One on One with Blessing Mmola, The Beautiful and Creative Personality Behind, Marketing and Public Relations Entity, Blessing M Holdings

Brian Kazungu, 08/02/2021

In the book titled The Sales and Marketing Pocketbook, there is a statement which says “Marketing is an art that must be mastered, it’s a skill that must be learnt and it’s a profession that must be respected”.

The above statement is a true reflection of the work of South Africa’ Mpumalanga based beautiful, creative and hardworking Marketing and Public Relations personality, Blessing Mmola, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Blessing M Holdings.

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While describing herself as a creative forward thinker who is inspired by the words of people such as Les Brown, Ms Mmola said that closing sales with a client or running a successful project and achieving client satisfaction is her greatest motivation.

Her PR and Marketing company, Blessing M Holdings, specialises in outsourcing sponsorships as well as project funding, campaigns, stakeholder engagements and management as well as branding and many more.

With “We are experts at what we do. Let us take care of your headache.” as their company slogan, Blessing added that her entrepreneurial passion revolves around empowering and helping other people to achieve their goals.

In an interview below with iniAfrica News’s Brian Kazungu, she shared her personal and professional life including background, passions and aspirations.

Iniafrica news: Would you briefly describe yourself (background, personality, passions, dreams and aspirations etc.) so that our readers (audience) can have a clear picture of who you are and what you stand for.

Blessing Mmola: My name is Blessing Mmola, I am the CEO of Blessing M Holdings and also one among all the beautiful daughters of Francinah Mmola.

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I am a motivator and a creative forward thinker who is passionate about life and what I do.

More-so, I strongly believe that it is possible for one to create a way where there is no way as long as you position you mind well.

One of the principles that I live by is from Les Brown who said “take responsibility of your life where you are now and acquire more knowledge to take you where you need to be because there is no quick fix.”

As an entrepreneur, my passion revolves around empowering and helping other people to achieve their goals and my dream is to establish a variety of successful businesses globally that can become vehicles of poverty alleviation in different communities.

Iniafrica news: What is your greatest reason and or motivation behind your business and career path? Is this something that you have always wanted to do and to be when you were young or it’s a completely different story?

Blessing Mmola: Closing sales with a client or running a successful project it is a good motivation for me, but, more than anything, my main drive is client satisfaction. When the client is happy with my service, it brings a hearty satisfaction to me.

I also believe that the hospitality industry has played a huge role in the diversity of my career path. For example, PR skills are much needed under the events management in the hospitality business i.e. conferencing, weddings etc.

I have always been fascinated by how the hospitality industry handles marketing in order to ensure and guarantee sales and a good reputation.

More-so, continuous learning towards mastering PR, Marketing and Management skills plays a significant role in the quality of services that I deliver.

Iniafrica news: We understand that you are the face behind Blessing M Holdings and that you are also involved in the successful running of other ventures in different capacities. Would you share more on the professional side of you and let us know of the identities of these other businesses that you are involved with.

Blessing Mmola: We are a PR and Marketing company that specialises in outsourcing sponsorships for other brands as well as strategic planning and execution of Events.

We also do Project Funding, Campaigns, Stakeholder Engagements Management, Branding and many more.

We have always wanted to do business differently in terms of our engagements with clients, partners and sponsors. Because of that, we are a brand that is passionate about braking walls between the brand owners, their customers and the respective communities in order to create a situation where these three groups are able to benefit from each other.

For brand owners, our main focus is to help you increase your brand visibility and also to help you in generating more sales while still saving you the energy, time and resources.

Our objective is to encourage AIDA (attention, interest, desire and action) towards the brand while for NPOs, our aim is to identify relevant stakeholders who can help you in your community project.

Our slogan “We are experts at what we do. Let us take care of your headache.” This is what governs every direction that we take in executing our clients’ projects as if it is our own.

Iniafrica news: What qualities and qualifications do you possess which greatly contributes to your business and personal success in life? How did you acquire such and how long did it take?

Blessing Mmola: I believe that innate flexibility, creativity, people management, project management and implementation as well as being a persuasive negotiator are some of the qualities which define me.

More-so, I believe that I am a hardworking individual who have some Leadership and Communication skills as well as problem solving abilities both through team work and as an individual.

I always blend these with my academic qualifications to ensure that all stakeholders in the matrix get the satisfaction that they deserve.

I have a diploma in Tourism Management, Marketing Management as well as Business Management. Recently, I studied Psychology under Human Behaviour and 7 other courses as a response to the Covid-19 pandemic in line with the World Health Organisation.

I have acquired various skills through continuous self-development because I believe that every person is capable of changing their environment by changing themselves first because in life you must deliberately tell yourself that you are not going to let yourself fail.

On the other hand my key principle about business is to firstly start by passionately serving others with your skills before serving yourself since this gives you an opportunity to master the skills you already know.

