Transcriber: Els De Keyser Reviewer: Capa Girl
Good evening. My name is Malehlohonolo Moleko
and I come today with a message of determination,
cooperation and opportunity.
When determination and cooperation come together,
incredible things do indeed happen.
Let me share with you my story.
I live in Boipatong Vanderbijlpark, South Africa,
where I own a small business,
and am a mother of a wonderful young man, Mpo,
who will be turning 20 this December.
At the age of 18, I gave birth to Mpo
and spent a lot of time taking care of him.
In 2006, I opened my first business.
It initially started as a bakery,
but now we also sell full meals to our customers,
who are mostly workers at a nearby industrial site.
I love to cook
and I love to work hard.
I have always dreamed of owning a restaurant
and I work hard to make sure that I realize that dream.
My second business is a small shop nearby
where we sell many things, like:
beverages, snacks, cell phone airtime and electricity coupons.
It wasn't easy starting my business.
I realized that there were a lot of business skills that I didn't have,
even though I completed 12 years of schooling
and received my matric certificate.
Unfortunately, I couldn't further my studies
because of lack of finances.
When starting my business,
I borrowed money from the bank,
to rent space, purchase ovens, cooking supplies
and other items that I needed.
However, I found myself having difficulty
balancing my accounts.
Often times I found myself not having enough money
to buy flour and other cooking supplies
to make food to sell the next day.
Several times I had to run to my brother
to ask him to lend me money just to get by.
This was so embarrassing because I couldn't figure out
how to make ends meet, no matter how many hours I worked each day.
Then I learned about a training workshop for women in business.
I was accepted into the program with other 40 women.
We spent several months taking classes
to learn about time management,
finance management,
how to interact with our customers
and how to manage our employees.
Taking these classes while running a business
and taking care of my son was hard work in itself.
15 hours a day of hard work and study.
Before taking these classes,
I was clueless about what it took to run a succesful business.
I couldn't budget properly,
but while taking those classes, I learned that I should
separate my personal finances from my business finances.
I learned that the money circulating in the shop is not mine,
but the business's, and started paying myself a salary from that money.
Once I took those business classes,
my hard work and long hours began to pay off.
I am now making triple the money I made before taking those classes.
I am paying for my son's education with these money
and hope to buy a house for ourselves one day.
My son Mpo is so proud of me
and thankful that I work this hard
to make sure that he finds an easier path to success.
There are also young women in my community
who want to start their own businesses
and they look up to me.
I've started mentoring them
and sharing with them what I've learned
from these business skills workshops.
I want young women in South Africa feel that they could be independent
and financially stable.
There are young women who don't see any opportunity of being succesful
because of falling pregnant at an early age.
When I get the chance to talk to these women,
I tell them that when you are determined to work hard
and wise enough to seek help from others
who have been in business or been in their shoes,
that anything is possible.
It certainly has been for me.
Look where I am today.
Earlier this week, I boarded an airplane for the first time in my life.
(Applause)
I, Malehlohonolo Moleko of Boipatong Vanderbijlpark,
was asked to travel to the United States to share my story with you.
This week, I had a lot of my first experiences
and I'm so excited about going back home
and sharing these experiences with my family and friends.
I still have a long way to go to achieve all of my dreams.
But I love knowing that everything that I have,
I accomplished on my own.
I never thought I could be financially stable.
It feels great. (Laughter)
My story is one of passion and hard work,
but I learned that hard work and passion alone was never enough.
I needed someone who'd give me education
and I had no one to do that to me.
I didn't need anyone to give me money or handouts.
All I needed, was a hand-up.
I'm not alone. There are hundreds of millions of women
who can achieve what I've achieved.
We have passion. We have determination.
Please bring forth more partners and mentors
like I received and you will see a world
where that gap between poverty and plenty closes more and more each day.
Education and training, these are the best gifts
we can give young girls and women entrepreneurs the world over.
Thank you for letting me share my story with you.
(Applause)