13 Jun 2016

In many instances in life, very successful women are perceived to have made it up the ladder by either sucking up or sleeping around with very influential men in the society.

These phenomenal women of power and substance, who earned their positions or status through their hard work, are also labeled all sorts of derogatory names, such as bootlicker and puppets.

This negative perception has become so common that some people believe that, unlike men, women cannot work their way to the top through their hard work, dedication and perseverance.

However, this has been proven to be absolutely wrong and unfounded by 41 year old South African founder and chief executive officer of Ndalo Media and Ndalo Luxury Ventures, Khanyi Dhlomo, who was the guest speaker at Business Botswana's 4^th Women's Power High Tea, on Saturday.

Khanyi shared her journey to success story with Batswana women in order to empower, motivate and encourage them to turn their dreams into reality.

The flawless Khanyi, who is also the founder of DestinyConnect and the founding editor of Destiny Magazine,  became the Editor of True Love- one of the most widely read women's magazine, at the age of 22- the position she held for eight years.

To realise all her dreams, she said she rose to her prominence through nothing else but hard work. This, she said was why she believed that 'women have the abilities and women empowerment is the most effective tool for development.' With all the necessary skills and resources at their disposal, she said a woman could become as much successful as men.

Naturally, she said the bulk of home chores sit with women. However, for her, she said as a mother and wife, she did not let these responsibilities stand on her way to achieving her goals and dreams.

This she said was also made possible by the fact that “shape shifting actually comes naturally to women, as we are used to wearing different hats. As mothers, wives, daughters, sisters, aunts, cousins, friends, business women and entrepreneurs we are able fulfill the many different roles in our lives.”

She said instead of crying over her failures and disappointments in life, she turned them all into opportunities and remained focused on what she wanted to accomplish. Failures and disappointments, Khanyi said were nothing else to her, but lessons worth learning.

“Our thoughts lead the pathway of our lives. We are what we think we are. Essentially, where you are today, is as a result of what you were thinking yesterday. And where you will be in future, is the result of what you are thinking right now. So, you really are in the process of creating your future. We live according to the thoughts we have,” she said.

To maintain a balance between her career and family and not feel guilty about missing important family moments, sometimes, Khanyi said she had become comfortable with knowing that 'we can't be everywhere at once and we certainly can't achieve everything at the same time.'

“We have to be comfortable with the idea of not being able to be everywhere we are required. Be comfortable that wherever you are the most important thing is that you are giving that particular situation the best of you and the best of your time,” she added.

To succeed in whatever they wish to do, she encouraged Batswana women to work together, saying 'smart women don't compete, but collaborate, because there is so much strength in numbers. When women collaborate and apply their minds they are enormously successful.'

Research, Khanyi said had also showed that companies that had more women on their boards had a higher return in equity and investment, because of the diversity of thoughts that came into those boards 'and because of the way in which we use our power, creativity and our innate ability to multitask.'

The High Tea themed: “Bold, Confident and International Woman”, attracted locally renowned business and corporate women.

Guests also had an opportunity to interact and rub shoulders with the likes of; ABM University College executive director, Ms Daisy Molefhi, Ms Gopolang Dodo and Ms Tshepang Seisa-Chilume who also shared some key advices on the importance of being; a go-getter, self-driven, focused and steadfast in reaching your own goals in life.

Ms Molefhi talked about the challenges and prospects of today's woman, Ms Seisa-Chilume talked about unlocking fresh thinking skills, whilst Ms Dodo talked about her business that unleashed the giant. ENDS