The winners of the annual FAIRLADY Women of the Future Awards, in partnership with Santam, was announced at an exclusive VIP luncheon at Summer Place in Hyde Park, Johannesburg.
We are delighted to announce the 2016 winners:
The Woman of the Future title was awarded to Sarah Collins of Wonderbag. Sarah is the producer of a revolutionary non-electric heat-retention cooker. “My heroines are African women,” she says. “I am exceptionally proud to be African. Our resilience and capacity for innovation is so inspiring!” Collins plans to spend her prize money where it counts, by putting it back into the community where she started the extraordinarily successful Wonderbag – an informal settlement outside Soweto.
Moyin Oloruntoba of The A1 walked away with the Rising Star title. Moyin produces online entertainment content geared towards youth culture, and the recognition and validation offered by the Rising Star Award means the world to her. “I’ve put in a lot of work, and having a brand like Fairlady say, “This is amazing – keep going,” is the best thing ever,” she says. “South Africa needs young entrepreneurs for the economy of this country to do better in the long term, and it means so much to be encouraged.”
These two inspiring winners were selected from an incredible shortlist of finalists, by a respected panel of successful business-minded and well-known South African judges, including Public Protector Adv Thuli Madonsela; Santam director Yegs Ramiah; media entrepreneur and international speaker Jo-Ann Strauss; TV presenter, radio host & MC Leanne Manas and FAIRLADY editor Suzy Brokensha.
Sarah receives R50,000 in cash from Santam, a mentoring session with one of the judges, a R3,000 shopping voucher from Queenspark, a Sony Xperia Z5 and Sony tablet, an online course from GetSmarter worth R12,500, a Bamboo Revolution watch and an Issey Miyake (L’Eau d’Issey) hamper worth R7,880. Moyin receives R20,000 in cash from Santam, a mentoring session with one of the judges, a R3 000 shopping voucher from Queenspark, a Sony Xperia M5 and Sony tablet, an online course from GetSmarter worth R12,500, a Bamboo Revolution watch and an Issey Miyake (L’Eau d’Issey) hamper worth R7,880.
A special thank you to our headline partner, Santam for partnering with us for a second year.
Thank you our beauty partner, Issey Miyake and our clothing partner, Queenspark. Thank you to the prize and goodie bag sponsors.