Silent Dynamic Power
Jacquelene Swanepoel describes herself as a business woman, entrepreneur, working mom and wife. Her business community, however, describes her as a quiet woman that has the dynamic presence of a giant. The few times that Jacquelene speaks, everyone listens to every single word she has to say.
Childhood
Born and raised in Rustenburg, she was the oldest of three sisters. Her parents have been married for 37 years.
“As a child we moved a lot. As a born introvert I was challenged early in life to make new connections, which did not come naturally to me. My parents have always supported me and my sisters in our different school and sport activities. They started the first gymnastics (tumbling) club in Welkom, Freestate. My mom and dad both qualified as international tumbling judges. The club later performed very well at provincial and national level and my parents saw their daughters earn Northern Transvaal and Freestate colours in the sport. Both my parents have been a huge inspiration to me all my life. Their passion and work ethic have taught me a lot. They also taught us to never give up and work hard for what you want in life. It might not come easy, but it is worth it in the end. We’ve always been a team and we could always fall back on our family values and structures.”
As a young adult her interests were very broad. The fact that she was exposed to so many diverse things, helped shape her interests in different fields. As a result, she was never sure what she wanted to study. Her dad encouraged her to work and study part-time in her first year after school. She started working at a Medical Aesthetic and Wellness Clinic alongside Sr. Susan Coetzee and studied part-time, completing a short course in business management at the North West University NWU (2005).
“That year taught me so much about customer relationship management (CRM) and customer service that I was inspired to study full-time the following year.”
Sudden insight and change of direction
“I enrolled at the NWU to study BSc Consumer Sciences. On the first day, while we were sitting in the amphitheatre, waiting for the Dean to welcome all the first years, I suddenly realized that I was making a huge mistake. I took out the NWU brochure and right then and there decided that I wanted to change course – I changed to a BCom Behavioural Sciences. To this day, I am not sure what it was that inspired me in that moment to make the change, but what I have realized and learned out of that moment of sudden insight, is that everything really does happen for a reason. I have never doubted that ever since – because that one single change, that ‘aha moment’, gave momentum to the rest of my life.”
She completed her BCom degree in Behavioural Science and BCom Honours in Labour Relations Management and completed her master’s degree in Labour Relations Management at NWU in 2014. Her thesis was published in two academic journals and one of the articles she wrote was selected for an oral presentation at the West East Institute in their 2014 WEI European Academic Conference in Vienna.
“All this transpired from that one decision I have made, almost fifteen years earlier, which didn’t make sense at the time. My message to all young and upcoming professionals is this – trust and believe – allow the Holy Spirit to guide you and it will all work out in the end.”
Life at Home
First and foremost, Jacquelene sees herself as the mother of her two beautiful little girls (Melissa and Ninah who are both still in primary school. They keep her grounded and balanced.
She met her husband at university, and they married and settled in Hartbeespoort in 2011. They recently celebrated their 10th wedding anniversary and value and appreciate the small things in life.
“I enjoy interior decorating and making our house a home. I love spending time in the garden and creating a safe space where our kids can play and grow. I am an amateur baker – a skill I discovered during lock down. We spend time in the kitchen with the kids, baking and trying out new recipes and experimenting with new and different flavours.”
Health and wellness
“We are very passionate about healthy living and wellness. My husband and I have started this journey together when we began following a ketogenic / low carb lifestyle about 4 years ago. We are thankful that our friends and family have supported us on this journey and we love them all the more for that! My husband is a fitness enthusiast, which inspires me to stay active and healthy as well.
Following in my parents’ footsteps, I am also a part time gymnastics coach for pre-schoolers, and I teach tumbling classes in my spare time. There aren’t many things that give me more pleasure than seeing the kids develop and learn a new skill with each and every training session. I could easily do it full time!”
Professional vision
“I always imagined myself climbing the corporate ladder of a big company, in the city with a grand office. This vision quickly changed as I became a working mother. The chase wasn’t as glamorous as I once thought. To be honest, I wanted to slow down…
“I started to envision a business that I could call my own and for ways to create work for myself. I wanted to work independently and be available for my kids and family when they needed me. It took me almost three years to bring this vision to life, because I wanted it to be personal – it had to be special, and it had to be something I could be proud of and leave behind as a legacy for my kids.
“My aim for the business has since then changed – as everything around us is continually changing and evolving, we also need to adapt and change to survive. I came to realize that my vision for the business has evolved in something that I never would have (or could have) imagined if I haven’t gone through or experienced this level of growth and development that the pandemic has brought upon us.
“Through the network of people that I’ve met during COVID 19, I have established a new business model.
“My aim isn’t to create work for myself alone, but rather to create a network of specialists in my field, to serve the community and other businesses better. This network of people has become my new organisation and support structure.
“Being an HR Business partner has brought a new meaning to my business – It has created a new platform of selected companies that I can turn to for advice, refer clients to for specialised help and lean upon as a support system. We work together co- independently as one team, but as different entities.
“The aim of my business is to provide effective HR solutions to small, medium and larger sized businesses by establishing their business’ needs and utilising the resources I have available to deliver the best service I possibly can.”
Journey in Human Resources
Jacquelene is a human resources specialist with more than 10 years’ experience in the corporate environment, offering effective HR solutions to small, medium, and larger enterprises. She worked in manufacturing, mining, construction, transport, and the electrical industry.
Her career started at the North West Employers Organisation where she practised all aspects of employee relations.
She later accepted a position in human resources at one of the largest tyre manufacturers in the world and gained more than 7 years of experience in occupational risk, health and safety management as well as legal compliance and learning development. Jacquelene was involved in a number of initiatives of the organisation, including disaster prevention, environmental management, organisational development sprint teams for strategic planning, and later focused more specifically on the scarce and critical skills development of the plant. Jacquelene visited countries like Japan and Spain where she took part in many management review sessions.
She then exited the formal corporate environment and joined forces with an established electrical construction company and had the opportunity to visit neighbouring countries like Zambia and Zimbabwe where the company was involved in big construction projects of shopping centres and malls.
She finally established her own practice in 2018 and build her company from the ground up through the COVID 19 pandemic. Jacquelene joined the Harties Business Centre in 2020 and made many connections through the network.
“No matter what technology and shiny new tools we use in our business, we should always come back to relationships. Today I know that a support system and solid network is the groundwork for a successful business and an organisation is only as strong as the people who work there.”