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02 January 2020
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Story Valentino Ndaba
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Photo Anja Aucamp
Refilwe Xaba, the founder and CEO of Glolooks.
Refilwe Xaba, Senior Assistant Officer in Entrepreneurship Development at the UFS Centre for Development Support, is the founder and CEO of Glolooks. This Bloemfontein-based company manufactures and supplies an organic, natural hair product range.
When she first developed the products, they were for personal use. Xaba evolved from an intrapreneur to an entrepreneur. She innovated a personal solution into a booming business idea. It was only in May 2016 that she decided to go into business, following growing interest in the way she maintained her hair. “I officially started in-depth research in October 2015, after years of making concoctions for myself.”
Business and books
Xaba reckons that a research background is beneficial for growing a business such as Glolooks that has a huge technical aspect. She is currently pursuing her PhD in Entrepreneurship with a focus on marketing and is planning to use her business as a case study.
Her undergraduate, honours, and master’s studies, which she completed at Kovsies, contributed to equipping Xaba with skills to grow her business. She believes in balancing education and business. “I have always been commerce-orientated. If there is a problem to be fixed, I fix it. However, people are at the centre of my heart.”
Growing Glolooks
In 2019, Glolooks opened a salon in Westdene, where customers can receive a holistic experience above and beyond merely purchasing the product. Xaba says this is one of the ways her business is being innovative when it comes to creating relationships with customers.
Kovsies reaped the badminton medals
2006-07-07
STUDENTS of the University of the Free State reaped the badminton medals during the 4th FASU Games (organised every two years by the African University Sports Federation) currently held in the City of Tshwane. Nearly 2000 students from about 22 countries participate in the 11 designated sports, which are, Athletics, Badminton, Basketball, Chess, Football, Judo, Karate, Netball, Table Tennis, Tennis, and Volleyball. This makes FASU Games the second largest international athletic event in the continent after the All Africa Games. The FASU Games is one of the most important
international multi-sports gatherings in the continent.
Chris Dednam, Olympic player of Kovsies, earned a hat-trick of three individual gold medals. His team mates, Raymond Ronne (one gold and two silver) and Liansa Coetzee (one gold and two bronze) supported him well to show that the continent has no better badminton players than Kovsies. Some of the Kovsies' strongest players have actually withdrawn from the games because students had to finance themselves.
The South African (SASSU) badminton team also conquered gold in the team competition. They made a clean sweep with victories of 5-0 over the students of respectively Ghana, Uganda en Zambia.
Results of the finals in the individual badminton championships:
Men's-singles - Chris Dednam (SASSU) beat Raymond Ronne (SASSU) 21-8, 21-7; Women's-singles - Kerry-Lee Harrington (SASSU) b Christina English (SASSU) 21-14, 15-21, 21-18; Men's-doubles - Chris Dednam/Raymond Ronne (SASSU) b André van Schalkwyk/Benjamin Smith (SASSU) 21-8, 21-6; Women's-doubles - Liansa Coetzee/Sarah Rice (SASSU) b Kerry-Lee Harrington/Christina English (SASSU) 21-19, 12-21, 22-20; Mixed doubles - Chris Dednam/Christina English (SASSU) b Raymond Ronne/Kerry-Lee Harrington (SASSU) 24-22, 21-11.
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Chris Dednam
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