Baanetse Mokhotla
Youth in Business & Entrepreneurship
Nominee's Province:
Free State
Age:
Project Name/Description:
Owner – Afrikan Glow Fantasies
Baanetse Mokhotla, owner of Afrikan Glow Fantasies, has successfully transformed her business from a simple scones provider to a diverse bakery and laser engraving venture in under four years. Afrikan Glow Fantasies offers a wide range of baked goods, including designer cakes, cupcakes, biscuits and muffins. “I started it because I love baking. It's a skill I learned from home and grew up with. Expanding to designer cakes and others became a pursuit after desiring to challenge myself,” Mokhotla explains. Despite being based in a rural area, Mokhotla has found success in convincing locals to try her designer products. “The market is getting better but can do better. Having customers that now have become returnees gives me hope that building this brand will grow more in future.” When reflecting on the support young businesswomen like herself have received since the dawn of democracy, Mokhotla maintains that there are opportunities in government programmes designed to support businesses, especially those led by women. “These are freely accessible and have been at work. I haven’t been a beneficiary yet, but I’ve seen them change the lives of fellow queens around me for the betterment of their businesses,” she observes. “The public is nicely warming up to women in business. There are women in so many sectors of business and I believe the reason they are still in business is because the public has accepted them and chooses them based on the service they provide and not their gender.”
