COVER INTERVIEW

Ntsiki

Mkhize

Dressed by

Jennifer B Warren Designs & Thee Sleigh Apparel

Photography Wisi-Oi Team & Amogelang

MENTHER

Chief Social Entreprenuer

“Social entrepreneurs, simply put, are individuals who choose to set-up a business (social enterprise) with the objective of doing good (creating positive change, impact or introducing social innovations).“

Vision and Purpose

An international speaker and facilitator, Ntsiki gave her first TedTalk at TEDx Cumbernauld Women, Scotland in 2019 and was featured as the youngest speaker at the International Speakers Summit 2019 and the Epic Entrepreneur Conference 2020. No stranger to the stage, Ntsiki was the presenter of Career Connect on Business Day TV, Basic on My Big StratUp, That’s 20’s podcast and Mentor Mondays on Radio Caley (Glasgow) and was Miss South Africa 2nd Princess 2015. She has been featured as a change maker and thought leader on Fox Documentary series I Remember Me and The Future of Leadership on YouTube. As a certified Five Lens Practitioner and Resilience UP Facilitator, Ntsiki is an advocate for personal growth, self-mastery and resilience in order to live your purpose and fulfil your potential. She is the self-published author of My Hall of Mentors – lessons learned along a journey of success, which was launched in South Africa and Glasgow in 2019. In 2020 she completed her Masters in Social Innovation, with distinction, at Glasgow Caledonian University and during this time launched MentHer.

2020 was not doubt a very difficult and challenging year for all, how have you managed during the lockdown and global pandemic?

It definitely has been and continues to be – 2020 was the year for shacking and I hope as the dust settles us as humanity are clear about what things are important and dear to us. I cut my stay aboard short and was lucky enough to make it home before lockdown. I found the time at home was helpful in completing my studies and really great to bond with my family after being away.

One of the interesting things in this time has been the trend of “covid-entrepreneurs”, why did you choose this time to start a business?

Many businesses were hard hit and while some people emerged to take advantage of the chaos and supply sanitizers and masks, I found this a good time to reflect on the needs I’ve seen and used the “force stop” to do something about it. There’s never a perfect time to start, so why not do so while sitting at home for a year – it also helped that my research for my dissertation was aligned to the business I started.

What was the inspiration behind MentHer?

MentHer is a global mentorship network supporting female social entrepreneurs. I’ve attend networking events for women in business in South Africa and Scotland and what often comes up is the lack of mentorship or difficulty in accessing it. From the perspective of my studies in social innovation and work I’ve done with social enterprises and non-profits over the years, this is a space that many women work in. I thought to combine the two and create a platform that could specifically support women who

want to drive change in society to create those positive impact businesses and find mentors to help them on that journey.

For those who don’t know, what exactly is a social entrepreneur?

Social entrepreneurs, simply put, are individuals who choose to set-up a business (social enterprise) with the objective of doing good (creating positive change, impact or introducing social innovations). Contrary to popular belief as social enterprise can make profit and it’s important that we explore new economic/business models to facilitate this so that these social ventures can be sustainable.

Why is social innovation and entrepreneurship important for the now and future?

When we look at various social issues and inequalities the problems seem to be endless, especially with the ripple effect of the market crash (that most countries are still recovering from) and now covid, which will have its own economic impact (most immediately seen through job losses and business closures).

We need businesses and people running them, who can co-create positive and sustainable change through innovative solutions (products and services) and ways of doing business (systems, processes, values). If our world and its people are to survive – it drastically needs to change.

What do you hope to achieve with MentHer?

MentHer aims to inspire women to create the change they want to see in the world by starting social enterprises. Connect them to one another for support and mentors for guidance and finally empower women with the tools to turn ideas into start-ups and grow. Through providing tools and resources, as well as creating this global community of mentorship support for women led social businesses, we endeavour to be a partner in meeting the Sustainable Development Goals with our focus on; (SGD4) Quality Education, (5) Gender Equality, (8) Decent Work and Economic Goals and (10) Reduced Inequalities.

What’s the significance of International Women’s Day to you?

Women make up 50% of the world’s population, yet remain under represented in business and various spheres of society, due to cultural and religious beliefs in some cases and in others a flawed foundation in our economic structures. Be it as it may, we are rising, taking great strides and making progress. Days like this are a reminder of that, although we’re separated by geography we are globally united in our pursuit for equality and we’re winning!

Some quickies:

Fave Food: Pasta Dream Vacation: Any clear blue warm ocean destination Go-to Clothing: Button up dress (easy to throw on alone or as a light coat) Inspirational Person: My gran Current Book: Nuts & Bolts - Strengthening Africa’s Innovation and Entrepreneurship Ecosystems, by Dr McLean Sibanda

Social Entrepreneur to

watch: Anyone challenging fast fashion and innovating for slow/ sustainable fashion, such as Wisi-Oi.

About the cover

Ntsiki partnered with Wisi-oi to set up an online store on their platform selling her pre-loved clothes. Wisi-oi Marketplace is the digital home of pre-loved influencer fashion, founded by Phumi Körber. Wisi-Oi (pronounced We-See-Owe-Eye) stands for Wear It. Sell It. Own It.

Their main goal is to encourage sustainable fashion by decluttering closets and giving high quality clothes a second chance in the world.

The e-commerce platform is available to men and women who can take the time to pick out their stylish clothing that they’re ready to part with and carefully check that each piece is in excellent condition before uploading it to our website.

Users can create their own store profile within the platform, take snaps of their favourite outfits from the comfort of their home (or events they were worn to), upload, set a price and sell.