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Making dreams come true

JULY 07 2016: DREAM BIG: Wedding planner Glory Maseepe , who specialises in high-profile events, has used her experience in marketing to the benefit of her business . Pic Veli Nhlapo © Sowetan.
JULY 07 2016: DREAM BIG: Wedding planner Glory Maseepe , who specialises in high-profile events, has used her experience in marketing to the benefit of her business . Pic Veli Nhlapo © Sowetan.

Businesswoman Glory Maseepe is using her marketing skills to run a successful events and décor enterprise.

Based in Centurion, outside Pretoria, her business Nkapeshane Events and Décor targets well-heeled individuals and companies.

"My business does all types of events, but essentially I am a wedding planner," Maseepe said.

"I will plan your wedding from catering up to the décor.

"My target market includes high-profile people, as the service I am offering does not come cheaply."

Maseepe said her marketing skills and eight-year-old business of planning events have made her well-known in the social circles of Limpopo, and it is no longer difficult for her to secure business in the province. In fact, most of her clients come from the province.

"In Limpopo, a marriage says a lot. If you are not married, you are regarded as a failure, despite the fact that you could have achieved a lot in terms of being in an excellent financial position," said the 38-year-old Maseepe, who herself hails from the province and is unmarried.

A turning point in her career as a businesswoman was when she struck a deal which saw her supplying food to schools in Gauteng.

"I had decided to leave my job at a corporate [company] despite the fact that I did not have any income or business contracts," she said.

"And I consider myself lucky to have won a major business contract because I do not know what would have happened to my business [otherwise]."

She had worked for Absa and Telkom, but decided to resign because the salary was not good enough for her.

"As I was in the marketing division, I was required to bring business into the company, and I just thought that if I could do this for my employer then I could also do it for my business," she said.

She obtained her BTech in business administration from Tshwane University of Technology in Marabastad in 2002.

Her business hires 20 people.

"Five of the workers are full-time and the others only come to do weekend events," she said.

Maseepe said she loves wedding planning because she is into fashion and new trends.

"I am just doing it from my heart as I am that person who loves beautiful things, and when I go to events I'm on the lookout for new trends."

The only glitch is a weaker rand against hard currencies, as she acquires furniture for her business from China and Malaysia.

"The reason I buy my furniture outside SA is that this helps to give my company exclusivity in the products we offer."

When she ventured into wedding planning in 2014, the rand was sitting at R9 to the US dollar but is now hovering above R14.50.

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