Page 121 - KZN Top Business Women 2019 eBook

Empowering and uplifting

small business.

Sarah admits she’s not good at work-life balance.
small businesses have the chance to connect with
Founder, Married to her childhood sweetheart, and with
of On South Africa (OnSA). customers in their local area.” three beautiful daughters, her family is central to
For Sarah, one of the key issues is that when visitors her life and her happiness. “I’m ADD*, but when
s an art teacher looking for art supplies, click on a business, they go to a profile page and
I’m immersed in a project I can really focus on it,
Sarah Whitaker did what we all do – she get to go behind the scenes and find out about
sometimes almost obsessively. I still sometimes pull
Aasked Google. But she didn’t get the the people running the businesses. “With small
all-nighters to get things done.” So she’s grateful
answers she was looking for. “Between the big businesses, relationships are important, and site
for the help she gets from friends and family – and
stationery stores and paid ads, I just couldn’t find visitors can connect with people they relate to.” she’s aiming to get the balance right soon.
the small, specialised suppliers I wanted,” she said.
Happily, her network of art teachers filled the Sarah has also chosen not to allow any invasive or A strong believer that you can achieve anything if
gap and she discovered a rich resource of small aggressive ads. There are no distracting pop-ups and you believe in yourself, Sarah wishes she’d realised
businesses that had exactly what she needed – but no spam or click-bait on her sites. “It’s just links to the this when she was younger – because she would
couldn’t find online. websites of companies who can help you. You find have taken on bigger challenges sooner!
out about the businesses who can give you what you
This was the inspiration for On South Africa (OnSA). need, and the people who run them. And we help Big Dreams
Sarah realised that there was a host of small them showcase their small businesses to people who “I want to make a positive difference and empower
businesses offering products and services of real are looking for their services, in their area.” and uplift as many small businesses as possible,
value – but unable to reach their target market. “I
Women bring warmth to business and this is only the beginning,” says Sarah. “Yes,
realised that being found online could make a huge
difference in their sustainability and profitability, Setting up On South Africa and its network of 12 I’m proud of what I’m doing – and that I’m helping
but most of them simply didn’t have the resources websites, “so far”, in 2017 was a major undertaking other entrepreneurs while supporting various
and digital skills to make it happen.” So, she set for a solo entrepreneur, and Sarah gives huge credit charities too. Sometimes I have to stop and remind
about creating a structure to help them do just that to her husband and friends and family who helped myself what I’ve achieved, because there’s so much
– without the high costs that usually accompany and supported her, “and brought me a constant I want to do.”
building a strong online presence. stream of coffee”. Highly creative, Sarah not only does all the web
Easy access to specialist small businesses “I’ve been surrounded by strong, independent design herself, she’s is also a well-established glass
women my whole life, particularly my mother and artist with impressive credentials, including a 100
On South Africa is a website that links consumers metre original artwork (yes, one hundred metres!)
to suppliers across twelve categories, with my sister, and they’ve been a huge inspiration to me. on the façade of the Bridge City shopping centre in
a dedicated website for each category. “For And my family and friends have been an enormous KwaMashu, incorporating drawings by children in
example,” says Sarah, “if you were planning a support to me as I’ve grown my business.” the KwaMashu area.
function, you could go onto the OnSA Celebrate “I believe that women bring a warmth, and a more
site and find everything you need – caterers, nurturing approach to business, and this can bring a On her LinkedIn profile, Sarah describes herself as
photographers, florists, venues.” The OnSA different dimension to how we run our businesses. the founder of On South Africa and creator of big
categories include home, start-ups, social, “kidlets” It’s not that we need to behave differently than men dreams. Happily, her big dreams are also helping fulfil
and more. “Visitors get to search by province, in order to succeed,” Sarah points out, “but often we the dreams of other South African entrepreneurs.
they find suppliers relevant to them, and the just do.” * attention deficit disorder

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