DAWN NATHAN-JONES

SOCIAL ENTREPRENEUR

As a second-time judge of FAIRLADY Santam Women of the Future, Dawn Nathan-Jones has been amazed at the amount of talent out there. ‘The calibre of finalists has been astounding, and I’ve stayed on as a mentor for several of them.’ Dawn started her career at just 21 when she joined Imperial Group’s co-founders Carol Scott and Maureen Jackson. The three women took the car rental agency from a fleet of just nine cars to being one of SA’s largest listed groups. When the company merged with Europcar in 2007, Dawn spearheaded the consolidation and rebranding to Europcar. The merger was such a success it’s since been used at business schools locally and internationally as a case study for successful rebranding and internal culture change.

After an incredible 35 years, with 18 of those spent as CEO, Dawn decided to take the skills she learnt and pay it forward in 2015. ‘Since stepping down as CEO, I’ve worked with a number of agencies that educate youth about entrepreneurship and who also

assist ambitious entrepreneurs so that they can create successful businesses of their own,’ she says. One of those agencies is Over the Rainbow, which offers fledging businesses guidance, support and connections so that they can build a sustainable business. ‘Over my lifetime I was very much an entrepreneur, then I became an entrepreneurial leader and now I’ve come full circle and I am a social entrepreneur.’

Through her work, Dawn hopes to create a legacy of social entrepreneurship with heart. ‘It’s easy to talk about social entrepreneurship; the difference lies in the passion. If you’re going into social entrepreneurship you need to be doing it for the cause.’

Being a successful entrepreneur is as much about the person as it is about the product or service they’re selling. Dawn learnt this during her stint as a Shark on Shark Tank SA, the M-Net reality show where aspiring entrepreneurs convince five self-made millionaires to invest in their business. ‘Give me a person who has all the right attributes – the passion, hard work, confidence,’ she explains. ‘The product can always be re-engineered or recrafted; it really comes down to the person.’

❛Give me a person who has all the right attributes – the passion, hard work, confidence. The product can always be re-engineered or recrafted; it really comes down to the person.❜