Wealth and health a package deal

Sunday, August 25, 2013

Pretoria – The Chief Executive Officer of the South African Women Entrepreneurs’ Network (SAWEN), Ruth Masokoane, has encouraged women in business to take measures to ensure they lead healthy lives.

Masokoane was speaking at the SAWEN Wellness Day in Kimberly on Saturday.

She urged businesswomen to start taking their health seriously, saying the country needed women who are going to live long and sustain their businesses.

“As the SAWEN leadership, we were bothered by the sudden deaths of our members, which implied that members had silent illnesses and diseases, hence we came up with this initiative.

“We are encouraging our members and new members to live healthy lifestyles.”

Masokoane said the women who led the 1956 march against pass laws had laid a solid foundation for women to prosper.

“What is left for us is to take advantage of the resources that are in place for us, and make our businesses bigger and better.”

She said the Wellness Day was the first of many in the province.

“We are going to make it an annual event and next year, it will be bigger and better. This year was a learning curve, which will inform what we do next year.”

Judy Moalekwa from the Department of Economic Development encouraged women to take advantage of their office and services.

She said the department was there to support aspiring and current businesswomen.

The women participated in a 2.5km walk and marathon, aerobics as well as health screenings. Information was also shared on nutrition, TB, HIV/Aids and cancer. Information on available business opportunities was also shared with the women.

SAWEN is an initiative of the Department of Trade and Industry, and is a membership organisation with a mandate to represent and articulate the aspirations of all women entrepreneurs who operate within the South African small, medium and micro enterprise (SMME) sector. – SAnews.gov.za