Meet the 23-year-old mom of two & goal driven entrepreneur – Phindulo Mulaudzi

Phindulo Mulaudzi is a self-taught 23-year-old entrepreneur from Soweto, who is the founder of Nikita’s Elegance Online. 

Unlike many other young women with kids, Mulaudzi couldn’t let her setbacks pull her away, instead her children became an epitome of her success journey as she founded her company at a tender age, as goal driven as she is, Mulaudzi says she’s proud of her hustling spirit.

“Being a Mother at a young age made me realise that being responsible and disciplined is a choice,” she says.

She says in 2015 after her matric, she gave birth to her first child named Tondani.

“Then a year later (2016) I went to tertiary , studied Electrical Engineering heavy duty, not having money used to be very stressful for me because I had a baby and obviously I wouldn’t get everything I wanted like I did before having a child,” Muladudzi shares her tough journey.

“One day I decided to come up with a plan to make money . I had a couple of ideas, but the one I thought would make me money and also profit was selling of atchar, very easy to make and doesn’t require much admin.

“After school one day, I went to this other place around lens where people stock everything they need to sell atchar and I was surprised how affordable everything I needed was and how much profit I would make even if I was selling it a bit cheap so that I can get clients.

“I spent less than R200 on everything I needed . I carried the (pieces of mangoes , spices, salts , colorants and cooking oil ) and small containers all the way to the train station and took a ride home,” she says.

She says while she landed home, it was time to mix all ingredients as advised and she had to start promoting her business and making money as quickly as possible.

When I was still studying in 2017 I decided to do something else. I remembered that I could use my hands to make money and promote my business online since I had a lot of followers .

“I asked to plait my sister and created an online page with her pictures on it so that I can advertise the works of my hands.

I used to do hair on weekends since I was still in school and couldn’t do hair when I had to be busy with school work on weekdays,” she explains.

“After the 1st trimester I stopped attending full time and started studying part time, I would get customers almost everyday . It was amazing getting all the support from people who followed me on social media,” she says.

“They used to ask me if it wasn’t tiring doing hair whilst heavily pregnant, I would say no it’s not tiring even though I knew it was killing me because I did not want to chase my awesome customers away by making them feel like they were abusing me or not being realistic about my situation.

“Then lucky enough I got a learnership even though I was heavily pregnant.

“Unfortunately I only attended the classes for 3 weeks then decided to stay at home I couldn’t cope anymore, a week later we had Roroh, I believe being active during my pregnancy is what made it easy during labour.

“We spent less than eight hours at the clinic (Labour, giving birth and monitoring of the baby) later on we went home the same day.

“A week after having my daughter I continued doing hair because I could not go back and continue with the learnership anymore.

“When my daughter was three months I got a job at Bytes People Solutions (Working for Multichoice) , worked for like six months. It got real when the contract was coming to an end, it was very stressful because I was maintaining two kids on my own,” she says,

She says that she had to start all over again and as a result she lost weight.

“When we started we were over 100 , they had to choose the best performers to renew their contracts as they will be now joining Multichoice, it was the greatest opportunity ever, seeing my name on the list of people who were chosen to continue working was like a dream to me,” she says,

“As soon as my contract was renewed I started a WhatsApp group where I would ask people to send me their CV’s so that I can send them to Bytes since it was a company which trained people before they could be employed in big companies.

“I was never greedy. I’ve been through retrenchment of which I survived and scooped myself an opportunity to become a “Senior Consultant, I always say it with pride because I worked hard to get where I am.

She says that being a mother at a young age made me her realise that being responsible and disciplined is a choice.

“Here’s to my Story, a boss mother. We don’t always start from the top unless if we lucky, you always have somewhere to start,” says Mulaudzi.

She says that she is proud to have her own company and to be at the helm of it.