Every August, South Africans celebrate Women’s Month, honouring the more than 20,000 women who marched to the Union Buildings on 9 August 1956. Seventy years later, South African women continue to challenge barriers in new ways.
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Turning knowledge and creativity into opportunity
Across the country, women are using TikTok to build businesses, educate communities, inspire confidence and transform everyday knowledge into opportunity. From entrepreneurs growing brands to educators reaching learners beyond the classroom, they’re proving that expertise, creativity and authenticity can create real impact.
This Women’s Month, six South African women demonstrate that opportunity doesn’t always begin with access to capital or a traditional career path. Sometimes it starts with sharing what you know.
From domestic worker to culinary entrepreneur
For Fikile ‘Fikz’ Zungu, cooking was never simply about preparing meals. It was about survival, purpose and creating opportunities where few existed.
Long before South Africans knew her as the creator behind Maid to Cook, Fikile worked as a domestic worker, eventually becoming a house cook before preparing meals for diplomats, ministers and royalty. But it was a single decision to share her recipes on TikTok that transformed her career.
“I honestly never expected millions of people to watch me,” she says. “I simply wanted to share recipes that anyone could make at home. TikTok gave me a platform where being myself was enough.”
Today, Fikile has built a successful business around her passion, hosting cooking experiences, partnering with leading brands, appearing across television and print media and continuing to grow her Maid to Cook brand.
Her content celebrates something deeply familiar to South Africans: affordable, comforting meals made with ingredients people already have at home. More importantly, it demonstrates that entrepreneurship doesn’t always require capital or formal qualifications.
“My journey taught me that your greatest opportunity could already be in your hands,” she explains. “I didn’t start with money, special connections or professional training. I started with a skill I practised every day,” says Fikile.
For Women’s Month, her message is simple but powerful: don’t let your current circumstances define your future.
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Growing confidence, one vegetable at a time
For Charlotte Jones, gardening became about far more than vegetables. After leaving her career as an online English teacher while homeschooling her autistic twins, Charlotte began growing food to help her family manage rising grocery costs. She shared the journey on TikTok, expecting only a handful of people to follow along.
Instead, she discovered thousands of South Africans looking for the same thing: practical knowledge that could help stretch household budgets while building confidence and self-sufficiency.
“I realised we couldn’t be the only family struggling with rising food costs,” she says.
Today, Charlotte’s videos teach families how to grow food, whether they have a large garden or simply a few containers on a balcony. Her mission is about making food security feel achievable.
“I created a guide showing people how to start a vegetable garden for R100,” she explains. “I want people to realise that if you can grow even one thing, that’s one less item you need to buy.”
At a time when many women continue carrying the responsibility of feeding their families, Charlotte believes knowledge itself is empowering.
“We need women, irrespective of age, language or culture, to be heard and seen, Charlotte says. “We need to give voice to women so they can gain confidence, create something meaningful, support their families and make our country a better place for women.”
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Turning fashion into a global conversation
Tamia Nontsikelelo, founder of Tol’thema, began using TikTok simply to showcase her modest fashion designs. What followed was far bigger than marketing.
Her storytelling transformed a local fashion label into an internationally recognised brand, earning her a place on TikTok’s Global Discover List and proving South African creativity can resonate worldwide.
“TikTok has been transformative for my brand,” she says. “Many of my customers discovered me on the platform, helping turn what started as a small local business into a global conversation.”
Rather than simply selling clothing, Tamia invited audiences into her creative process, sharing the inspiration behind her designs and building genuine relationships with her community.
Her advice to aspiring women entrepreneurs reflects a shift in modern business. “Use TikTok to tell stories, not just sell products,” says Tamia. “Be consistent, authentic and engage with your audience.”
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Also see: Strong Women, Safe Spaces: How Fitness is Becoming a Game-Changer for South African Women
Redefining success through education and authenticity
For Nokuthaba ‘Melanin Thaboew’ Zikhali, success has never meant choosing between academia and creativity.
Currently pursuing a PhD after overcoming poverty, bullying and significant financial hardship, she uses TikTok to encourage young women to embrace education while remaining unapologetically themselves.
“I wanted to show young girls who look like me that where you come from does not determine the magnitude of your destiny,” she says.
Her content blends humour, lifestyle, self-love and meaningful conversations around education, creating a community where vulnerability becomes strength rather than weakness.
TikTok, she believes, has allowed people facing similar challenges to realise they are not alone.
“It turns what used to feel like lonely, individual struggles into a collective movement of shared resilience.”
Her story reflects a broader truth: women don’t have to fit into a single mould to succeed. They can be academics, creators, researchers, entrepreneurs, educators and influencers all at once.
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A classroom inspiring millions
Foundation Phase teacher Nqobile Mhlongo never intended to become one of South Africa’s best-known education creators. She simply wanted to show that learning could be joyful. Through songs, movement and creative teaching techniques, her classroom videos have reached millions of viewers, inspiring teachers, parents and learners across South Africa.
“My goal was simply to show that learning can be fun and engaging,” she says.
TikTok expanded the walls of her classroom. Today, fellow educators regularly tell her they have adopted her teaching methods, while parents say her videos have helped children become excited about learning again. “Knowing that my teaching reaches beyond my own classroom reminds me that one teacher really can make a difference.”
Her story demonstrates that influence isn’t measured only by followers, but by the lives changed through shared knowledge.
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From TikTok series to published author
Storyteller and author Puseletso Tsotetsi discovered that TikTok could become more than a platform for sharing stories. It could become a place where stories are tested, nurtured and ultimately transformed into books. Her serialised love story, Thato wa Ngwanyana, captivated thousands of viewers before becoming her debut novel, Good Things Keep Happening to Me.
“The audience response on TikTok has been incredibly encouraging,” she says. “Seeing people connect with the stories reinforced that storytelling can thrive across different formats.”
For Puseletso, TikTok provides something many writers rarely experience: immediate feedback from readers. Beyond publishing, her growing community has also opened doors to partnerships with major brands and strengthened her own media business.
Her advice to women with untold stories is refreshingly simple: “Just do it. Cast your net and see what happens.”
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Women’s Month is about continuing to create opportunities
While each of these women comes from a different background, they share one thing in common: they started with what they had and turned it into opportunity. Whether by building businesses, sharing practical knowledge, inspiring confidence or creating spaces where others can learn and grow, they have used TikTok to make a meaningful impact far beyond their own communities.
Their stories reflect the enduring spirit of Women’s Month. They show that opportunity doesn’t always begin with perfect circumstances, formal qualifications or significant financial backing. Sometimes it starts with a skill, an idea, a lived experience or a passion that resonates with others.
Together, they are redefining what success looks like in the digital age. By embracing authenticity and sharing what they know, they are creating new pathways for economic empowerment, education and community building, while inspiring more South African women to believe in the value of their own voices.
This Women’s Month, their journeys remind us that the next opportunity to build a business, inspire a learner, change a life or spark a movement could begin with something as simple as sharing your story.
Sometimes, all it takes is pressing ‘post.’
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