Imizizi took root as a shared dream by two childhood friends
Company services blue-chip clients such as BMW, Sasol and Sanlam
Imizizi is a people management and consulting company that helps small, medium and large corporates with their transformative people management needs.
The company’s services fall under three key pillars: sourcing and staffing, advisory and consulting, and outsourced people | management. Imizizi, which means “roots”, is owned and managed by childhood friends Yolisa Tshabalala, 35, and Mponeng Seshea, 37.
The two met at Excelsior Comprehensive School in their hometown of Mthatha and attended the University of the Witwatersrand.
The women-led company was established in 2017, specialising in temporary employment services, recruitment, people management, payroll and strategic consulting.
Tshabalala holds a Bcom accounting degree from Wits and gained experience in the automotive, information technology, banking, insurance, and retail industries.
Seshea has a Bcom in information systems and management. Her experience across different industries broadened her skills as a business analyst, process engineer, scrum master, change manager and business architect.
“For us, having started as childhood friends worked to our advantage as both of us envisaged the future together. We treat each other as sisters,” said Tshabalala.
“We had the same vision and shared the same values, and that is when we decided to start this business on our own, and Imizizi was formed,” said Seshea.
The duo say that after looking at how companies were struggling to recruit the right people for projects they were working on, they started formulating ideas and knocking on the doors of companies to present their business model.
“We experienced our own challenges to get the business off the ground and it must be noted that it was not easy to convince clients to believe in us.
“In business you need to prove yourself to be taken seriously, and we did exactly that,” said Tshabalala.
Seshea says that market entry was the biggest challenge for their business as they would be told that they needed to provide evidence of the work they had done previously.
“We are sitting at more than 300 professionals who work for different companies, while within our company we have 18 employees. This is a great milestone for us and we are also happy that we are contributing to the employment of many people around the country.”
Imizizi services blue-chip clients such as BMW, Sasol and Sanlam.
Tshabalala and Seshea say they are gearing up to tap into the public sector, including having their business footprint in Africa and the rest of the world.
“We are proud of reaching the new frontiers while helping many families to get employment through our company. Looking back where we come from, we cannot believe that we have reached this far and this is amazing,” said Seshea.