The Durban University of Technology’s (DUT’s) Fashion and Textiles final year student Diva Mobedi was ecstatic upon hearing of her recent entrepreneur triumph.
She won in the existing Business General category of the Entrepreneurship Development in Higher Education (EDHE) Entrepreneurship Intervarsity Competition.
“The acknowledgment of a job well done, justification, hard work and recognition is the greatest achievement for anyone. This validation boosted my confidence and motivated me to pursue bigger challenges. I was against brilliant-minded young individuals that had amazing existing business ventures,” she said.
The Entrepreneurship Development in Higher Education (EDHE) programme hosted the second annual national Entrepreneurship Intervarsity from January to July 2020. The competition is funded through the University Capacity Development Programme of the Department Higher Education and Training (DHET) and is supported by Universities South Africa (USA) and its partners.
Her inspiration to becoming an entrepreneur stems from her mom, who is also her greatest role model.
Being a daughter of a single woman, Mobedi was always inspired by her mother, who had started her own business in order to feed her family. “My passion arose from seeing how strong and committed she was. I can safely say I am a second-generation entrepreneur,” she said proudly.
The category that Mobedi registered to enter under was for an existing business category for her business called Fashion by Leelah, a company that she had started in 2017 after winning her first entrepreneurship competition. “It’s a company that focuses on enhancing the Muslim wear (modest wear). The other part of Fashion by Leelah focuses on equipping unemployed individuals by teaching them how to sew for free so that they can find work in factories or start their own businesses,” she stressed.
Besides winning this competition, she has received other accolades such as scoring second place in an entrepreneurship competition hosted by the Centre for social entrepreneurship in 2017.
In 2018 she won first place in a leadership programme hosted by Khanya Khanya, an organisation that goes into communities looking for leaders for their leadership and mentorship programme. In 2019 she was placed in the top 10 for a fashion competition hosted by the South African Fashion Week (SAFW).
The 24-year-old fashion entrepreneur said that she always tries to come up with innovative solutions to problems that arise in her business environment. Other than fashion she also owns a tutoring group that focuses on educating high school learners from Grades 10 to12.
“The lessons are taught through the platform of WhatsApp with almost 1500 learners and 30 professional, qualified tutors. I also volunteer in various organisations that assists disadvantaged people,” she said.
Speaking more about the competition, Mobedi commented that there are four stages in the competition. The first two stages were hosted by DUT to select students to represent the institution.
“I am currently in the finals of the competition representing not only DUT but also the KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) region. I feel proud and delighted to be the only female representing the Durban University of Technology (DUT) in the finals of the competition in Pretoria on 27 November 2020. This on its own is a great achievement because I went against thousands of entries from various universities in KwaZulu-Natal,” she said proudly.
Her advice for her peers is that it is vital to enter such competitions, especially for upcoming entrepreneurs. She said that when a person has a start-up business it is very important to involve themselves in platforms that will help them grow. “These competitions help sharpen our entrepreneurial minds and guide us into the direction we need to go in order to achieve our business and personal goals,” she said.
Speaking on how DUT has helped her on her journey of entrepreneurship, Mobedi said that the institution plays the biggest part in her road to success in her business.
“Through their guidance and support, I took a business idea and turned it into my greatest achievement and was also was included into the incubation programme and assisted with funding,” she added.
With COVID-19, and despite the pandemic having a negative impact on many entrepreneurs, in her case, this has impacted her business in a positive way.
“When the president announced that it was compulsory to wear a mask, I started supplying thousands of masks to companies and this has boosted my business so much,” she said.
Mobedi said being an entrepreneur is exciting but comes with challenges. She advises future entrepreneurs and future leaders of DUT to challenge themselves and take the risk of starting their own businesses. “They need to be brave and never give up. At times they will not get much support, but they need to believe in their goals, face fears and take action,” she said.
Pictured: Diva Mobedi
Waheeda Peters
