The elder half of two siblings, Hellen Ngenokesho, was born in Lubango, Angola in 1989.
Hellen and her family soon moved back to Namibia when she was three years old. Upon their return they settled in the village and with no one to stay with, young Hellen at the time, enrolled in school and started her Grade One in 1994 at the age of four. “I moved to Windhoek in 1995 but was held back and had to redo my Pre-primary school because of my young age. I joined People’s Primary School the next year, and during my earlier grades was the smartest kid in class as I knew most of the work.”
Hellen finished at the Peoples Primary School but was part of the hockey team where she made their Under -13 Namibia national hockey team. Hellen lost her mother after finishing primary school, and moved to Walvis Bay, where she went to stay with her aunty and enrolled at the Walvis Bay Private High School where she continued playing hockey as a centre back. Hellen finished her high school at Walvis Bay High School in 2007, and moved back to Windhoek where she enrolled with The University of Namibia (Unam) where she studied Accounting. “Adjusting was not easy coming from an English back ground to having subjects in Afrikaans. I struggled a lot at first but learned and managed well since my ninth grade. I always wanted to be a teacher but was encouraged to do Accounting, coming from an Accounting back ground in high school.”
Hellen stayed in the hostel and was elected member of the Student Representative Council (SRC) for Community Development in 2011. Hellen received a bursary for her studies and when she finished in 2012, she was offered a job by her sponsor, Valencia Uranium, as an assistant accountant until October of that year.
Growing up Hellen was not one to ask for handouts unless the situation was dire and always manage to make a plan, and in 2009 while at Unam, she started selling Brazilian hair. Hellen found herself a supplier from Angola and started selling on campus for pocket money and buy her essentials. “Things started picking up and I realised that I could turn this into a profitable business as there was a great demand. I started looking for a business partner for months but did not succeed. I remember selling to Dillish a few times and approached her, she agreed and since then we never looked back.”
Hellen and Dillish would sell the hair from their hostel rooms and out of Dillish car. They were soon targeted by thieves who broke into the flats and stole the merchandise. Terrified, the pair looked up a small place to rent and sell from and after a struggle, they found a place but had to pay four months’ rent in advance, as the property owners were sceptical of them being students.
Today Hellen and her business partner are enjoying good success and are currently located in the Central Business District (CBD) of town where they have expanded their business into a hair spa. They now not only sell hair extensions but cut, wash, dye, and do hair treatments as well as doing hari extensions. Hellen and her partner are looking into other business areas and looking to expand their business.
Hellen believes Namibia has come a long way and have made significant strides but is time for today’s youth to stand up and take the country into the next era of independence “as we are free but we still face many struggles”. “As the youth we should take responsibility for ourselves, each other, our community and our country at large. Only then will our voice be heard and see changes relevant to our generations, we are the future leaders and should act like that, instead of complain and throwing our lives down the bottle.”