By Fahdia Msaka
What started as a quest to make an income to make ends meet, is now the first love of Vuyolwethu
Maweni, a self-taught nail technician who recently hosted a workshop at the entrepreneurship
incubator located at Rhodes University on National Women’s Day.
The workshop aimed to educate and empower women aspiring to pursue business, with the founder
of Jameela Queen, a beauty parlour situated in Makhanda, sharing her personal and professional
journey and business tips. The master class saw Maweni teaching the basics of doing nails,
encouraging other women to upskill and become innovative.
More than 20 women attended Jameela Queen’s masterclass last week at the entrepreneurship
incubator. Among her plans for future, Maweni aims to teach nails through a course where women
will get a hands-on learning experience and will leave with a beginner nail kit, a manual and a
certificate.
Maweni said her journey started when she was eager to make extra money for pocket money to
lessen the pressure of expensive university costs for her parents. She began by working as a cashier
but soon realised it was not sustainable and started learning how to do nails on YouTube and began
practicing on her friends. As she grew more confident in her abilities, she started charging students
for her skills. The name Jameela Queen was suggested by her mother and after a Google search
she learnt that Jameela meant beautiful in Swahili and she instantly knew it made sense for her
and the type of business she wanted.
She aims to expand Jameela Queen and hopes to create job opportunities to a team of women from
this course to work with.
Jameela Queen is a business that provides beauty, cosmetic and personal care for men and women
and was founded by Maweni when she was just 24 years of age. She has raised the bar for the
beauty industry in Makhanda because she was able to teach herself all the skills she has and has
since started to build a space where she can make her skills more accessible to other women
Maweni thrives on giving women an experience like no other between two women sitting across
each other over a table, deeply infused by the latest gossip while carefully thought-out art gets
painted on every nail. This process consists of careful concertation with thin tools navigated by the
thumb and index finger on something as small as a fingernail, has become a luxury that women and
men of all ages indulge in.
“I am going to become one of the most reigning businesswomen in the beauty industry in
Makhanda.”
“Learning a skill to work for someone is also women empowerment because not everyone is meant
to run a business and women should not get ashamed for not wanting to own a business,” she said.
The young business owner said it only cost her R172 to register her business and it has opened her
up to so many opportunities.
“Jameela Queen’s registration process was done by following the prompts on the Companies and
Intellectual Property Commission (CIPC) website and it cost R172. Registering Jameela Queen has exposed me to benefits like business banking, credibility with customers and suppliers as well as
potential access to financing even in the form of resources instead of funds,” she said.
Maweni said it was important for business owners to be disciplined and to manage their finances
adequately. “You need to separate business finance and your personal finance because once lines
get blurred you lose track of what you’re doing.”
She also encouraged prospective business owners to educated themselves of all the tax
responsibilities that come with owning a registered business before making the decision.
The young entrepreneur said it is also important to give back into the community which is why she
participated in various drives in the Makhanda community such as donating 872 pads to CM Vellem
high school and donating toiletries to Makhanda residents on Mandela day. She has also donated
three free sets to three matriculants from Khutliso Daniel’s Secondary School for their recent matric
dance and is also very passionate about public speaking where she motivates other women and
students as she did at the Student Entrepreneurship Best Practice Indaba at Nelson Mandela
University and at the Rhodes University-led Innovation Hub recently.
