Naledi Mqayi | Mbabazi Consulting

Naledi Mqayi | Mbabazi Consulting

Programme sponsor: Merchants SA and CitiBank SA

“I feel like I can be the CEO of any company now”

Naledi Mqayi started her psychological consulting practice in 2002. “I am a clinical psychologist by profession, but I could only help a certain number of clients in one day. I wanted to create an organisation where I could employ more people, train them and, in turn, help more people,” Naledi says.

In happy beginning, Naledi landed a million-rand contract right out of the gate. The challenge was that suddenly her company was too big for her to handle, and she was left feeling overwhelmed. “I had to develop quickly. My business was doing well but I lost focus and my family life suffered. I ended up losing the contract,” she says. Her financial skills were lacking and she ran into trouble with SARS because she didn’t know the rules around declarations. “I didn’t know what financials looked like – I started my business from a position of not knowing anything,” she says.

 In 2020, she was fortunate enough to be accepted into a business-development programme sponsored by Merchants SA and Citibank SA. Powered by Raizcorp, the programme provided learning and guiding (mentoring) which taught her about finances, among other things. “My guides keep me focused and grounded. I feel like I can be the CEO of any company now. Raizcorp has taught me so much! Through my financials, I can track everything that is happening with my business. It’s really helped me define my strategy,” she says proudly.

 “The best words of advice I can offer to other entrepreneurs are the words of psychologist Viktor Frankl, ‘The one thing you can’t take away from me is the way I choose to respond to what you do to me. The last of one’s freedoms is to choose one’s attitude in any given circumstance,’ and that is why I am where I am today, because of the attitude I chose to adopt,” she says.

In a thank-you message to her sponsors, she says, “My business is what it is today because of you and your sponsorship. Thank you for all the support you have given me.”