Never chase money, money will come as a result of the skills you have already mastered.

Some of my key concentration areas to bring about success in my life revolves around spiritual alignment, visual meditation (if you can see it, you can be it), planning as well as acquiring knowledge and getting mentorship.

Iniafrica news: Do you look forward to continue in these professions or it’s just something temporary which you are just doing for the meantime while you look forward to settle on something that you really want in your life?

Blessing Mmola: I personally believe in developing a business that one is passionate about and every other business can be addition on top of the other.

It is important for the audiences to understand that you can never separate any business from the marketing of product and services of that business. The existence of your business is highly dependable on the marketing of the brand, including its products and services.

Iniafrica news: Would you briefly mention and describe some of the work/projects that you have done so far and the motivation behind?

Blessing Mmola: As a strategic Marketing Officer of Blessing M Holdings and other organisations which I have worked on various stakeholder and sponsorship management projects.

I have been blessed to work with different brands such as Ford Nelspruit, Meliviforce, Mrs K Foundation, Oasis Water, Mrs Mpumalanga, Sudwala Lodge, and University of Mpumalanga among others.

In all this, my motivation is the satisfaction all the relevant stakeholders.

Iniafrica news: What are your guiding values both in the corporate and social spheres which determine what you do and how you do it? Are there things which you consider taboo in your interaction with people around you? Share your insights.

Blessing Mmola: My guiding value is simple: Do It Right or Don’t Do It All.

Iniafrica news: What has been some of the most cherished and memorable feedback that you have received from people who you engage with and how has it impacted you in life, both at work and in your private space?

Blessing Mmola: I get a lot of positive feedback on the projects that we execute but I must say that what stood out for me was hearing one of the sponsors who has been with us for a long time saying “ You have got the ability to bring people together- this is who you are.”

That on its own, for me, it was a confirmation that we are living by the principles of Blessing M Holdings which is – Breaking walls between the brand owners, their customers and their community.

Because of that, we are encouraged to do more.

Iniafrica news: I am sure you wouldn’t mind talking about your relationship status and the impact that it has on you in the pursuit of your dreams.

Blessing Mmola: Well, I have been in an emotionally abusive relationship with a man whose weaknesses I had tried to cover up from everyone else including my family and whose image I had tried to protect in the hope that he would change (which he did).

So, one day I woke up and made a deliberate determined decision to walk away and live for Blessing and I always remember the overwhelming reckless love of God that has always been so kind to me despite everything.

One of the lessons that I have learned from that was no matter how characterful you are, no matter how good and beautiful you are as a woman, an uncultured partner who has never made a determined decision to deal with his or her own childhood trauma will always drive everything beautiful about you out of the window.

As such, for me, I think the best achievement out of this was to allow myself to invest in me and most importantly fixing my crown for a queen conscious woman whom I have become out of pain.

I regret nothing at all as I have learned the art of transforming my pain into growth and still become the woman I have always wanted to become.

Iniafrica news: We can see that you have a fine taste when it comes to fashion. Who is it that inspires and manages your wardrobe?

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Blessing Mmola: Well, as the face of a brand that works with many stakeholders, I strongly believe in supporting local brands. In the images that you see, I am dressed by Royal Vintage. They are a brand that caters for both male and female fashion needs.

Iniafrica news: What can you say are the general advantages or benefits that comes with being an active player in the professions that you have chosen?

Blessing Mmola: I get to meet new faces every day. Most importantly, I get to partner, collaborate and create new relationships with other brands.

Iniafrica news: Based on your personal and professional life experiences so far, what are your words of advice and motivation to youngsters and even grown-ups who would like to follow the same path that you took?

Blessing Mmola: When you are a start-up business, do not be afraid to offer your skills in exchange for brand visibility for you will never know who is watching.

Instead of being on a long que for funding, it’s important for you to know that you can strategically use the same skills to gain recognition and attract the same help you need.

As an existing brand, learn to collaborate, partner and create relationships with other brands as the three can help you to increase brand awareness and drive sales back to your brand because all you know is not all it is to know.

Iniafrica news: If you were to give career advice, would you recommend someone to follow the path that you chose? Please justify your answer.

Blessing Mmola: Well, my career path came as the result of the research I have made around my career in relation to my passion and everything that I love to do.

I will say don’t follow mine path but rather, find out what drives you, that which you are passionate about and then go for a career that suites your passion.

Iniafrica news: Are there people or organisations that you would like to acknowledge and credit, be it for their emotional and material input or contribution (support) towards your personal and professional endeavours?

Blessing Mmola: Firstly, I would like to say thank you to my family for their continuous support and the same goes to my long standing partners and sponsors. Oasis Water (Mr & Mrs Nel), thank you for believing in me. I would also want to appreciate many others not mentioned here plus my business mentors and iniAfrica News which is Blessing M Holdings’ media partner.