Business Women of the Year awards add Mentor of the Year

The winners were announced in three categories - Entrepreneur, Professional and Corporate, won by Ivy Meyer, Abigail Mahlangu and Anita Botes, respectively. Mentor of the Year was Monique Lowther. Other awards were Branch of the year, won by Nelspruit, the Presidential award, which went to Maria Scholtz, who is the Head of Sustainability at CANSA and has the responsibility to manage all sustainable national fundraising income streams. The Honorary Life Member award, given to Erna Pretorius.

Hester de Bruyn, Abigail Mahlangu, Anita Botes, Ivy Meyer, Cerita Nagy

"The highlight of the SACBW each year is finding the 'diamonds' for our competition, sponsored by Sanlam. I am always amazed to listen to the success stories of the participants who succeeded and are proud to enter the competition. The transformation process is important to grow our organisation and it is noted that the national finalists this year represents the different nationalities and the youth. It is never an easy process to judge the finalists and to identify the winners, as all of the women participated are winners in their own right," says Hester du Bruyn, President of the SACBW.

Winners

Meyer is the owner of a medical mediator company in Cape Town. The business sells and distributes medical items to governmental institutions, hospitals and surgeons. Meyer has a rich experience in the industry and has built excellent relationships over the years. She is the founder of Out of Africa Dance Academy and the motto is 'Dreams into reality'.

Mahlangu's business, Tushiyah Services, was born from a desire to mobilise and upskill the ordinary South African to deliver extraordinary business results. She is dynamic and good in leading projects from creating the vision to making it happen. She has a love of lifelong learning, applying sharp logic and executive abilities.

Botes, an agent at Harcourts in Witbank, is a successful, driven person with a passion for people and wants to see positive results in everything she does. She believes that clients want to deal with consultants who have expert knowledge, is honest and has integrity.

Other awards

Pretorius was honoured with a special jewellery piece as an honorary award for her 21st anniversary as president of the SACBW. She is still involved and her dedication and commitment is appreciated.

Lowther, from Nelspruit, assisted in the development of the Gugulethu Day Care Centre. This project included training in manufacturing of bricks, financial management of the Centre, developing of the Centre to boast with five state of the art classrooms, separate ablutions for boys and girls, a storeroom for deliveries of food and a dining room. This school will be able to host 100 children by the end of the project.

For more information, go to www.sacbw.org.