Cynthia Thanda     

Nompendulo Shabangu is a Communicator with a passion for all things communication and media. She has over ten years of work experience; having served in diverse roles that have exposed her to different organisations.

The Pan Afrikanist family enjoyed drinking from the cup of inspiration from the young lady’s story during an interview with her about her journey.

Nompendulo is currently a Freelance Communications, PR, and Media Consultant for organisations and individuals. Furthermore, she is the Founding Editor of Diamond Unearthed magazine, a lifestyle magazine for women, as well as running a writing services business called Writing The Answer. She also has a lifestyle & faith professional YouTube channel.

She registered Writing The Answer in 2016. The business offers diverse writing services, including proofreading and editing services for various publications. She started the business because she was passionate about assisting people to present themselves in as excellent a manner as possible as far as communication goes.

The idea was solidified when she offered to edit and proofread a friend’s book when she perused through it. She thoroughly enjoyed their book but found that it needed serious attention grammatically.

Another friend encouraged her to register a business offering proofreading and editing services since she was already doing it at no cost and yet, it was consuming so much of her free time because she also had a full-time job at that time. Essentially, she turned a hobby into an income-generating endeavour.

Her magazine, Diamond Unearthed, which was launched in 2017, was simply a convergence of everything she loves: mentorship, women and women empowerment, writing, media, stories, networking, and faith. The natural thing, therefore, was to establish a magazine as it brought all the things she loves together. In 2018 she began freelancing as a Communications & Media consultant.

Her greatest business challenge has been establishing systems, which research proves is one of the greatest challenges for any business trying to establish itself. This is a challenge she aims, daily, to overcome by deliberately placing measures to establish healthy and functional systems. It’s all underway and quite well, at that.

“I have worked with reputable companies in all of my businesses. Through Writing The Answer, I have had the opportunity to edit and proofread really incredible publications, both fictional and non-fictional. Furthermore, I have worked on numerous CVs and various types of profiles for businesses and individuals”, Shabangu said.

She continued to say that with Diamond Unearthed, the concept grew from a publication and has since added an events wing that was launched in 2019. Covid-19 interrupted plans for 2020/21 but this will be mitigated going forward as pertinent lessons have been learned from the pandemic and the events space.

Also, she has had the opportunity of working with phenomenal individuals such as contributors for the magazine and the cover girls. Some of them have attested o the fact that being featured in the magazine has opened up notable opportunities for them, and that makes it all worth it.

With Writing The Answer, she is by herself. She has had people who have come and gone over the years. For now, she believes it is ideal that she be the only one as she is restructuring the business and its offerings, and she is working on a refined business plan that will identify and solidify structures that are easily implementable to ensure sustainability of the business going forward.

With Diamond Unearthed, she has worked with close to ten contributors for the magazine and a team of approximately six for Diamond Unearthed events. For the magazine, the contributors wrote about diverse topics such as relationships, health, education, careers, and others.

For Diamond Unearthed Events, the people she worked with were responsible for various administrative roles towards the success of the overall event they had in 2019.

With the consultancy, she is working with a team of about five, most of whom she oversees, and they have varying roles and work with different businesses.

Here are words of encouragement from Nompendulo:

Learn as much as you can. Learn before establishing a business and even after you have established it. Always be teachable. There is so much available at our disposal in this digital age. Watch YouTube videos, read articles and books on business.

Use your time online for more fruitful things and not just entertainment. Entertainment has its place and time but if that’s all you’re spending your time on, you will stunt your growth personally and professionally.

Check out what other businesses in your industry are doing and see what you can learn or can do differently. Seek to understand what pressure points are. Speak to other business owners and entrepreneurs. Keep going even when it seems what you are doing isn’t yielding fruit.

Speak to consultants regarding how you can grow your business and how you can get out of the rut if you find your business stuck. There is plenty of free information online, and as you grow professionally, you’ll be better equipped to identify what’s good advice and what’s not. Write a business plan and visit it often to ensure you’re on the right track and revise it whenever it is fitting.

Embrace technology and learn how it can help your business. Everything is digital and virtual in our day, so embrace and maximise it.