Boutique owner has big dreams to empower women to be their own boss

Halima Mulamba is all about empowerment.

It’s the philosophy behind her online boutique, FabBossBabe, which offers clothes meant to empower women.

It’s also her personal philosophy, both in her business and how she gives back to the community.

“She backs up what she says she wants to do. … Every event there is or any volunteer opportunity, she’s showing up,” said Tamien Dysart, who first connected with Mulamba through Think 3D’s Leaders of Tomorrow program.

Mulamba knows the value of finding your own power firsthand more than most.

Before she was a business owner, she was a young child in the Democratic Republic of Congo, fleeing with her family to Zambia as refugees to escape the war.

In 2004, they came to America and settled in Sioux Falls because Mulamba’s father wanted his kids to have a shot at a good education and a good life.

“He didn’t want us to go to a big town,” Mulamba said. “He wanted us to be around a community that could uplift us and support us.”

Mulamba graduated from Washington High School and went on to SDSU, where she earned a degree in education and human science with the goal of becoming a counselor.

But even then, she was thinking about a different dream: owning her own boutique.

She didn’t end up in either of those career paths to start, and instead she worked as a licensed insurance agent. That is until March 2020.

Mulamba was fired from her job because of cuts brought on by the pandemic, and she found herself in a pretty dark place.

“I was just like, I don’t know what’s going on,” she said. “I don’t have a job. How do I pay my bills? There’s so much going on.”

That’s when she made a choice.

“Either I was going to be depressed the whole time and just sit in my feelings, or I’m going to actually go after my dream,” Mulamba said.

A few months later, FabBossBabe became a reality with an online store that launched in July 2020.

The boutique offers office wear, loungewear, athletic wear, swimwear and accessories, all with the goal of helping women feel good in their clothes. It also carries sizes ranging from XS to 3X to cater to all body types.

Customers have responded well to FabBossBabe’s offerings, Mulamba said.

“They like that it’s a little bit different,” she said. “It’s nice stuff they haven’t seen yet here in South Dakota.”

In the future, Mulamba wants FabBossBabe to feel like a community, and she hopes it can be a resource for aspiring business owners.

She also hopes to one day start her own nonprofit to educate women on how to start their own business or to support them in going to college.

“I believe if you educate one woman, you educate the whole village,” Mulamba said. “We tend to be the ones that share that knowledge with people.”