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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.
UFS and business kick-start read project in Heidedal
2007-09-13
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The University of the Free State (UFS), business and research joined hands to kick-start a project to teach learners from the Dr Blok Secondary School in Heidedal, Bloemfontein to read. The project, under the auspices of community service learning in the Faculty of the Humanities, which will not only teach teachers to teach learners how to read, it will also be thoroughly researched. RAUBEX Construction donated a large sum of money for this project. At the project were, from the left, front: Ms Masello Mantoro (teacher at Dr Blok); back: Ms Jeanine Nothnagel (Senior Officer in the Dean's office of the Faculty of the Humanities), Ms Jean van der Westhuizen (master's degree student at the UFS) and Dr Arlys van Wyk (Senior Lecturer in the Department of English and Classical Languages at the UFS).
Photo: Leonie Bolleurs
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