At the age of 31, Louise Meek already has a major life accomplishment under her belt.
She has introduced Wi-Fi connectivity to South Africa’s urban spaces with an ingenious invention – the Isabelo Smart Bench. This “plug-and-play solution” for public spaces is a stand-alone, solar-powered, Wi-Fi-enabled seat with USB charging ports.
Within five minutes of installing the first smart bench in Maboneng, people started engaging with the service. Meek and her business partner, Adriaan Hugo, watched in awe as their vision came to life. That was in 2015. Today, her company continues to create urban innovations that have a positive social impact. Her journey began with a leap of faith when she quit her corporate job.
Now she’s realising a dream, even though she knows that “building a business takes time”. Meek was a finalist in the Green City Startup TV series in 2015, and in the same year, Elle Decoration called it a “life changing innovation”. For Meek, the path to entrepreneurial success is built on hard work, perseverance, grit, a dash of good luck, and a strong support network.
With those essentials backing her up, Meek is changing the way South Africans connect, one smart technology at a time.
|Be more patient and accept that some things take longer than anticipated!|
