“Having a passion is very important but following through with it is what matters more’’.
That’s the advice 23 year old Amanda Sibiya would give to a young aspirant entrepreneur.
She states that having a dream without doing something about it wont get you anywhere. Being passionate and working towards their dream is what helped herself and her business partner achieve all that they have.
Sibiya is co-founder and co-director of Conte Creatives Agency with her business partner 27-year old Charmaine Ngobeni . The two women, first met as graphic design interns on a four month internship. They clicked immediately and made plans to start a business after they were informed that they would be let go earlier than expected from their contracts. Ngobeni and Sibiya started their business in premises directly opposite their former workplace in 2014.
Conte Creatives Agency is an agency that produces logo , print, graphic design and multimedia solutions.
Ngobeni refers to them as ‘brand stylists’ due to their in-depth approach to taking care of their clients brands.
The company has two divisions, the agency which was their starting point and it helped raise capital for the second division, the magazine. Through the magazine the ladies showcase unrecognized African talent. They then take the magazine to different companies and agencies who use it as a directory to find talent.
Ngobeni is in charge of the agency and Sibiya handles the magazine. The magazine exhibited at the Parson School of Design in New York for 9 days. Whenever a new issue of the magazine is released, the company holds an exhibition.
The ladies keep a database of fashion/ art buyers who get invited to the exhibition.
This encourages the artist to start thinking about making a living with their art.
A lot of the help the women have received is through their contacts and collaborations. Ngobeni stressed that in order to get far people need to collaborate.
“Another thing we always stress to anybody we work with is, collaboration. I think it’s very important right now that we collaborate, that’s why everywhere we go we try to collaborate with the artists we work with, the brands that we work with. We want to encourage people to work together,” says Ngobeni
‘’It’s the competition that kills us’’ chimes in Sibiya.
The two are adamant that finding ways to work together as creatives ensures success for all. Through their spirit of collaboration they recently landed one of their relatively unrecognised photographer clients a gig as a photographer for the launch for a new Rolls Royce.
Getting to know them
Charmaine Ngobeni is the CEO of the company, she studied graphic design at UJ and on her third year she transferred to the Parsons School of Design in New York, on partial scholarship. Charmaine is no stranger to business as she started her own company at the age of 18. The business was music based and she made contacts such as the likes of Khuli Chana who recently worked with Conte again. Sadly that business did not work out but during her stay in New York she started a magazine called SA Lifestyle magazine, which she had to give up when she came back to South Africa.
When she came home she worked at an architectural firm but felt stifled. She then applied for the internship position taking a pay cut but also where she met Amanda.
Amanda’s first job was the internship where she met Charmaine. The two women have courage in spades and embody the word ‘’hustler’’.
Sibiya studied Multimedia in Durban at the Centre for Fine Art Animation and Design (CFAD) Sibiya knew she wanted to study Animation but didn’t have a portfolio, so instead of quitting she spent her holidays drawing to make a portfolio. She applied for a bursary and was accepted into the school but only found out a week before class had to start that she was accepted.
The women have drive and passion in common. They revealed that their parents had to take out loans to provide them with seed capital. They recently received funding in December 2015 which helped immensely.
Their biggest problem now is that they have more clients than team members, which is kind of a good problem to have they state.
Meet the young creative bosses - Amanda Sibiya and Charmaine Ngobeni
“Having a passion is very important but following through with it is what matters more’’.
That’s the advice 23 year old Amanda Sibiya would give to a young aspirant entrepreneur.
She states that having a dream without doing something about it wont get you anywhere. Being passionate and working towards their dream is what helped herself and her business partner achieve all that they have.
Sibiya is co-founder and co-director of Conte Creatives Agency with her business partner 27-year old Charmaine Ngobeni . The two women, first met as graphic design interns on a four month internship. They clicked immediately and made plans to start a business after they were informed that they would be let go earlier than expected from their contracts. Ngobeni and Sibiya started their business in premises directly opposite their former workplace in 2014.
Conte Creatives Agency is an agency that produces logo , print, graphic design and multimedia solutions.
Ngobeni refers to them as ‘brand stylists’ due to their in-depth approach to taking care of their clients brands.
The company has two divisions, the agency which was their starting point and it helped raise capital for the second division, the magazine. Through the magazine the ladies showcase unrecognized African talent. They then take the magazine to different companies and agencies who use it as a directory to find talent.
Ngobeni is in charge of the agency and Sibiya handles the magazine. The magazine exhibited at the Parson School of Design in New York for 9 days. Whenever a new issue of the magazine is released, the company holds an exhibition.
The ladies keep a database of fashion/ art buyers who get invited to the exhibition.
This encourages the artist to start thinking about making a living with their art.
A lot of the help the women have received is through their contacts and collaborations. Ngobeni stressed that in order to get far people need to collaborate.
“Another thing we always stress to anybody we work with is, collaboration. I think it’s very important right now that we collaborate, that’s why everywhere we go we try to collaborate with the artists we work with, the brands that we work with. We want to encourage people to work together,” says Ngobeni
‘’It’s the competition that kills us’’ chimes in Sibiya.
The two are adamant that finding ways to work together as creatives ensures success for all. Through their spirit of collaboration they recently landed one of their relatively unrecognised photographer clients a gig as a photographer for the launch for a new Rolls Royce.
Getting to know them
Charmaine Ngobeni is the CEO of the company, she studied graphic design at UJ and on her third year she transferred to the Parsons School of Design in New York, on partial scholarship. Charmaine is no stranger to business as she started her own company at the age of 18. The business was music based and she made contacts such as the likes of Khuli Chana who recently worked with Conte again. Sadly that business did not work out but during her stay in New York she started a magazine called SA Lifestyle magazine, which she had to give up when she came back to South Africa.
When she came home she worked at an architectural firm but felt stifled. She then applied for the internship position taking a pay cut but also where she met Amanda.
Amanda’s first job was the internship where she met Charmaine. The two women have courage in spades and embody the word ‘’hustler’’.
Sibiya studied Multimedia in Durban at the Centre for Fine Art Animation and Design (CFAD) Sibiya knew she wanted to study Animation but didn’t have a portfolio, so instead of quitting she spent her holidays drawing to make a portfolio. She applied for a bursary and was accepted into the school but only found out a week before class had to start that she was accepted.
The women have drive and passion in common. They revealed that their parents had to take out loans to provide them with seed capital. They recently received funding in December 2015 which helped immensely.
Their biggest problem now is that they have more clients than team members, which is kind of a good problem to have they state.
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