JOHANNESBURG - An ambitious young businesswoman has made it her mission to conquer the male dominated media and communications world.
Siwaphiwe Myataza founded Village Girl Creatives as a vehicle to achieve her goals. Myataza says the firm is a community of writers, editors, authors, broadcasters and corporate communicators with wide ranging skills and expertise.
It helps with content development for media releases, company reports and websites; speech writing; internal and external communications; crisis communication planning and management; and reputation management, among other services.
“We also do ghostwriting for government officials such as premiers and MECs,” says Myataza, who holds a politics degree from the University of the Western Cape and a postgraduate diploma in journalism and media studies from Rhodes University.
Myataza says she wants to grow the company into a premier media, communications and writers’ company in the country.
She says the focus at the moment is to get more clients, build partnerships and relations that can help in positioning the company into a brand.
An ambitious young businesswoman has made it her mission to conquer the male dominated media and communications world. Image: Supplied.
She has given herself until next year to achieve her mission
“The main thing for me is to focus on getting more clients and building relationships that will, in turn, build the business,” the young businesswoman says.
“Networking is important for any business, especially a new business. The people in your circle play a critical role in making or breaking you.” Myataza says she dumped her job as a content producer in a media company to focus on building her own company after gathering enough experience in the industry.
Siwaphiwe Myataza founded Village Girl Creatives as a vehicle to achieve her goals. Myataza says the firm is a community of writers, editors, authors, broadcasters and corporate communicators with wide ranging skills and expertise.
She readily admits however that running a business is not as easy as it seems. “Look, sometimes you work for some people and when it comes to getting paid there are stories.”
She says these are some of the challenges new business owners experience. “In other instances you are paid but not on time.”
However, the joys of building her empire far outweigh the challenges she faces at times.
“It’s always good to follow your dreams and do something that will make you happy and liberate you as a person,” says Myataza.
She says the company works hard to understand its clients’ business, culture, products and the markets in which they conduct their business.
“We make it our duty to recognise the unique characters of our clients, and to work with them to ensure that their goals are realised,” says Myataza, who will studying towards a master’s degree in media studies at the University of Cape Town.
“We discuss with our clients the most appropriate medium to meet their needs.”
She says because of the company’s unique understanding of the inner workings of the media and corporate communications, Village Girl Creatives is able to combine experiential understanding with professional expertise.
“Our firm has alliances with various organisations and consultants who complement our existing resources, expertise and knowledge to enable us to provide added value to our clients,” says Myataza.
At the moment, Village Girl Creatives counts both the annual Mahika Mahikeng Cultural Music Festival in North West and the Nqandu Great Place Xhosa Carnival in Eastern Cape as some of her biggest clients.
Myataza says the firm is also involved in public-private partnerships to eradicate the scourge of pit latrines in schools across the country.
Siwaphiwe Myataza founded Village Girl Creatives as a vehicle to achieve her goals. Myataza says the firm is a community of writers, editors, authors, broadcasters and corporate communicators with wide ranging skills and expertise.
“So far, under this initiative, we have donated proper toilets in six schools in the Eastern Cape. We are also targeting Limpopo,” she reveals.
“By end of this month we will be going back to the Eastern Cape where we will be donating about seven toilets to a school in Ugie.”
An ambitious young businesswoman has made it her mission to conquer the male dominated media and communications world. Image: Supplied.