidla watched, and found the prospect of entrepreneurship daunting until she started helping friends with logos and digital renderings for their companies.
Her graphic design and savvy digital skills led her to establish her business, Cross Horizon Ventures, last year.
“I've been doing the graphic design work for fun, learning how to build a website and all those types of things.
“I've already been doing it since my undergraduate studies. I often did people favours until I started getting paid for it and thought, this is a great side hustle.”
Her business is steadily growing, and Bidla has progressed to customising customer relationship management systems that they can use to improve their business functions.
But while she builds her business and creates unique digital assets for her clients, Bidla is still pursuing her studies. She is a Political Studies Master's candidate looking forward to joining the EMS Small Business Clinic team. The clinic has found a home at the Innovation Hub on Voortrekker Road and is part of the experiential learning and incubation space for UWC students, ZoneLearning@UWC.
Bidla will now be at the forefront of interactions with business owners and exposure to mentors from industry and government agencies.
At the Small Business Clinic, she will also assist in creating a supportive environment through which owners of small and micro enterprises can establish productive networks that contribute to developing business ideas.
She said: “I think it's a much-needed resource for students and small business owners. Being an entrepreneur can be quite lonely, and finding the help you need is sometimes difficult.”
Bidla is excited to share her skills and develop new ones at the Small Business Clinic and to see what it will become. “I'd like to see a lot of students coming through here, not just as consultants but also entrepreneurs.
“There are a lot of businesses on campus, and I feel like there are so many resources that they can utilise on campus, and one of them could be this. They also learn that they're not alone.” - UWC