By KOPANO MONAHENG
Nonhlanhla Nene dreamt of owning a beauty business when she was still a teenager, but that dream had to wait.
At the time, Nonhlanhla was working in the retail industry and life was going well. However, the mother of two eventually decided to follow her own dream instead of continuing to work for someone else.
In 2019, she turned her teenage dream of owning a beauty business into reality and resigned from her job in retail.
The Soweto business owner started Enhlethando Beauty Bar to ensure that young people in her community would not have to travel long distances to access beauty services.
Nonhlanhla spoke to Ezimtoti News at the 2026 Soweto Tourism event, held in partnership with FNB on 26 and 27 September at Maponya Mall in Soweto.
The name Enhlethando is derived from the names of her two children, Enhle and Thando.
“When we started, we started very small. We started with nothing. But eventually, we grew from having one or two clients a day to where I can’t even count today,” she said.
“At the moment, we have three people who are working with us and helping us. When we started, we started with nails and lashes, but we’ve expanded and grown because the beauty industry is broad.
“So we’ve expanded so much that we also do skincare now, specialising in skin and products. We also do massages and house calls because there are people who are sometimes unable to come to the shop. We have our own people who go and do house calls. So far, we are happy. We are growing and expanding.”
Nonhlanhla said beauty was not something she deliberately chose, but something she developed a passion for from a young age.
“You know what? I always get asked, ‘Why choose beauty?’ I didn’t choose beauty; beauty chose me.
“I grew so much love for it. I can say it has always been something I’ve been passionate about from a very young age.
“Growing up, I would sometimes play with my cousins’ faces. I didn’t really understand what I was doing, but that’s where I learned to love beauty.”
When she started the business in 2019, Nonhlanhla was working alone from home.
“I started alone. I started with one table. I had nothing when I started. I started from home and the money I got from doing house calls, I would collect it and put it aside until finally I got a space.
“It started very small. I didn’t understand where I was going, but eventually my clients started getting comfortable and they started referring other people. They started coming until we reached where we are today.
“That’s why we’ve grown so much that we’ve added other services to the business.”
Nonhlanhla studied at The Pyramid in Johannesburg, where she completed a year of training.
Today, Enhlethando Beauty Bar has grown from a small home-based operation into a business operating from a shop at Blackchain Centre in Diepkloof Zone 6.
The business now has three people working alongside Nonhlanhla, while its house-call services have helped it reach even more customers.
Today, that idea has grown from one table at home into a business that helps put food on the table for her family while creating opportunities for other people working alongside her.
