Johannesburg - A South African woman has proven why she is the whole package, having started three business ventures during the Covid-19 pandemic, aside from being a pilot.
Amanda Kandawire-Khoza, 31, from Soweto, knew she wanted to be a pilot from the age of five.
Kandawire-Khoza was adamant to make her dreams a reality and enrolled in a flight school right after completing her high school career.
Speaking to African News Agency (ANA), she said she started flying at the age of 17 but received the best 18th birthday gift.
“I started flying solo on my 18th birthday,” Kandawire-Khoza said.
She has worked for airlines such as SA Express, SAA and Emirates.
Kandawire-Khoza also flew the world’s biggest passenger plane, the Airbus A380, when she relocated to Dubai while working for Emirates.
“I enjoyed flying the Airbus A380. I had Airbus experience from SAA and needed that in order to fly the A380. You know, size does matter as it was a challenge flying the A380, but I thoroughly enjoyed flying that aircraft,” Kandawire-Khoza told ANA.
After working at Emirates for a year and a half, Kandawire-Khoza was retrenched due to the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020 and she packed her bags and returned to South Africa in October.
“When I came home I knew the aviation industry in South Africa would also be badly affected by Covid19. So, I made the decision to not job-hunt for the next year and focus on my entrepreneurial side,” Kandawire-Khoza said.
She took the time to delve into her creative side and do all the things she couldn’t when flying.
This gave life to two of her businesses, Fly Like A Girl, and Layover Art.
Fly Like A Girl is a company on a mission to expose children, especially the girl child, to aviation through play.
The company produces educational toys to expose children to the wonders of aviation and to inform them of science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) careers through play routines.
The products are locally manufactured and 20% of each sale goes towards a bursary fund for future pilots.
“Fly Like A Girl had been an idea for a couple of years. I even had the business registered in 2015. It has always been apparent that there is a lack of females in the aviation field.
“I wanted to create something to educate, inform and expose others to aviation. Younger children play with their parents and this in turn educates the parents and/or family too,” Kandawire-Khoza told ANA.
Layover Art was not a planned business but has become a success nonetheless.
“Drawing was something I used to do, so naturally in lockdown I drew a lot and I transitioned from pen and paper to digital art. Before I knew it I was selling art. It was not a business idea, it just happened,” Kandawire-Khoza laughs.
Kandawire-Khoza told ANA she had dabbled in making earrings before but pushed it aside. Now she’s having goods delivered all over South Africa.
The Star