Ashleigh Meyers is a brand strategist and principal real estate agent with a passion for the South African property industry.
She recently founded a company called Lu Jack, a referral business that connects property-service providers with potential customers.
"Our company's objective is to make the Lu Jack brand synonymous with trust, value, and transparency," Meyers tells Fin24. "We facilitate personalised, direct introductions that are convenient and add value."
By facilitating the introduction process between national property-service providers and their customers, Jack Lu saves them time and money.
She explains that, when it comes to constructing, maintaining and restoring an asset, Lu Jack is able to put customers in touch with the best suited service provider for their needs.
"After working as a commercial property broker as well as in the shared office space sector, I was able to grow an organic property network. With the help of digital and non-traditional marketing channels, I defined my target market and identified a problem that I could solve," says Meyers.
"My network is now available for businesses to connect and collaborate."
Meyers decided to become an entrepreneur to "create her own destiny".
"Being an entrepreneur, you either fail, or fail 'forward' and experience the intense euphoria of success. Either way it's the result of your actions that delivered the result after a hard day's work," she explains.
The journey has not been without challenges.
"Securing an investor is always challenging as you need to make them feel confident and comfortable in backing your business at all times," says Meyers.
"Starting my business during tough economic times is not easy, although it's an opportunity for me to create a resilient enterprise."
One of her biggest milestones was hiring the first employee.
"For me, it was material proof that our business was growing in the right direction," she says.
She plans to expand the business at a cost-effective and logical pace that aligns with the current state of the SA economy.
Her aim is to create a service that adds value and is known for the business experience that it provides rather than promoting products' attributes.