Eben Engelbrecht
She is beautiful, with classic Grecian features, a powerful personality, talent for business, gentle and pragmatic nature, deeply faithful to her Higher Power and getting married in just two weeks.
She is Leanne Soupionas, business entrepreneur and one of Polokwane’s true beauties. Soupionas is co-owner of Rainbow Irrigation, a firm specialising in the installation of computerised irrigation and sprinkler systems.
She runs her business from a nondescript office at a filling station in Marshall Street. She apolgises for the lack of space in her crammed headquarters, but in her intelligent eyes one can see she’s merely being polite.
The office has everything to do with wise business sense. With the economic recession still raging, she has to keep the company afloat and show a profit. This is not the time for fancy offices, the look on her face says.
We drive with Soupionas to one of her sites, where workers are preparing a garden for installation. There she doesn’t hesitate to get her hands dirty. She gets to work, hard hat and all. She dishes out the instructions to her staff firmly, but with a kindness which makes one think of angels and princesses.
Our conversation drifts towards women working in a so-called male domain. "I’m often asked why I’m doing what I’m doing and it annoys me. The thing about a woman working in a man’s world is nonsense. Women can do anything they want to. There are no longer such things as man and woman worlds, especially in business."
We watch her handling tools deftly, but not even that can conceal her absolute femininity. Asked how she maintains her evocative beauty, Soupionas gives an answer which leaves one a little speechless. "Just look after yourself, nurture your faith and spirit, seek, find and keep happiness and, oh yes, stop and smell the flowers."