By Humairaa Mayet
Edited by Tasmiyah Randeree
Founder of Wealthy Money, Vangile Makwakwa, talks to us about her organisation and the issue of financial trauma as seen in women around the world, and women in South Africa in particular.
“Because trauma is carried in the body and can be passed on from generation to generation, the focus of Wealthy Money is on helping people regulate their nervous systems when they deal with money. This allows them to start feeling safe around money, and this makes it easier for them to change their money mindset and in turn, change the way they behave around money.”
Without a doubt, it can be said that women around the world - particularly women of colour - face financial difficulty and strife for a multitude of reasons. Wealthy Money, a company founded by Vangile Makwakwa seeks to assist these women and allow them to heal from ancestral money trauma.
Wealthy Money seeks to help women fall in love with their bank accounts, increase their income, and live their best lives. Makwakwa and her team make use of multiple media forms to reach out to women, including blog posts, podcasts, and online courses in the form of videos, as well as online coaching and even international retreats.
I think black women are the most disadvantaged group in South Africa because of systemic racism and the patriarchy. That intersectionality of race and gender plays out in the financial sphere and this affects our confidence and the way we perceive ourselves, which impacts the way we relate to money.
According to Makwakwa, “It is impossible to talk about healing trauma without looking at systemic racism and patriarchy because a huge part of trauma stems from these systems.” Through Wealthy Money, she seeks to explore these complex notions in a safe space which will allow the women she assists to heal from them.
Wealthy Money targets women of colour around the world between the ages of 25 and 65. Zeroing in on South Africa, Makwakwa explained that statistics show that black women are the leading buyers of real estate but are gravely underrepresented in financial services companies and makeup only 20 percent of the directors of JSE-listed firms.
Photo: Instagram.
The healing of women from decades and decades of financial trauma cannot take place without institutional change. Makwakwa told To EmpowHER that financial institutions can be incredibly patriarchal and used the example of the pink tax to explain her statement - even though women earn less than their male counterparts, as a result of the gender pay gap, they are still required to pay more than men for the same products. How is this fair?
Trauma is not only the blatantly violent and scarring events that take place in one’s life, it is also events that are simply too overwhelming to process and leave one feeling powerless. Without even realising it, women can pass their financial trauma onto their children. Children look to parental figures to assist with decision-making and often pick up on the attitude that their parents display toward money and tend to mirror their behaviour.
I think there needs to be openness about salaries so everyone knows what the other is earning and it needs to be law, because the secrecy means that women are constantly underpaid. It should be illegal not to have equal pay. Pink tax should also be illegal.
Like all forms of stress, financial stress alters the hormones of the body and increases the burden placed on the nervous system. Makwakwa said that “financial stress makes it hard for one to process life events and situations, which makes it harder still to make good financial decisions, and this leads to even more stress, giving way to a higher allostatic load until the psyche and the nervous system can no longer cope, which leads to mental illness.” Thus, financial stress has the ability to negatively impact the body and leave behind trauma that can last a lifetime.
In order to fall in love with your bank account, you must focus on regulating the nervous system when dealing with money. Instead of viewing money as a source of stress without question, you must delve into the logic behind this rhetoric, explained Makwakwa. She recommends that people start focusing on the physical sensations they feel around money and use this to unpack their financial trauma.
Photo: Instagram.
In order to heal, the root cause of the problem must be found. Without this, the process will be rendered moot and any attempt at healing will be entirely ineffective. The root cause can often be found in ancestral trauma.
According to Makwakwa, once one locates the source of one’s financial trauma, one is able to begin the healing process. Only once one is healed is one able to begin to find the magic. “What is magic if not ease, flow and unexpected opportunities,” asked Makwakwa.
Everyone can find their inner money guru. If our ancestors can pass trauma on to us, they can also pass on knowledge and wisdom. We all have innate wisdom on how to make money, save money, and spend money; and it is often unique to us and our ancestral lineage. We can all find this when we start unlocking our ancestral wisdom.
Founding and running Wealthy Money is her biggest achievement, said Makwakwa. Not only has it allowed her to go on a journey of self-discovery and self-awareness, but has allowed others to do the same.
One of her dreams is to see a future in which women are financially empowered. This would entail women receiving equal pay and having adequate representation. Makwakwa aspires to see “a world where women fully own their power without fearing outshining their boyfriends, husbands, brothers, or fathers.”
More about Vangile Makwakwa:
She holds a Business Science Finance Honors Degree from UCT and an MBA from the Simmons School of Management in Boston, Massachusetts.
She enjoys yoga, hiking, swimming, watching sunsets, cooking and eating, reading, and writing.
She has been running her business for five years now.
Follow and support Vangile Makwakwa on social media:
Instagram: @vangilemakwakwa
Twitter: @VangileMakwakwa
Spotify: wealthy-money
YouTube: wealthymoney1
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