Flying high with feet on the ground
Events planner by night and pilot during the day
Aged just 22, entrepreneur Zandi Ngobe is flying the flag for young women in business.
Not only is she the founder of an events company, Ngobe is also a pilot.
Her love for flying was born in her matric year during a careers’ day at her school. She completed her private pilot’s licence last year.
It was during a gap year to raise funds for her commercial flying licence when she started Ndawonye Events, a Johannesburg-based company. “Ndawonye means together because events bring families and friends together. I’m a family oriented person,” Ngobe said. Ndawonye Events offers décor, furniture hire, catering and a bar service for special events.
Ngobe said this was her way of giving a full service so that clients would not have to stress about the nitty-gritty details of having a great time when they were hosting a function.
Her visual arts background has also played a key role in how she creates the fantastic settings for many events. While she does not have a concrete team at Ndawonye Events, her family has proven to be extremely helpful for bigger events that require a larger staff. “Because Ndawonye Events is about sixmonths old, I am still trying to come up with a form of staffing for different events,” Ngobe said.
“I’m going to be offering training for those people.”
Ngobe said she always made sure to take time to interact with her clients as personally as possible.
Through understanding her clients, she tells their story through her work for the special occasion they are celebrating.
However, she has faced a number of hurdles she wishes could have possibly been avoided with the relevant guidance. Although she has no mentor, Ngobe advises that it’s important to not over-think taking on a huge task and simply put in the work. “Jump in the pool and you will find your feet along the way, you will learn how to swim. We live in fear that we are going to fail. Ultimately, you need failure to learn and to become better,” she said.
“Let us not be afraid to fail because failure does lead to success.” Ngobe balances running her businesses and pursuing her commercial flying licence by dedicating mornings to her studies and flying, while her evenings are set aside for the business she hopes to turn into a success story.