Awelani Sow was making R250 a week as a hair stylist in a salon when she decided to fight to give herself a better life.
The 35-year-old mother of three is now the owner of the successful hair brand Awelani Hair and Cosmetics beauty salon in Pretoria. The brand's franchising ambition is already off the ground, with two outlets in Springs and Soweto.
"I grew up in very tough circumstances where I had nothing. I am sure that if people I grew up with can see me now they will not believe their eyes," she said.
Sow, who is from HaRamahantsha village, 22km southwest of Louis Trichardt in Limpopo, said she came to Pretoria after dropping out of grade 10 when she was 19. This was after her mother had died, and was forced to go seek out a better life for her family. For years she worked in both Pretoria and Durban trying to make ends meet.
"I had to drop out of school because of how bad the situation was at home. No one was able to help my siblings and we needed to survive," she said.
"I ended up going back home in 2010 before returning to Pretoria in 2016 to try again. I started telling people whose hair I was doing that we don't get paid much at the salon and so clients let me do their hair in their homes for extra money."
Sow saw the gap for mobile hair salons and started going to people's homes where she made a good living.
"My rent was R1,500 and I wasn't even making that money from the salon, so I had to fight to make sure I could get extra money. Sometimes I wouldn't even have money," she said.
The businesswoman eventually left the salon and got her own space.
"A lot of people loved my hairstyles because they are very different and because of how I treat natural hair. I don't use heat on natural hair but the styles still come out looking very neat."
It was her natural marketing prowess on social media that had people all over Gauteng coming to Pretoria to get their hair done that led to her selling her franchise to other hairstylists in Soweto and Springs, all within four years.
"I franchised and gave them rules to follow and showed them how they must do hair. It is very important to me that they follow the same steps I use to treat hair, especially natural hair. We all signed contracts and everything so we know where we stand."
Sow plans to open more branches across the country and have a school teaching people how to do hair.
"I'm also very happy that my children will not be able to relate to the suffering I went through. I didn't even have school shoes as a child and now my children get to attend very good schools."
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