Farzeen Bhana travels a far road to success

The woman who sells cakes too, has been driven to succeed from quite young. "I matriculated at 16, got my degree and then honours and masters by 22," said the super-achiever.

At the women-run Tushiyah, she matches up women-led SMMEs with big business. Finding that perfect alignment.

"I bring my passion, understanding of entrepreneurship, and maths background, which makes adept at figures, to my role at Tushiyah," she said. Having applied maths as her degree eventually reading for a Masters in Economics in London, Farzeen is focused and passionate about her skills at Tushiyah.

She has travelled the entrepreneurial route many times. Some projects have seen great returns but with some she failed along the way but turned it into a positive and used these “failed” experiences as learnings.

And thus, she can advise first-hand and mentor players big and small, in a pond of symbiosis, for the greater good.

"The barriers to enter business are extremely high, especially when you are young. People tend not to take you seriously. It is of huge concern. But we need to be part of the change. To effect change.”

Farzeen has since sold her cupcake business and now owns a manufacturing bakery which supplies ready-iced cakes to a major retail chain, and has a capable manager to oversee the day-to-day logistics of the bakery so she can focus on mentoring and training at Tushiyah.

"I cut down on my 20-hour day shift," she laughs. "This so I can apply my mind fully on leading projects for Tushiyah like the one with Sasol Siyazenzela Youth in Business Programme in Secunda."

She keeps a healthy mind, arising at 4am daily for prayer and meditation, strategising, planning, relaxing, with a breakfast at 7.30am. Her hobbies include weightlifting and boxing, which she deems as great character-building sports and she loves to read and read and read some more!

Oh, and lots of coffee. She, too, has her vices. And Tushiyah is fortunate to have roped in her talents when they could.