Meet the Absa Small Business Friday featured Small Business of the week – Max Recruitment.
Max Recruitment was founded in 2006 by Natasha Andrew and has played an integral role in partnering with many leading organisations to recruit, source and manage the highly skilled talent they need to succeed in an increasingly competitive and crucial economic situation.
Natasha started her career working in law but wasn’t able to find her purpose and joy in the law industry. At the age of 22, she decided to move into human resources with a focus on recruitment. She gained extremely valuable experience as a recruitment consultant in the motor industry. When she turned 24 she took the opportunity to start Max Recruitment.
During her time as a recruiter in the motor industry, she was asked to suggest ways to improve the diversity in the motor industry. In her quest to ensure diversity and change, she came up with a program called the Sales Cadet Program. The core focus was to train unskilled Black, Indian, and Coloured individuals with an excellent sales background in the industry. Max Recruitment are proud to say today they can see the diversity in the motor industry, including many dealer and franchise executives who started their careers through the Sales Cadet Program.
One challenge which Natasha had to deal with was being diagnosed with the autoimmune disease, Lupus. This is a disease which causes your immune system to attack healthy tissue. On diagnosis, the doctor gave her six months to live and the first three months of treatment were devastating but Natasha Andrew knew something needed to be done if she would survive this disease. First, she worked on creating a positive mindset and surrounding herself with happy people who were able to push her to the next level. After the sixth month, the disease had gone into remission. A year and a half later, she was able to come off the medicine. She has been off medication since mid-2011 and has done it by eating clean, exercising, keeping a positive mindset and doing the things she loves.
When it comes to what sets Natasha Andrew apart from other women entrepreneurs, it is her resilience and strength to never give up despite the challenges and odds that one faces in an ever-changing economy and personally.