Fairlady magazine launches top-notch online business startup course

To recognise the achievements of women entrepreneurs, Fairlady and Santam launched the Santam Women of the Future Awards in 2014. Over the past seven years we’re proud to say the number of entries has more than tripled and the awards have expanded to include our sister brand, True Love. Our experience has shown us that South Africa needs this course.

To help empower more people to launch their own businesses, the Fairlady Smart Women website is launching our first online masterclass – squarely aimed at entrepreneurs.

7 Steps to Your Start-Up is designed to fully equip and enable you to turn your idea into a profitable business – or take your existing side hustle to the next level. 7 Steps to Your Start-Up will give you all the tools and skills you need, at a fraction of the cost of other business programmes.

Designed for Fairlady by well-known South African entrepreneurs Dawn Nathan-Jones and Lesley Waterkeyn, 7 Steps to Your Start-Up is based on their powerful Over the Rainbow programme, a high-impact online course for startups and businesses. They’ve been there – they know exactly where you’re at and what you need to get you where you need to go.

Fairlady has worked closely with Dawn and Lesley over many years in this regard. Dawn and Lesley have trained more than 5,000 entrepreneurs with Over the Rainbow, and we are thrilled that they have developed this course for us.

‘Fairlady has been close to my heart for many years,’ says Lesley. ‘I featured in the magazine myself as a Mover and Shaker about 30 years ago and was a finalist in the Women of the Future competition, so Fairlady has played a significant role in my life. When the opportunity to design this course presented itself, I jumped at it, knowing that if I could play a small part in inspiring other women to start their businesses and help them to succeed, my long-term relationship with Fairlady would have come full-circle, and I would have the opportunity to pay it forward.’

‘I’ve spent 35 years as an entrepreneurial business leader, and it’s always been my dream to share my experiences, knowledge and lessons with other females to help them successfully build their own businesses,’ says Dawn. ‘I’m deeply aware of the challenges that women face, juggling a healthy balance between work and home. Being a judge on the Santam Women of the Future Awards with Fairlady and True Love for a number of years has given me an opportunity to engage with talented and exceptional women entrepreneurs, and it’s also opened my eyes to the possibilities for other women to unlock their potential. I know that Fairlady’s 7 Steps to Your Start-Up will help them navigate their own journey to creating the lives they want, as mothers and partners in the home as well as entrepreneurial leaders in business and, ultimately, as ambassadors and role models to more women.’

‘Fairlady has always supported entrepreneurs in South Africa,’ says Fairlady editor Suzy Brokensha, ‘so over the years we’ve covered many stories about starting your own business. 7 Steps to Your Start-Up is by far the most comprehensive and informative guide to creating your own startup that I’ve ever seen in all those years: not only does it give you all the information you need, it also changes the way you look at what you’re trying to do, and why. I was going to say 7 Steps to Your Start-Up is a complete game-changer, but I actually think it’s a life-changer. If you have any interest at all in starting your own business, this is the best thing you will ever do.’

For more information, please visit: https://smartwomen.fairlady.com/