While personality is imperative in human relations, appearance tends to be the primary impression maker on any person, or brand. Therefore, Universities South Africa’s Entrepreneurship Development in Higher Education (EDHE) Programme dedicated a session at a recent workshop, to personal style as an image influencer and a critical contributor to business success.

At the Economic Activation workshop of the Student Women Economic Empowerment Programme (SWEEP), Ms Zana Boshoff (left), Project Manager: Entrepreneurship, tackled the topic Building a positive image and refining your style. The workshop, that concluded on 27 January, was an empowerment exercise hosted for women looking to create businesses while studying. Participants were drawn from the signed-up SWEEP members and more, from South Africa’s public universities.

Ms Boshoff posed a question which, she said, was often neglected but which was important, nonetheless: Why does image matter? She said visual image matters because appearance is what people see before they make impressions of one’s personality. “This fact will never change,” she asserted.