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JOHANNESBURG -
Nthabi Taukobong makes money out of designing. Taukobong is the
founder and managing director of interior design outfit, Ditau
Interiors.
In her 23 years journey to stardom, Takubong has designed for
luxury homes, trains, five-star hotels and casinos in South Africa,
Mauritius, Angola, Ghana, Rwanda and Ethiopia.
Her client list includes presidents, royalty,
corporations and captains of industry who want personal touch for their
homes and holiday houses.
She says her work can be seen in luxury rail service The Blue
Train and Sun City, Table Bay Hotel and Sugar Beach Hotel in Mauritius.
Taukobong says she was founded Ditau Interiors in 1999 after a three year contract on a nine-to-five job ended.
“I was pursuing more the sense of freedom than the courage of starting and running a business.”
She says the decision to go alone was the best she had taken but the problem was she had no clients.
However, she says she was determined to make a success of the business.
The challenges she faced forced her to focus more and soldier on in her chosen path of entrepreneurship.
She says when the business was not making money, she panicked and ventured into the retail space which failed dismally.
She describes her failure as a sobering experience.
“I was driven by my ego. I did not have enough retail knowledge
to keep the doors open for long,” she says. “I had the money, and I
literally flushed it down the toilet with that short sighted business
move.”
Taukobong says that the collapse of the business made her understand keeping her eye on one operation and make that work.
That is what has made Ditau Interiors to thrive in its space, especially in the luxury residential space.
“I have been through enough business challenges in the 23 years of my career to now know what works,” says Taukobong.
“At the core, I am a consultant and creative. I sell my creative
intellect and that is what I get paid for. My business model now is to
evolve and handle my design processes more online to reach a far wider
global audience.”
Taukobong attributes her success to her parents, who she says
created a home environment that allowed her to believe she could do
whatever she loved and succeed at it.
“My parents gave us the tools to life and equipped us with the
knowledge and understanding of how each tool would be applied,” she
says. “It turns out that I have always been bold and assertive, going
for what I wanted, and displaying immense bravery in the process.”
Taukobong says Ditau Interior has taught her that interior design
is about a deeper purpose which she has come to understand
instinctively.
“When I began my career as an Interior designer, I worked on the
understanding that my job was to create beautiful interiors for high-end
luxury clients. But 20 years later that has changed. At its core my
business now is to help people live and experience spaces more
comfortably in their chosen environment,” Taukobong says.
To remain focused on her unique path, she has vision boards all over her to remind her of her purpose in the business.
Taukobong says while women like herself are making it big in business, there is still a long way to go for South Africa.
“It’s not just rules and regulations that have to change, but the
mindset of those we engage with and do business with that also has to
be empowered and transformed for true change,” Taukobong says.
“Success to me is waking up and doing what I love, regardless if I
fail or succeed. The rest is a business journey that I am happy to
walk.”
An avid read since she was 9 years old. “I am reading Mystery of
The White Lions – Children Of The Sun God by Linda Tucker with deep and
cultural insight from Credo Mutwa,” says Taukobong.
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