Publications
Partners
Nneile Nkholise is a not a name that rings a bell to a lot of people outside of medical technology circles. In fact, even in that sector she still swims with the sharks, but she’s definitely attracting a lot of attention and turning heads with her notable business moves.
Born in Lesotho and raised in the Free State town of Thaba Nchu, Nkholise reckons innovative is something she always knew she was.
“My thinking was always different. I remember I tried playing soccer, but wasn’t that good. At one point, around the time Bafana went to the World Cup in France in 1998, I decided I wanted to be secretary-general of Fifa,” she said of her earliest career ambitions.
Schooled at Tlotlanang Combined School and later Maraisdal High School before heading to the Central University of Technology, the 28-year-old former second deputy president of University Sport SA and former executive committee member of the Free State Sport Confederation said a life in business was also a certainty.
“It is something I knew was going to happen. My business case has always been strong.”
The “accidental entrepreneur” – though she prefers to call herself an “impact entrepreneur” – founded iMedTech Group, a medical technology company that manufactures breast prostheses primarily for breast cancer survivors who have undergone a mastectomy.
“I use additive manufacturing and that is cheaper and faster than the older methods,” Nkholise said.
An engineer by profession, Nkholise holds a BTech in mechanical engineering.
She started the company in 2015 after paying her dues as an engineer in the public sector for five years.
Diving right into the thick of things after getting used to a steady income, Nkholise was met with a rude awakening when the reality of the financial consequences hit home.
This despite having planned to resign for almost a year. “Funding is a big problem for all businesses and luckily for me, I had three things: friends, family and fools who believed in my dream and assisted me.”
Nkholise scooped the World Economic Forum Africa Top Female Innovator last year; the SAB Foundation Social Innovation Award in 2015; and several honorary recognitions, including from the Tony Elumelu Foundation, Innovation Hub’s Gauteng Accelerator Programme and Discovery, as well as cracking an invitation to the Global Entrepreneurship Summit in San Francisco in the US as one of the top 100 non-American entrepreneurs from all over the world.
“I definitely want to venture into Africa in the future – Africa needs this.”
She attributes her impact in business in just over two years to her passion and willingness to learn. To pursue the latter, she has partnered with two professors who assist her in some of the cancer-related research.
“I am passionate about cancer and would one day want to open a research centre for breast cancer because I am already rooted in research.”
Though she has not lost anyone to cancer or has anyone close to her who has breast cancer, her passion for related research seems to draw her particularly closer to the pursuit of better solutions for breast cancer.
“Right now my focus is on growing the company, building a strong team.
“It’s not just about creating the product, it’s about the research too,” she said.
