Doreen Mokgolo
When Lindiwe Nkuna-Kgopa decided to wage a fight against the lack of sanitary towels, she didn’t in her wildest dreams expect that her work would be recognised by the president.
The 39-year-old from Giyani in Limpopo was crowned as Woman of the Year during the 2022
Black Industrialists and Exporters Conference on Wednesday at the Sandton Convention Centre.
Her award was presented to her by President Cyril Ramaphosa and Thoko Didiza, Minister of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development. The conference and awards were hosted by the Department of Trade, Industry and Competition.
Nkuna-Kgopa started empowering young women from rural Limpopo villages by raising funds for their tertiary fees five years ago.
She then saw that some of the young women were forced to bunk school during their menstrual cycles because they could not afford sanitary towels.
“It pained me that during their cycle they were disadvantaged further or risked having blotting incidents in school and turned into laughing stocks.
“We started by asking for donations from family, friends and local business people for our first drive in Ga-Masemole in Limpopo,” she said.
A year later she realised that they were not making the difference that she had envisioned.
So she decided to venture into sanitary pad manufacturing herself in a bid to make the donations stretch further.
“I wanted to reach more young women to ensure that this was one less burden they had to deal with.”
“To date our sanitary pad donations have reached the sub-Saharan countries and continue to grow to other African countries.”
Nkuna-Kgopa added that the award is recognition and a pat on the back for the work that they do in empowering young women.
“All I ever wanted was to empower young women, especially from rural villages, to have a fair chance in fighting for their dreams and flourishing,” she said. “I am slowly seeing that dream coming to life.”
