Turning privilege into empowerment | Digital philanthropy helps this marketer keep businesses affloat

Livhuwanu “Lebo Lion” Nefolovhodwe, founder of business savvy podcasts.
Livhuwanu “Lebo Lion” Nefolovhodwe, founder of business savvy podcasts.
Image: Supplied.

Livhuwanu “Lebo Lion” Nefolovhodwe is making her voice heard and on a mission to have her voice heard. When she is not on social media, the young business savvy entrepreneur runs her podcast, Lessons with Lions.

The idea was sprouted after her thread on twitter discussing the privilege of being from an advantaged background and the challenges that also come with it. Nefolovhodwe opened a discussion that inspired a need to discuss identity.

With her podcast Nefolovhodwe notes that there is a hesitance by others towards podcasts as a means of sharing information.

“Five years ago, Mihlali Ndamase would have been a joke saying she has a YouTube channel, they would have laughed at her in her face but now look who they are talking about. You are either the disruptor or you are being disrupted so I am choosing to be the disruptive.”

Nefolovhodwe’s podcast includes topics ranging from viral marketing to informative world of slay queens. Her topic point on marketing was chosen after she was working for a marketing business in fashion and retail.“What we found is that businesses weren’t making money,” Nefolovhodwe shares, “we went through their numbers and I realised that they just don’t understand how to market their businesses and how to run the business.”

During this time, Nefolovhodwe was a great assistance to a number of these businesses and managed to help them make more profits to sustain their net income. The consultancy was free and Nefolovhodwe often felt overwhelmed by the number of businesses she was assisting.

Through her “digital philanthropy” Nefolovhodwe is able to give free and far spreading advice.“I feel like people try to over define marketing like its advertising or promotions but for me it's adding value that benefits the customer in one way or another.”

As a young black woman, Nefolovhodwe believes that the podcast adds an especially necessary voice to the internet space that does not often have voices for black men and women.

“African people solve African problems,” says Nefolovhodwe “I believe that every single African podcast that is out there is very important and I would urge every entrepreneur, every student or anyone who is pioneering and moving their lives forward I would urge them to listen to African content makers because they can teach them to navigate through the African landscape, which is very unique to the rest of the world.”

Keep up with Nefolovhodwe’s latest podcast episodes on iTunes and SoundCloud.

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