Meet Londeka Dlamini a Female Powerhouse Who Runs a Design Agency and Uplifts Women While Juggling Being a Mom
- Durban businesswoman, Londeka Dlamini self-confessed visionary is all about women empowerment
- She is the proud founder of a design agency called Izinga Creatives which is passionate about building brands
- The mother of two spoke to Briefly News about the joys and challenges of running a business and her drive to keep going despite the odds
PAY ATTENTION: Update Briefly News App for free: the old version will be disabled soon
Londeka Dlamini is a woman in excellence who embodies the beauty of perseverance and black excellence. She is a single mom of two and the founder of a multi-disciplinary creative design agency, Izinga Creatives.
The self-confessed visionary is all about women empowerment, she employed her first female intern at her company and partners with other women too. She advocates for women and being a strong woman.
The dynamic creative spoke to Briefly News during an Instagram live about all that makes her tick, women empowerment, her career milestones as well as overcoming many unforeseen life challenges.
Source: UGC
The rise of the Phoenix
At the age of 26, Londeka got divorced after marrying at a young age. Left with the responsibility of raising two young children, she described the experience as both painful yet rewarding.
PAY ATTENTION: Click “See First” under the “Following” tab to see Briefly News on your News Feed!
“It was such a remarkable yet painful event. It made me brave. I think because of that shock of having to face that reality, I just decided to be fearless. I could say that it liberated me, I didn’t want to be tied down to any norms. From the pain of what I was going through, my independence as well as the birth of Izinga Creatives, came alive,” she shared.
Izinga Creatives
“Before Izinga Creative I worked as a graphic designer for various companies. I was solely in the design space. I felt like design was stuck at the end of the process and I was very passionate about the beginning. In my heart, I always wanted to be an entrepreneur and really wanted to start my own thing.”
Londeka first registered her business in 2017 although it ran on a freelance basis as she still had a job at the time.
However, due to the hard impact of Covid19 in 2020, she was in a position where she was left without a job and stressed.
“I thought maybe it’s time for me to give my business a fair chance. Because I had experience in corporate, the second time around, I wanted to do things the right way and offer an agency.
“It was only thereafter that it actually became a fully-fledged company with the support and guidance of the Black Umbrella Foundation. I was very fortunate that even at the height of Covid19, I had some women who really believed in me and assisted me and the business in various ways,” she shared.
Today, the agency consists of a collective of problem solvers, designers, researchers, storytellers, and strategists.
Looting and floods in KZN
Londeka explained that unforeseen challenges such as the riots, looting, and floods that hit KZN, her business suffered a loss of valuable clients as staff couldn’t attend work and therefore deliver the required services.
“I’ve never felt so scared in my whole life. I felt so nervous and vulnerable concerning my personal well-being, my children, and my business. My business was affected in such a way that none of my employees could come to work for about 2 weeks. When your business is still young, every little loss counts.”
She shared that the floods also affected me badly as two of her staff members got flooded and another suffered damage to their house and couldn’t come to work.
Londeka admitted that these were very difficult periods for her as a business owner.
“It was very tough and I think one of the things that were challenging is that the type of loss we incurred - human capital, hours, etc- was not a quantifiable loss. But we rise, and that’s something that I love about my team,” said Londeka who also assisted families in need during the devastating floods in her personal capacity.
An advocate for women empowerment
The businesswoman shared that every opportunity that she has had and every person who has believed in her, has generally been a woman.
She believes that women are on the right track in terms of empowering one another.
“I’ve found that if you help lift up one woman, a whole lot of others –their children and families- are uplifted as well. I’m really passionate about giving women opportunities, especially in my profession because a lot of people believe that design is a male-led or dominated industry. I believe that we need to open doors for other women because women seldom get opportunities.
“I believe in equality, whatever a man can do, a woman can do too although, women should not be in competition with men or with each other, just know whatever is attainable for others is attainable for them too. I have been a recipient of support from other women,” said Londeka who is inspired by Oprah Winfrey and July Dlamini as well as her inner circle of friends.
The single mother’s advice to younger women:
“You are so much more than what society says about you. There are many times in my life when I could have just given up. You have the ability to pick yourself and make a decision on what you want to be and how you want to be remembered. You can be anything that you set your mind to and God will really open doors for you. Have faith and just believe in your dreams.”
What is behind the powerhouse’s drive?
“I just have a firm belief that I can do anything I put my mind to. I am so scared of being a ‘could have been’. I shudder at the thought of waking up one day and realising that I could have been remarkable but I just ended up average. A little bit of fear isn’t a bad thing.”
Her children also keep her on her toes as well as look up to her.
Londeka shared that she wants to be the kind of mother that her kids are proud of and the kind of person who she will be able to look back at be like “wow I did that.”
Lady shares compilation of personal wins, her story leaves Mzansi inspired
Meanwhile, Briefly News previously reported that the word ‘goals’ is thrown around a lot these days, so much so that it can be confusing what a goal really is. A focused queen had South African online users inspired after taking to social media to share some of her personal wins over the years.
Twitter user Dr Moeketsi (@AusBassie) has often been transparent about her life journey with her online friends. She recently compiled a list of her accomplishments on the timeline after commencing the traditional processes of marrying her bae and the father of her child.
In a tweet she wrote:
“If you’ve been following my journey.. you can confidently say that I’m God’s favourite. Blessed with a beautiful baby girl , Bagged my degree, Got a house, Now titles and surnames will be changing. When the time is right, I the Lord will make it happen. Isaiah 60:22”
PAY ATTENTION: check out news exactly for YOU ➡️ find "Recommended for you" block and enjoy!
Source: Briefly News
