from FUTHI MBHELE in Durban
KwaZulu Natal Bureau
DURBAN, (CAJ News) – STARTING a technology company in a male-dominated industry, and the fact that a majority of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) fail within the first decade of operation, the odds were heavily stacked against Nomsa Nteleko.
It is thus a huge achievement that her company, OS Holdings, is a source of pride that is maintaining its goal of creating space for black professionals and boosting female representation within the tech industry.
Founded in 2012, is an award-winning and process-driven business headquartered in Johannesburg, with a footprint in the Southern and East African regional blocs.
Nteleko is the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the firm that offers a wide range of innovative software solutions for business management, accounting and payroll among others.
Its markets are unique and require a thorough understanding of legislative compliance in the public sector plus delivery of performance management in the private sector.
OS is short for Oluchi Solutions. Oluchi is a Nigerian word translated to “work of God.”
“All we have is a gift from God. We wanted to name it Oluchi Solution when we registered (before) we realized Oluchi is a registered name already,” Nteleko revealed.
She further explained, “We then named it OS Holdings because we wanted to have subsidiary companies under it.
What makes the founding and growth of OS Holdings the more unique is that when she was in high school, Nteleko had her eyes set on a career in medicine.
“I was doing Biology, Maths and Science among others,” she disclosed.
She wanted to become a doctor but her family could not afford the university fees.
“I ended up working for a doctor. That is (how) I learnt to use a computer. I started working in the Accounts department. The love started there,” Nteleko recalled.
She then realised she had more passion for technology than medicine.
Nteleko started working for a company that used Sage accounting software, then later for a Sage partner.
“Ultimately, I wanted to run my own business but, before I could do that, I felt I needed to work more closely with Sage,” she said.
With her newly-developed passion, she applied to join the company as a consultant and was surprised when the move paid off, and she got a call from their Sales division confirming an interview.
“Even though I hated sales, I wanted to be part of the Sage environment to learn what I could. I started as a telesales consultant and, in my first month, achieved 140 percent of my sales target,” she revealed.
Nteleko has been one of the exhibitors at the KwaZulu-Natal Industrial Technology Exhibition (KITE) in Durban, KwaZulu Natal (KZN) this week.
The company was making its debut at the expo, which had over 100 exhibiting firms.
“It is our first time exhibiting,” she told CAJ News Africa in an interview.
“(Part of) the reason we are exhibiting is because we got a solution called Sage x3, which can assist manufacturing and distribution companies to ultimate their process.”
“It is an entry and financial management system but its inventory is very extensive if the company does manufacturing. We are able to help with the manufacturing process to ultimately make sure their stock is doing well,” Nteleko said.
She said the event that had manufacturing firms as the most attendees was successful.
“What helped us is that we are the only software company that can assist all these organizations you see here to ensure that their products are managed well. We manage assets and finances.”
Nteleko lauded the KZN provincial government for organising the KITE expo.
“I believe being here will give us a pipeline for next year. Tuesday was very busy. I hear my team really got to engage with a number of people,” the entrepreneur said.
– CAJ News