Her world changed dramatically when a rural woman from Springbok in the Northern Cape completed what she described “as an extremely daunting marketing training course” at the University of the Western Cape’s (UWC) entrepreneurship centre. The course was aimed at providing entrepreneurial support to struggling businesses.

After successfully completing the Sanlam Fellows Programme at the Centre for Entrepreneurship and Innovation (CEI) at UWC, Sheleen Cloete applied for funding from the National Empowerment Fund and secured R15-million.

With this repayable loan, she was now able to fund her dream of purchasing her very own 26-bedroom hotel and seven commercial properties. The opportunity made her the first successful applicant and the first black woman to own commercial properties in the Upington region, known for its extremely competitive accommodation prices.

Furthermore, she can now take out a loan to pay for the hotel in Springbok that she purchased a while back.

Now Cloete wouldn’t be out of place in her own real estate reality show on Netflix, similar to hit series like Selling Sunset, because for the past two months, her days have been filled with identifying her target audience, their preferences and needs, and conducting a thorough competitor analysis while deciding on the best pricing strategies.

Cloete shared her inspiring story, which she calls a frustrating but beautiful learning journey that involved compiling 10 to 15 drafts of her plan at times - all of which ended up in the dustbin.

“Looking back, I almost gave up, but I am very happy that I persevered,” she said.

The young entrepreneur initially doubted herself. She knew she lacked marketing skills and decided to take the opportunity to take up the course offered by UWC’s CEI. She continued refining her marketing plan until she achieved success.

Cloete emphasises the importance of not taking opportunities for granted and encourages other entrepreneurs to seize opportunities. She expresses her gratitude for the programme and business coaching, which enabled her to apply her learning and secure the funding to accomplish her dream.

She expresses gratitude to the team at CEI and encourages them to continue providing valuable programmes and business coaching to support aspiring entrepreneurs.

“Their commitment and drive inspire hope for entrepreneurs like myself. I am tremendously grateful for this programme and the business coaching. It was only because of it that I was able to apply for the funding,” said Cloete.

Mr Abe Oliver, Director of the CEI at UWC, added, “We see this as a golden opportunity to expand the Centre’s SMME empowerment programmes to the Northern Cape, utilising Cloete’s hotel conference room as a training facility.”

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