October 12, 2022: In a first-of-its-kind in Africa, Momentum is driving an interactive collaboration with global navigation software company Waze to highlight and drive support for South African women-owned businesses.
This initiative seeks to encourage people to nominate women-owned businesses through a registration link where these businesses will then be uploaded and identified on Waze. Users of the app will see these businesses clearly indicated along frequently used travel routes – allowing them to easily recognise and potentially support these female entrepreneurs.
South Africa faces challenging economic conditions, and while women-owned businesses currently make up a 5th of local businesses, research [Mastercard’s Index of Women Entrepreneurs] shows that the number of female entrepreneurs is growing rapidly.
Charlotte Nsubuga-Mukasa, Head of Brand Marketing at Momentum says “We see these women as the backbone of the SA economy, actively contributing to society, but we’re not sure where to find them and if we don’t know, neither does the consumer who would like to support them.”
“For us, the solution was to publish on Waze, with more than 800 000 local users, to drive recognition of the determination, ingenuity, and acumen of female entrepreneurs and in doing so, facilitate the support and recognition of these entrepreneurs.”
Momentum hopes to drive a movement that will see greater support for these businesses that offer employment, play a fundamental role in uplifting our communities and stimulate innovation: “We want to actively help bring new customers through their doors and challenge consumers to also play their part by telling us about other women-owned businesses that we should know of and support”.
“An advanced navigation tool with a sophisticated user-interactive experience, Waze allows us to drop pins, or markers, that indicate to users that they are close to these businesses, signal the precise location of the establishment and display current opening hours and special offers – small digital advertising signs in the form of little red flags with a ‘W’ for ‘Womentum’.”
The platform enables a continuous upload of data to help strengthen women’s local marketing strategies and boost traffic to their businesses.
“Here they are. They exist and they are succeeding” is the red pin call to action asking South Africans to help build the database on Waze: “Investing in gender equality, innovation, general economic growth, and female economic empowerment are just a few of the areas that are positively impacted by supporting women-owned businesses”,.
The campaign forms part of Momentum’s annual She Owns Her Success Campaign, a 4-year journey that has stayed true to enabling woman through the consistent provision of tools and advice that empowers them and enables their success.
