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The Council for Business Women view these awards as the celebration of women, who are making great strides in business
Businesswomen, who contribute to South Africa’s economy, were honoured at a prestigious national event in Mbombela on Sunday night.
The South African Council for Business Women event saw Ilana Steyn from Cape Town walking away as the winner in the National Business Women of the Year category.
Steyn assists South Africans in registering their businesses and also helps with compliance legislation.
More than 100 women from across the country were honoured at the South African Women Council for Business Women’s Awards ceremony in Mbombela, Mpumalanga. The Council for Business Women views these awards as a celebration to women, who are making great strides in businesses across the country.
Steyn says the award came as a surprise.
“I’ve been in business since 1998, so it has been quite a few years in compliance and business registration and I absolutely love entrepreneurs. What an honour. I think a lot of times we put in hard work and effort, but we don’t always get recognition, so tonight was a special night to receive this award. It has been an amazing journey for me,” says Steyn.
The Council for Business Women also recognised the young women and future business women. To further her education, Rulandi van Niekerk was awarded a bursary.
“This bursary fund is going to help me establish my business. Hopefully, one day I’ll have a health care facility and make both women and men feel beautiful and achieve their aesthetic and dream bodies, one at a time,” says van Niekerk.
The award ceremony organizers say the South African Council of Business Women is meant to assist women to grow their businesses while empowering others.
“We have been only doing business Women of the Year for the last couple of years. I started really small. This year, we had over 100 entries and we have started the bursary award, which is brand new. We have got the start-up amount for the bursary winner. We want to be more diverse and get the youth involved with the organisations and mentor them,” says Event Organiser Estelle Roe.
Women traversing the different spheres and sectors all under one roof to celebrate, learn and grow together, whilst building sustainable businesses to support and empower each other.
Council President, Dr Ziva Spangenberg, sees this national gathering of business women as phenomenal.
“We are celebrating women in business to empower other women from SMMES to large corporations. We focus on small entrepreneurs for them to grow and build themselves up to eventually become corporate. For us, it’s about economic empowerment and to empower our women to unite so that they can grow, so that they can create more jobs for women in all industries,” says Spangenberg.
Next year’s award ceremony will take place in Mossel Bay in the Western Cape province.
VIDEO | Businesswomen honoured in Mpumalanga:
