JOHANNESBURG - Four female members of the Cape Chamber of Commerce and Industry will travel to New Delhi in India next week to receive awards from the International Women’s Entrepreneurial Challenge for their success in building socially responsible multi-million rand businesses, the chamber said on Wednesday.
They include Donna Duggan, an Australian who was a volunteer nurse based in Arusha, Tanzania when she met and married a local with whom she established tour operation Maasai Wanderings and Nasikia Tented Camps.
Audrey McMillan joined South African Products International, which exports high quality, uniquely local goods, in 1998 and manages its day-to-day operations as managing director, while Zakira Palekar is the founding owner of Doggobone Active Raw Foods. Mandy Tinkler is managing director of Habits Boutique in Cape Town which was among the first South African clothing companies to expand into online shopping.
The awards will be handed out on the sidelines of an International Women’s Entrepreneurial Challenge (IWEC) conference which gives women who own and run businesses an introduction to an international gathering of entrepreneurs and opportunities to network and develop global connections for their companies.
IWEC international board member and Cape Chamber past president Janine Myburgh will be a speaker at the conference.
"IWEC’s global business network has left an indelible legacy on world trade,” Myburgh said.
“Women provide a previously neglected source of talent, skills, knowledge and insight and we can make a huge contribution to the world economy. This makes IWEC and its work very important.”