Women in logistics: Entrepreneurship lessons from Nonkosi Dyantyi

How a South African woman entrepreneur built her place in logistics, and the lessons business owners can take from her journey.

Building a business takes ambition. Building one in an industry where few people around the table look like you can demand something more: resilience, confidence, strong relationships and a willingness to keep learning.

Nonkosi Dyantyi knows that first-hand.

As the founder and CEO of Lebama Group Logistics, she entered an industry traditionally dominated by men while also navigating the realities of entrepreneurship and motherhood.

Her experience is particularly relevant today.

According to the World Economic Forum, African women have the highest rate of female entrepreneurship globally, at 26%.

But starting a business and building one that can survive, scale and create a lasting legacy are very different challenges.

For Nonkosi, the journey has required resilience, good people, smart risk management and the confidence to keep going when quitting would have been easier.

For logistics entrepreneurs, risk management can include looking after vehicles, drivers, transported goods and business operations. Appropriate business insurance can form part of this broader approach as a company grows.

Running a logistics fleet wasn’t always part of Nonkosi’s career plan.

Before starting Lebama Group Logistics in 2021, she worked in communications roles at companies including Sasol, Total and Goodyear.

Those roles brought her into contact with people operating transport and logistics businesses and gave her an understanding of how the industry worked.

Over time, she began to see an opportunity.

More importantly, she began to see herself in it.

“I’ve always been one to do things a bit differently,” says Nonkosi.

Her first role model was her mother, who worked as a domestic worker before becoming a teacher and transforming the direction of her own life.

That example left Nonkosi with an important lesson: where you start doesn’t have to determine where you finish.

She may not initially have had the same technical background as some people already working in logistics, but she had experience, determination and the willingness to learn.

Those qualities became part of her competitive advantage.

As a logistics business expands, however, ambition must be supported by practical systems. This includes maintaining vehicles, checking driver credentials, keeping accurate fleet records and reviewing whether the company has suitable business vehicle and fleet insurance.

There is no single formula for entrepreneurial success.

However, research into women entrepreneurs in South Africa repeatedly identifies factors including resilience, financial and human capital, innovation, professional networks and the ability to manage work-life demands.

Nonkosi’s story brings several of those factors to life.

Entrepreneurs do not have to handle every operational challenge alone. Business support services such as MiBusiness Assist can provide access to assistance with administration, marketing, IT, legal matters and financial guidance, depending on the selected service.

For entrepreneurs in transport and logistics, success also requires disciplined risk management. A reliable fleet may keep the business moving, but the goods being transported can represent an equally important financial exposure. Goods in Transit Insurance can provide cover for specified goods transported by road, subject to the policy’s terms and selected cover.

Entrepreneurship rarely follows a straight line.

There are customers to win, cash flow to manage, vehicles and suppliers to coordinate and decisions to make without always knowing exactly how things will turn out.

Nonkosi is open about having experienced moments when she wanted to give up.

What kept her moving was her determination to win and the support of other women in the logistics industry.

That distinction matters.

Being resilient doesn't mean never doubting yourself.

It means continuing to make decisions and move forward even when doubt appears.

South African research into female entrepreneurship has similarly identified resilience as an important contributor to entrepreneurial success.

For an entrepreneur, that might mean learning from a failed pitch, changing a business process that isn't working or asking for help rather than assuming you have to solve everything alone.

One of the strongest lessons in Nonkosi's story is the role other people have played.

She credits experienced women in the industry with helping her develop her knowledge, close gaps and navigate the logistics sector.

That is an important entrepreneurial lesson.

Business owners often feel they have to be experts in sales, finance, operations, compliance, marketing, technology and people management all at once.

They don't.

Knowing where you need expertise and who can provide it can be far more valuable.

A strong entrepreneurial network may include:

·        experienced business owners;

·        mentors;

·        accountants and financial advisers;

·        legal and compliance specialists;

·        suppliers;

·        industry associations;

·        technology partners; and

·        insurance and risk specialists.

Good partnerships don't remove every business challenge.

They can make those challenges easier to understand and manage.

The logistics sector is changing, but women remain under-represented in many senior positions.

For entrepreneurs such as Nonkosi, that can mean needing to establish credibility while simultaneously learning the technical and commercial realities of running the company.

