WOMEN IN BUSINESS EDITION

26ENTREPRENEUR

The twenty-eight year old Nelao is currently one of the most sought-after hairdressers in the capital with loyal clients

who follow her to any hair salon she relocates to. As from the first of Decem-ber 2015, Nelao’s clients will find her at her very own “God Given Hair Products & Beauty Salon” in the Frans Indongo building located right in the Central Business District of Windhoek. Nelao has dreamt of a salon of her own ever since entering the hairdressing industry. Her new salon will consist of 11 chairs and 12 employees as she does not want a crowded environment, but a place where each customer can feel special and be relaxed.

Neloa, the oldest of her mother’s five children was born on 29 April 1987 and hails from a small village called Okaku-Kiipupu, located a few kilometres from Oshakati.

When she was two years old, her mother dropped her off at her father’s family to raise her since she could not care for the baby. “My family from my mother’s side are not well off. There isn’t really anybody you can call a breadwin-ner as most of them are unemployed and are struggling to make a living.”

Nelao attended primary school at Omege Primary and high school at Onesi Secondary School. She saw her mother over the holidays, but lived with

her father’s side of the family until she completed Grade 12 in 2007.

After school Nelao decided she will not remain unemployed for long and decided to relocate to Windhoek and ventured into hairdressing by offering her services from house to house.

She would go and do people’s hair in the comfort of their homes at relatively affordable prices. One day after impress-ing a client so much Nelao received the opportunity to go work in the client’s salon located in town.

Neloa accepted the offer, but recalls it as a rocky start as she had no clients. Customers entering the salon would simply walk pass her to the hairdressers known to them. No longer serving her clients at their houses she had to find money to spend on taxies – money she did not have.

“Whenever I would go home, I went down on my knees and asked God to give me the strength and courage to go on because I knew He had given me the talent to use my hands to make a living,” Nelao said. She said in the first month she made a mere N$160 but the thought of giving-up never crossed her mind.

This scenario repeated itself when a very impressed client once again asked Nelao to come work at her salon. But this time things were even worse. Salon Mima Tag had many daily clients, and

too many hands eager to work on those heads.

Nelao strained to move beyond the struggle to survive. She ascribes her breakthrough to her willingness to learn and ask for help.

“A guy which I will never forget is Papi. Papi would always call me to look at how he was doing the different hairstyles. He is an expert in the industry and unlike many other hairdressers, he was not stingy with sharing his knowl-edge.”

When two clients requested the

by Innocentia Gaoes • photograph Vida de Voss Links

HAIRDRESSER TOknock-knockowning a salon“A HAPPY CUSTOMER IS YOUR BREAD FOR TOMORROW” SAYS ASTERIA NANDAGO, FONDLY KNOWN AS NELAO BY HER CLIENTS. WITH DETERMINATION AND PERSEVER-ANCE THIS GIRL FROM OKAKU-KIIPUPU IS MAKING IT BIG IN THE CITY.

FROM

“A happy customer is your bread for tomorrow” says Asteria Nandago

www.sisternamibia.org SISTER NAMIBIA

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Rihanna bob, Nelao broke out into a cold sweat recognising the opportunity as her chance for breakthrough. Armed with Papi’s tips and her passion she took up the challenge. But that night an anxious Nelao went into her room, got down on her knees as usual and prayed for help for the following day.

“By God’s grace I nailed it. The ladies were very happy and told me it was the first time they had come to a salon and have their hair done exactly how they had wanted it,”says Nelao. Since that breakthrough, a day has not

gone by without Nelao having at least five clients.

By learning from Papi and using her talent Nelao can proudly call herself a highly skilled hairdresser. “I am grate-ful for my talent. Hairdressing is not something you can just learn, you need to have passion and patience for it. A customer is the most important visitor on our premises. Both you as the hair-dresser and the client need each other, so there should be respect between the two of you,” advises Nelao.

She says hairdressing is sometimes not easy as customers often come with

their bad moods, but as a hair-

dresser one should not take it personally and help the customer to feel relaxed. “I do not let my customers’ bad moods affect me. I tell myself they came in here for a service and will be leaving in two or three hours so let me do my best in assisting them to leave with a smile.”

Nelao helps her clients identify what works for their hair texture and facial structure as some clients come in with specific ideas but don’t recognise the style will not work for their faces. This care separates the good hairdress-ers from those who just want to make money because clients leave unhappy and blame the hairdresser for not having

warned them. “I normally advise my clients by suggesting alternatives and explain that my suggestion fits their facial structure better. “If they reject my advice, they cannot complain in the end when they do not look good.”

From the money she makes from hairdressing, Nelao is now the breadwin-ner at home. She supports her four sib-lings, her mother and her grandmother. She has managed to extend their once small residence into a big and beautiful homestead in the North. “I am the first-born and my sister who comes after me is currently doing nursing in the north, while my twin brothers are redoing their

grade 12. The last-born from of my siblings is currently in Grade 10, so I am taking care of all of them and my daughter with what I make from my hairdressing job. Nelao’s daughter is currently in Grade One at a private school.

Nelao said she works Mon-day to Sunday and allocates the proceeds from Sunday towards the family needs, while she saves the rest of the money for her busi-ness. She gets around eight to ten clients daily and makes about N$13 000 in a month.

Nelao encouraged all the young women out there who are unem-ployed and are waiting on the gov-ernment to give them jobs to get up and use the opportunities women have in the country. “Pull your weight by using the talent you were given by God and then improve it with support,” she said. “Make use of opportunities and connections you have. Ask advice and assistance when necessary and cut out the at-titude of I can do it on my own while

you need help,” advises Nelao. She said with the new President,

she is highly optimistic about a great future for the country. “Our beautiful and very intelligent First Lady Mrs Monica Geingos is my inspiration. Her business mindset and confidence assist me in my daily activities,” says Nelao.

Nelao reminds us, “Before anyone can walk they must first crawl, so one should not give up when they don’t display strength and ability immediately.” Looking back over her short life, Nelao recognises the virtue in patience and giving your best by sharing your talent and passion.

“A happy customer is your bread for tomorrow” says Asteria Nandago