Instead of pursuing a conventional career after her Ph.D. in Human genetics, she chose the entrepreneurship world. Nowadays the startup she co-founded helps millions of domestic workers earn better income. 

Aisha Pandor (photo) is a South African scientist and entrepreneur. In 2014, she co-founded (with her husband Alen Ribic) Sweepsouth, a startup connecting domestic workers with potential employers.

Currently, the startup is available through a web and mobile app. It claims about 1.2 million domestic workers and some 10,000 monthly users (employers) in Cape Town, Durban, and Johannesburg. Sweepsouth was created to help busy people find quick and trustworthy domestic workers.

“Our nanny was going to be going away on holiday [...] at a very inconvenient time. While trying to replace her, we [Ed.note: Sweepsouth founders] realized that there was a business opportunity here, that actually we could build something that helped busy people like ourselves get a quick replacement for a nanny or domestic worker, but in doing that would also be helping people who work in this industry who are unemployed or underemployed to find work opportunities,” Aisha explained in a videocast. 

 The co-founder holds a Ph.D. in Human Genetics from the University of Cape Town (in 2011). However, instead of following a normal career path, she preferred the entrepreneurship world. I “figured out that I just was not cut out to be employed…,” she explains. Before her dip into the entrepreneurship world, she spent months as an associate manager at the University of Cape Town and a business analyst for consulting firm Accenture. 

The scientist turned entrepreneur has received numerous awards and recognitions for her contribution to the improvement of domestic workers’ revenue. In 2014, she won the SiMODiSA Start-up SA Pitching Competition award. Months later, in 2015, she was selected for the 500 Global accelerator program in Silicon Valley. She also received the Best Female Tech/E-Commerce Entrepreneur and Best Black Tech/E-Commerce Entrepreneur at the 2016 PriceCheck Tech & E-Commerce Awards.  The following year, she received the World Economic Forum's Africa’s breakthrough female innovators' award. In 2018, her startup also won the best small business category at Savca Industry Awards. 

After some eight years in the South African market, Aisha Pandor wants to expand in international markets, Kenya notably. “We are looking at other countries on the continent where people experience the same sort of issues we did when we first came up with the idea for SweepSouth. The sky’s the limit,” she indicates.

Melchior Koba