Meet the Panelists: Nosandi Dlamini and Loyiso Mbete
Speaker Names: Nosandi Dlamini and Loyiso Mbete
Occupation: Co-Founders of an Enterprise Development Company
Organisation: Group 500 Investments
Group 500’s Story:
Group 500 Investments (G500) is a Cape Town-based organisation founded by Mr Loyiso Mbethe and Mrs Nosandi Dlamini in the midst of the challenges that 2020 brought about to assist women entrepreneurs. With Mr Mbete’s background in agriculture and Mrs Dlamini’s background in coaching and women empowerment; G500 takes women with business ideas and existing businesses from registration through the development stages to help their business thrive and succeed against all odds. Their first 100 members were also exposed to and trained in farming and agriculture and given a stake in the G500 farming project to expand their businesses and the reach thereof. The organisation looks at 5 major sectors including hospitality, ECD and agriculture, among other sectors.
While G500 in and of itself is a for-profit company, the G500 team recognizes the importance of sowing back into the community and has thus opened an NPC called G500 Foundation which is aimed at plowing back into the community.
As G500 Foundation, Mr Mbete and Mrs Dlamini have embarked on a journey to plant 1,000,000 heads of cabbage across various locations in Cape Town. This is in efforts to create job opportunities and contribute to food security in the surrounding areas. The G500 Foundation will also use this project to support the development of agri-preneurship among the female members of G500 Investments. Moreover, on the 1st of December, G500 will join the world in the efforts to prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS and related diseases by providing free screening services for chronic diseases such as HIV/AIDS, Diabetes and TB, among others.
Contribution:
Mrs Dlamini and Mr Mbete have both individually and collectively worked on various economic empowerment projects for women and continue to strive to create economic opportunities for women by supporting women-owned entities. In many Activist conversations, financial freedom is a very big factor. In some cases, women have been reported to stay in toxic and abusive environments due to the fact that they were financially dependent on the perpetrator of their abuse. In a collaborative conversation, financial literacy and the economic empowerment of women and this is the contribution of the G500 co-founders.
Social Media:
IG: www.instagram.com/g500_investments
Responses