South Africa: Lerato Phiri​

This presentation profiles Lerato Grace Phiri, an established entrepreneur from Magareng Local Municipality and owner of Themes Café, whose participation in Gender Links’ Sunrise Campaign strengthened her self‑confidence, independence, and business management skills. Through life skills and entrepreneurship training, Lerato gained the ability to express herself, understand and defend her rights, and manage business finances, enabling her to grow her fast‑food business and diversify into cleaning services. She has expanded her customer base to include institutions and the wider community through networking, mobile catering, social media, and word‑of‑mouth marketing, while creating employment for one full‑time and two part‑time workers. Despite challenges such as competition, debt collection, and managing two businesses, Lerato has improved financial management, saved income, increased household earnings, and put sustainability measures in place, with clear plans to add more products and secure funding to further grow her business.