Written by: Hennie Fisher
While the intersections between women and food were once defined by necessity, this relationship has evolved as women increasingly pursue their passions and entrepreneurial ambitions in the food industry and anything else they put their minds to – including wanting to be informed, reading about and learning about various topics, whether the arts, entertainment, society, or prosperity. A few Pretoria women entrepreneurs positively impact others through their work.
Tumelo Tshwagong
If farming is in your blood, there are few other things you would want to do. Award-winning Tumelo Tshwagong says she needed to move from a role as the “backbone of their farm” to a position as MD to turn her passion into a business. She believes that when women control the seeds, they can nourish an entire community. Tshwagong says Pretoria is an excellent hub for women entrepreneurs and that she receives significant support from private companies and government agencies. She believes that her farming business provides food security and is a source of motivation for other women. And lastly, she provides some advice for new start-ups, saying that your business paperwork should be as strong as your harvest, and rather than farming for survival, one should farm for sustainability.
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61573085974918
Lorraine Swanepoel
Lorraine Swanepoel, the owner of CocoVanilla Foods, has an illustrious list of clients and is increasingly becoming the darling of the Embassy set. Lorraine's passion for baking cakes, teaching, and creating beautiful party settings is evident from her popularity as a travelling caterer. Lorraine says her entrepreneurial spirit started from a young age, selling fudge during school breaks. She loves operating from Pretoria, believing there is ample exposure to be gained and a positive collaborative spirit amongst women entrepreneurs in the city. She believes that start-up capital does not have to be big, but that one should just ‘go for it’, and in the food production world, word of mouth remains her most powerful marketing tool.
Website: https://cocovanillafoods.co.za/
Kgomotso Moncho-Maripane
Kgomotso, a seasoned journalist, says that through her company, Kgomotso Moncho Media, she provides writing, voice-over, and translation services, and is currently expanding into television production. Passion, as in the case of many women entrepreneurs, is what drives her. She admits that it has not been an easy road, and that she had to find and create many of her own opportunities. Although she is based in Pretoria because its calmness supports her mental health, her current work transcends Pretoria's borders. Even though she enjoys the more upbeat rhythm of Joburg, she loves coming back to Pretoria because its culture has an authenticity that makes it special. She believes multilingualism is one of the strengths of our nation, and as our country considers incorporating local languages into education, translation becomes increasingly important.
Instagram: @kmonchomaripane
Mems Ramaila
Mems Ramaila is the quintessential bee queen zipping around the city in her bakkie, tending to her hives. Her entrepreneurial background stood her in good stead as she established Bee Africa, her sustainable beekeeping business which provides organic honey to Pretoria’s captive audience (embassies, deli stores, and conscious consumers). Mems is strategic about marketing her product, favouring fresh produce markets as ideal platforms to leverage her visibility and cash flow. She believes that it is vital for women entrepreneurs to collaborate, and that entrepreneurs should always be willing to engage openly and truthfully with their customers, which in her case means enhancing consumers' knowledge about honey production and the value of bees in the greater ecological scheme of things.
Website: https://beeafrican.africa
Pretoria-based women entrepreneurs, including Tumelo Tshwagong, Lorraine Swanepoel, Kgomotso Moncho-Maripane, and Mems Ramaila, are driving community growth through sustainable farming, culinary services, and media. These leaders are transforming traditional roles into impactful ventures while leveraging the city's collaborative, authentic, and diverse environment for business success.
