
#308 ‘This Work Changes You’, Mpho Hansjee, Founder and CEO, Women Enabled Enterprises
Welcoming Mpho Hansjee, founder and CEO of Women Enabled Enterprises and its online marketplace Shop Consciously, to Purposely Podcast. Women Enabled Enterprises, known as WE, works with low-income women artisans across Africa to help them move from the informal economy into formal markets. It does thisthrough two kinds of access. The first is a 12-week retail entrepreneurship course that helps makers start to think like business owners. The second, and the real game changer, is access to markets through Shop Consciously, whichwholesales from the women and connects them with customers they would never otherwise reach. Mpho's personal mission is to see extreme poverty ended in her lifetime. She explains why the work is focused on Africa, where a quarter of the world's population is expected to live by 2050, and why it is focused on women. Research from the UN shows that women put around 90% of what they earn back into their families and communities, through school fees, uniforms, nutrition and care for the elderly. Born and raised in South Africa, Mpho shares a story she had not told Mark before. Her mother, a social worker, was killed by Mpho's father when Mpho was three. She and herbrother were raised by their aunt, a dentist and entrepreneur, who became their mum. Mpho talks about learning the facts at a very young age, grieving as she grew up, and watching other families from her boarding school window atweekends. She asks herself what might have been different had her mother felt able to support herself and her children. That question sits at the heart of WE. Mpho wants no woman to feel she can't leave an unsafe relationship becauseshe can't provide for her family. More than drive, she says, it gave her empathy. Before starting WE, Mpho spent more than 15 years in corporate retail and e-commerce, working as a buyer and analyst for companies including Target, Gap and Ross. She helped Fortune 500 companies sell more product, but the work stopped feeling fulfilling. She funded the early days through a side hustle, using the exchange rate to turn a modest sum in US dollars into real startup funds in SouthAfrica. The first virtual programme launched in 2019 and nobody joined, even with data stipends on offer. Then the pandemic hit, and the next cohort went from zero to a hundred. Growth since has come from word of mouth, with makers telling eachother about the course at festivals. Cohorts have grown from 15 women to around 130 to 140 across South Africa, Kenya and Uganda. More than 1,500 women have been trained. Over 80% report higher profits, over half have doubled theirrevenue, and a third now employ three or more people. Mpho is candid about how hard it is to fund a free programme right now, with many foundations closing their doors to new grantees. She talks about the days she wants to packit all in, and why she took on triathlons to prove to herself she can do hard things. Her mantra is that she finishes what she starts. She describes hugging an artisan in Kenya who has lost her sight and the use of her hands, and why that moment keeps her going. We also talk about burnout and the self-care that now keeps her steady. Looking ahead, Mpho wants to build long-term pipelines of income by connecting the women with companies that already spend on gifts, events and supplies. Her biggest hope is that the artisans grow so much that they become too busy to supply Shop Consciously at all.