Her approach was not to pretend she knew everything.

She backed the strengths she already had and learned the parts she didn't.

That's an important distinction for anyone entering an unfamiliar industry.

You don't need to arrive as the finished product.

You need to be willing to develop.

For women considering industries in which they remain under-represented, Nonkosi's experience also shows why visible role models matter.

Seeing someone else build a successful business can make an opportunity feel possible.

Becoming that example can help the next entrepreneur believe the same.

Confidence and resilience are valuable, but they don't pay for vehicles, equipment, stock or working capital.

Recent South African research continues to identify access to finance, collateral and financial skills as significant challenges for women entrepreneurs.

That means a growing business needs more than ambition.

It needs financial discipline.

Entrepreneurs should understand:

·        how much cash the business needs to operate;

·        when customers are likely to pay;

·        which expenses are fixed;

·        what growth will cost;

·        what assets the business needs;

·        which risks could create unexpected costs; and

·        how much financial pressure the company could absorb if something went wrong.

The better you understand the numbers behind your business, the better prepared you are when speaking to lenders, investors and other potential funding partners.

For a logistics company, vehicles aren't simply assets.

They're how the business delivers.

If a truck is damaged, cargo is lost or operations are interrupted, the financial effect can spread quickly.

Revenue can stop while expenses continue.

That's why risk management became another important part of Nonkosi's entrepreneurial journey.

The right business insurance should reflect what the business actually depends on.

For a logistics operator, that could mean looking at areas such as business vehicle and fleet insurance, Goods in Transit insurance and other relevant forms of business protection depending on how the company operates.

The objective isn't to insure everything simply for the sake of having more cover.

It's to identify which losses could seriously disrupt the business and determine how those risks should be managed.

Growth changes risk.

One vehicle can become five.

One employee can become a team.

One important customer can become several major contracts.

You may acquire more equipment, move into premises or start transporting higher-value goods.

The business insurance that suited a company when it started may therefore no longer reflect what the business looks like several years later.

Business owners should periodically review:

·        vehicles and their values;

·        goods being transported;

·        business equipment;

·        premises;

·        liability exposure;

·        employees and authorised drivers;

·        business interruption risks; and

·        changes in contracts or customers.

You can read more in Miway's guide to business insurance for growing businesses.

One of the most personal parts of Nonkosi's journey has been balancing entrepreneurship with motherhood.

She doesn't pretend that balance has always been easy.

Growing the business has sometimes required sacrifices and difficult choices.

But family is also one of the reasons she keeps going.

For Nonkosi, entrepreneurship is about creating a legacy for her children and showing them that owning and building something of their own is possible.

That changes the meaning of success.

It's not simply turnover, fleet size or the next contract.

It's also about creating something that can outlast you.

Absolutely.

But the better question may be:

What environment helps more women succeed?

Individual determination matters, but entrepreneurs also benefit from access to funding, mentoring, industry networks, knowledge, customers and service providers who understand the realities of their businesses.

Nonkosi's journey shows that success doesn't require pretending obstacles don't exist.

It requires developing the skills, relationships and resilience to navigate them.

Whether you're entering logistics, retail, technology, professional services or another industry entirely, the principles are remarkably transferable.

Back yourself. You don't need to wait until you know everything before taking the next step.

Keep learning. Technical knowledge can be developed.

Find good people. Mentors, suppliers and professional partners can close knowledge gaps faster than trying to work everything out alone.

Know your numbers. Growth without financial control can create new problems instead of solving old ones.

Understand your risks. Protect the assets and operations that allow the business to earn.

Stay adaptable. Entrepreneurship rarely goes exactly according to plan.

Remember why you started. Your reason for building the business can help carry you through the difficult periods.

Nonkosi didn't enter logistics because it was the obvious next step.

She saw an opportunity, trusted what she could already bring to the industry and learned the rest along the way.

That's perhaps the strongest lesson in her story.

Success isn't reserved for the person who starts with every answer.

Sometimes it belongs to the person prepared to keep asking better questions, finding the right people and moving forward.

Every entrepreneur's journey is different, and so are the risks surrounding their business.

As your company grows, make sure your business insurance grows with it.

Explore Miway Business Insurance and find cover designed around the way your business operates.