2018-07-04Staff Report 2 Pinehas Nakaziko WINDHOEK - Helena Negonga, one of the youngest entrepreneurs in the country, is living her dreams with her company, D’Helena Investments, which offers nail training to the youth. She has so far trained over 400 female youth. Negonga intends to have trained 1,000 youth by the end of this year. “I started doing nails in 2008 while still studying at the Namibia University of Science and Technology (NUST), as a means to help my mother who was single with four children. At the time, I used to charge N$20 and I would always give my mother a share of my profits,” says Negonga. She fell deeply in love with the nail industry and opened a nail salon in Windhoek in 2014. “Two months later I decided to start offering nail technician training. This October, we will be celebrating four years in business and will be training four young women for free,” she says. Negonga now employs three assistants helping her to train females in Windhoek, and they travel to different towns twice a month. “The youngest female we trained was 14 years old. They say you are never too young or too old to follow your dreams. We are empowering females across the country to help themselves and their families and not rely on others for financial support,” she says. In five years’ time Negonga sees herself running a beauty school, beauty salon and having one of the largest and leading events management companies in the country. Apart from nail training, she also ventures into catering and cleaning services, a nail salon, kiddies’ parties, marketing services, educational tutorials, and events management. “I also run a yearly campaign called ‘Feed the men on the streets’, which aims to support men who are looking for jobs alongside the road. We also go deep into Katutura to feed the less fortunate and hand out clothing and toys donated by family and friends.” 2018-07-04Staff Report 2
