Lucia Mohlabi, of Katlehong, is, at 35, one of the top sales people in South Africa and is following in the footsteps of her mother, also a businesswoman.<\/p>\n
Mohlabi was studying electrical engineering, but dropped out after a chance meeting with a woman who was selling Tupperware, and her life changed completely.<\/p>
Today she is one the Top Five Tupperware team leaders in South Africa and has achieved phenomenal sales with the product.<\/p>\n
She said: “I was going to buy one of the products and the woman selling it said I could do this as well, if I wished.<\/p>
So I took a brochure and contacted the company.”<\/p>\n
Mohlabi is part of a growing Tupperware female sales force of 2.6 million women in regions like China, India, Indonesia, the Commonwealth of Independent States, Latin America and South Africa.<\/p>\n
It is what many are calling the “Tupperware effect” – how training, financing and mentoring women can transform villages and entire countries from the inside out.<\/p>\n
It took only five years for the energetic Mohlabi to achieve the status of being named in the Top Five Tupperware team leaders.<\/p>\n
When she received her first company car she was unable to drive it, because she didn’t have a licence.<\/p>\n
So she went to a driving school – and failed four times.<\/p>\n
“But I was determined to get my car and drive it,” she said.<\/p>\n
Today Mohlabi has a staff complement of 32 managers and more than 1 500 demonstrators under her wing and is a shining example of how well women can do with passion and motivation.<\/p>\n
“When I joined in 2009 I was told about the recruitment drive, bringing more women on board to help sell,”she said.<\/p>\n
“I then went out there and recruited.<\/p>\n
“I didn’t even have a car; my husband is a teacher and the first car we had was from the company, it was so nice.<\/p>\n
“I didn’t know how to drive that car, but I succeeded; my husband didn’t have a driver’s licence, either.”<\/p>\n
Mohlabi, who was married at 21 and whose first born is now 16, said being in the Top Five was a dream come true.<\/p>\n
“I’ve done Top 20 and Top 10 and next year my drive is to become Top One — I can do it,” she added.<\/p>\n
The company’s various incentives include overseas travel and, having already visited Argentina and Mauritius, this year Mohlabi is heading for Spain.<\/p>\n
The hardest part in this business, she finds, is keeping motivation on a high level.<\/p>\n
“With my managers it is an easy job, because they become my motivators, they motivate me,” she said.<\/p>\n
Her message to young people is simple: “Don’t give up.”<\/p>\n
“This generation is inclined to give up easily; they want things immediately, instant success, and they don’t want to work for it.<\/p>\n
“I always tell them, you have to know what you want; if you want to be a team leader you must just focus on that, draw up your goals and work towards them.<\/p>\n
“If you don’t have a goal, then you don’t have a direction — you don’t even know where you are going.<\/p>\n
“I love the product with all my heart and would not like to sell something else.<\/p>\n
“It’s not because of the money, give me a Tupperware product and I can talk about it for hours and I don’t even get bored.”<\/p>\n