After spending eight years working for people and growing their businesses with her talent, Beauty Muzenda is stepping into the spotlight to claim her place as one of the most loved hair stylist in Pretoria. The name of her business is Natasha’s hair salon, opposite Kalapeng pharmacy near Bosman station. The 41 years old mother of five from Zimbabwe arrived in South Africa on April 2001. She started working in Johannesburg then moved to Pretoria for a better paying job. Beauty worked for a guy called Dalas from Nigeria for five years.
“After five years of sweat, hard work and saving I started to rent my own place”, she says. She started her own business in 2008. At first it was not easy because as her business was not doing well and the rent was expensive for someone who has just started a business. “Growing up in Zimbabwe was not bad at all for me as people would assume because my family could afford to most things for me”, she says. Things started to change in 2008 after the economy of the country started drastically dropping; she was then forced to move to South Africa with her family.
Her business has grown so well that she has employed three people and has eight people who are renting the space in her salon. “Financially it’s not easy as I have to pay R 15 000 rent and purchase electricity worth R 2 300 every month”, she says. She mostly faces financial problems in January because most of her clients do not have money compared to other months.
People have different characters, some are short tempered, while some complain a lot and others do not talk when experiencing problems. The only way to deal with people is to be patient, understanding and have love for the business world. Sometimes her tenants would leave without notice and some would tell her few days before the month end. All of this affects the business financially as she has to pay electricity and rent along with personal bills.
“The only income I have is the salon so when Xenophobic attacks start we suffer a lot”, she says. During the xenophobic attacks they are forced to close the business and that leads to extensive loss. She also wishes to renovate her place to be one of the best salons and someday for it to become a franchise. “I want my employees also to have their businesses because I know how it is to work for someone else “, she concluded.
By: Phozisa Mandela
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