Durban-born, Ramona Kasavan, is the CEO of a social enterprise Mimi which she proudly founded in 2014. Her goal: to promote girl- child education through the sponsorship of her own brand of sanitary pads.
Ramona holds a triple major in Media, Marketing and Communications, as well as an Honours Degree in Marketing Strategy and a Masters in Entrepreneurship and New Venture Creation from Wits Business School. She started her venture after pursuing her Honours Degree in Brand Leadership and Strategic Marketing – writing her dissertation on the constructs of femininity in sanitary pad advertising. She has successfully completed her certification in Social Entrepreneurship at The Gordon Institute of Business Science.
Mimi is not only her passion project, but also her brainchild. A social entrepreneur and media personality, Ramona is a strong-willed and outspoken advocate for women empowerment. She previously worked as a radio DJ on Highveld Stereo, East Coast
Radio, and was a presenter on the popular travel and lifestyle TV magazine, Eastern
Mosaic. She currently works at Heart FM as a weekend radio Deejay on Cape Town’s hottest radio station.
Ramona founded an in-house enterprise development programme named Pads and Cents, which addresses the needs of underprivileged young women in South Africa.
Through a direct selling model, aimed at empowering unemployed females, Pads and Cents teaches young women, between the ages of 18 and 35, to save, secure and invest in their own future. As one of the few business incubators in the country for women, run by women, Pads and Cents gives women financial literacy and business skills – in a bid to decrease unemployment levels, and encourage women to embark on their own entrepreneurial journeys.
On Ramona’s quest to expand Mimi, she has been nominated for multiple awards as well won Prism Awards for Mimi campaigns. She has been able to travel abroad to speak to global organisations such as the UN Women to speak about the plight of women globally regarding sanitary pads and their necessity.
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