Rasagee Pillay

Women in Entrepreneurship

Nominee's Province:
Western Cape

Project Name/Description:
Infowizz

More info:

With student politics behind her, Rasagee Pillay is an activist of a different kind — her passion has diverted to the information communications technology (ICT) development space, an area she describes as unappreciated and under-funded. She strongly feels it is in the ICT development sector where she could make an impact.  Wishing to be more productive, she decided to leave the public sector to become an entrepreneur. Together with her husband and fellow activist who also worked in the ICT development sector, they founded Infowizz, an information and management consultancy. “In 2007, we purchased a derelict property in Salt River, and converted it to a student accommodation offering, which was new to the area at the time. “This gave birth to the Baobab Student Accommodation. Over time I have grown that business to six properties serving about 150 students annually,” Rasagee adds proudly. As part of their business, they have provided all kind of assistance to the students. “We have mentored when needed to do so, provided emotional support to our students and their families when they were going through many human crises. We are also a LTBGQIA safe space, even before these issues were being discussed openly in South Africa.”