Every Wednesday on The Money Show, presenter Bruce Whitfield features a mover-and-shaker as part of his “ShapeShifter” feature.
This week he interviewed Eleven28 Gin owner Sewela Mokoena, after receiving the following email from her:
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Hi Bruce,
I'm the mother of a one-year-old daughter; the inspiration for most of my business ventures because I want a better life for her and to help my mom build her dream house in Tzaneen.
I'm a media strategist for a broadcaster by profession, and I’ve created the following two companies:
-
Refiloe Luxury Gift Emporium – named after my daughter - specialises in luxury floral designs and intimate events.
- Eleven28 beverages, which I named after my birthday (28 November).
I’m a Wits graduate with a triple major in English Literature, Media Studies and Anthropology.
I’ve worked for the Sabc and Mediamark before moving back to Polokwane to be closer to home.
I wanted to build a legacy for my children, and that's how I fell into it.
I've taken a course with Distillique because I wanted businesses that I already had a passion for.
I loved the chemistry behind distilling and, besides, I’m a gin enthusiast so it was a perfect match for me.
After getting my certificate, I realised the journey would be long and hard because of the financial implications of being a single black lady with only a widely spread salary and no financial backer.
I convinced a Limpopo craft distillery to bottle for me.
I have to work to finance the project until I can scale up and go retail and employ people to manage the admin and brand marketing and sales on my behalf.
I’m just a girl who wanted to prove to herself and others that - as scary as the industry seems - armed with knowledge and determination you can make a success of it, despite barriers to entry that exist.
Eleven28 beverages will become a household name with more variety to the product line.
I'm currently working on getting my distillery up and running.
Regards,
Sewela
--
Listen to Whitfield’s interview of Mokoena below.
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