Cohort 7 VIP grad and Date Night May 2022


Cohort 7 Graduation 


In the Virtual Incubation Program women entrepreneurs are taken through 7 different modules centered around different aspects of their businesses. Once they complete the program they are then invited to Pitch for investment at our Pitch Night events.


The purpose is to guide women entrepreneurs through different areas of their businesses and encourage them to talk through what they would like to accomplish. Each week they were required to complete various tasks in their own time using templates, presentations, videos, etc.


These ladies completed VIP in mid April just before Easter and during the month of Ramadan. We commend this cohort for sacrificing their evenings to complete the program. They of course had their day jobs and side hustles during the day and then in the evenings they had to take care of their families and kids. Multitasking and perseverance is something we saw repeatedly during this time and they made it look so easy.


Take a look at the awesome ladies from cohort 7 below:


Amaal Jacobs - Winsome Wrapped


We help modest women feel a sense of identity and individuality by offering scarfs and styling ideas.


Carlita Bezuidenhout - Miss Designist


Miss Designist disrupts the creativity of advertisement by creating eye-catching customized logo and website designs


Juleiga Charles and Yumnah Williams - Posh


Posh will design custom office products with your identity in mind  so it will spark that motivational feeling every time you see it.


Lerverne Hendricks - Style Shack


We are a local clothing and accessories online shopping platform that enables customers to shop and find fashionable items for any occasion. Customers can purchase those items at affordable prices whilst supporting an emerging boutique brand in the process.


Simone Freeman - Dare to Picnic


Dare to Picnic provides a luxury picnic experience at a venue of your choice according to your requirements. We are well known for our unique outdoor picnic experiences. Rest assured we can plan your picnic from A to Z.


Networking Date Night 25 May 2022


Our first Networking Date Night of the year took place on Wednesday, 25 May 2022 via Zoom. Pushing through technical difficulties and load shedding schedules the evening turned out to be a beautiful and memorable event.


The evening started with a stunning performance of Rise of the Contagious Woman by Lady G who got us all excited for the evening.


Our host Hit@Thirty1 led us through the evening introducing us to our panel discussion segment centred around well-being and self-care. The panel was moderated by Wilhelmina Andrews-Sheldon from WS Perfumes. She guided the panel gracefully through a conversation we all needed to hear. Joining her on the panel were Jolene Barnes from Prettyful, Ebby Patrick from Healing Honey Beauty Institute, Laetitia Piers from Shea by Design, and Simone Freeman from Dare to Picnic. An interesting note to mention is that all these ladies are alumni of the Virtual Incubation Program. 


The discussion touched on the journey of self-care, our periods being a taboo subject, and work life balance. The audience were so enthralled by the discussion that most of the Zoom chat were asking for a part 2 or follow up of the discussion. 


RLabs Beauty made a cameo during the evening as Arantxa Landsman encouraged all beauty businesses to get listed on the website.


We then moved on to the networking activity. Everyone present was split into a few breakout rooms to make it easier to have conversations so that everyone has a chance to express their opinion.


The questions discussed in the breakout rooms were as follows:


This activity gave everyone a safe space to talk about self-care in their own lives, in their businesses, and what it means to them. 


The RLabs Women team would like to thank everyone for their constant support.Thank you for participating in our events and supporting our women entrepreneurs.