IT'S A CLEAN SWEEP

Her clever app linking domestic helpers with people needing their services has earned Aisha a prestigious award

- LESEGO SEOKWANG

THE term labour of love has seldom been more appropriate. She’s sacrificed a lot to get her “baby” off the ground – including her home – and every spare cent she has she ploughs back into her business.

Yet slowly but surely her efforts are being rewarded – and the cherry on top came when she recently scooped the Forbes Woman in Africa Technology and Innovation Award.

The awards celebrate African women in various fields who “are reshaping history, closing inequalities and pioneering new avenues of wealth and creation, and in turn lifting others with them”.

And Aisha Pandor (35) fit the bill, the judges felt. She’s the co-founder and CEO of SweepSouth, an app and website that allows users to book and pay for cleaning services – and which has provided work for more than 20 000 domestic helpers since its inception.

Aisha said she was “surprised but honoured” to have been chosen as the winner out of hundreds of women from across Africa. “It’s recognition for the hard work our team does every day towards our social mission which is to help domestic workers find work opportunities, and serves as further inspiration and motivation for us to continue.”

Users of SweepSouth, which Aisha started with her husband, Alen RibicÌ(39), in 2014, request a cleaner on the app or website and have an option to select how often they’d like the cleaner’s services.

Clients are charged according to the number of rooms in their homes and can select additional services such as laundry or cleaning a fridge.