#048 The Accidental Entrepreneur | Carmel Peinke
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How curiosity became a technology business.
In the sixth episode of On Change: Powerful Women, Petro du Pisani speaks with Carmel Peinke, founder and CEO of eRoute2Market, a technology business that helps brands understand where their products are sold and how consumers buy.
Carmel Peinke built a business intelligence platform from scratch, without writing a single line of code, and kept it running for 17 years. This episode is for women climbing the corporate ladder or thinking about starting their own business who want honest proof that it is possible to lead, to grow, and to stay true to yourself while doing it.
Carmel shares how she landed in the FMCG industry by pure chance, launched Lipton Iced Tea in South Africa at Smollan, and spotted a data gap that became the founding idea behind E-Route to Market, a SaaS platform that helps consumer goods brands understand where their products are sold in real time, including in township retail stores. She talks candidly about the self-doubt that slowed her down, the male competitor who sold a similar business for millions because he simply backed himself harder, and how she uses structured self-talk and a blank piece of paper to push through paralysis.
The conversation covers authentic leadership, collaborative leadership style, how to build a business network through curiosity rather than selling, and what it feels like to work in a male-dominated tech environment as a woman. Carmel reflects on the moment she caught herself becoming someone she did not recognise, chose integrity over conformity, and how running her own company finally gave her the freedom to lead on her own terms.
Carmel also shares her 2026 ambition: getting into universities to show female first-year students that consumer behaviour insight is a superpower in data science and analytics, and that they already are the sample size. If you have ever told yourself you are not technical enough, not confident enough, or not ready yet, this conversation is the one to listen to.
In the sixth episode of On Change: Powerful Women, Petro du Pisani speaks with Carmel Peinke, founder and CEO of eRoute2Market, a technology business that helps brands understand where their products are sold and how consumers buy.
Carmel Peinke built a business intelligence platform from scratch, without writing a single line of code, and kept it running for 17 years. This episode is for women climbing the corporate ladder or thinking about starting their own business who want honest proof that it is possible to lead, to grow, and to stay true to yourself while doing it.
Carmel shares how she landed in the FMCG industry by pure chance, launched Lipton Iced Tea in South Africa at Smollan, and spotted a data gap that became the founding idea behind E-Route to Market, a SaaS platform that helps consumer goods brands understand where their products are sold in real time, including in township retail stores. She talks candidly about the self-doubt that slowed her down, the male competitor who sold a similar business for millions because he simply backed himself harder, and how she uses structured self-talk and a blank piece of paper to push through paralysis.
The conversation covers authentic leadership, collaborative leadership style, how to build a business network through curiosity rather than selling, and what it feels like to work in a male-dominated tech environment as a woman. Carmel reflects on the moment she caught herself becoming someone she did not recognise, chose integrity over conformity, and how running her own company finally gave her the freedom to lead on her own terms.
Carmel also shares her 2026 ambition: getting into universities to show female first-year students that consumer behaviour insight is a superpower in data science and analytics, and that they already are the sample size. If you have ever told yourself you are not technical enough, not confident enough, or not ready yet, this conversation is the one to listen to.
Chapters
- 00:00 Introduction and Welcome
- 01:09 Origin Story: Childhood Dreams and Early Career
- 01:41 Landing in FMCG by Chance: Smollan and Lipton Iced Tea
- 03:30 Spotting the Data Gap and the Birth of E-Route to Market
- 04:01 Making the Leap: From Employee to Entrepreneur
- 05:42 The Power of People Who Believe in You
- 06:57 Leading Without Knowing How to Do the Job
- 08:49 Biggest Barrier: Self-Doubt and Lack of Confidence
- 10:52 Overcoming Paralysis: Self-Talk and Structure
- 12:07 Proving Yourself in a Male-Dominated Industry
- 13:26 Relationship-Based Business and Networking Through Curiosity
- 15:58 Leadership Style: Collaboration, Client Delight and Authenticity
- 18:45 Staying True to Yourself as You Climb the Ladder
- 21:21 Running Your Own Company on Your Own Terms
- 23:01 Knowing When to Walk Away: Ethics and Integrity
- 24:40 Advice to Her Younger Self: Trust Your Ability
- 27:42 Lessons Learned from 17 Years as CEO
- 30:15 What Success Really Looks Like
- 32:48 Supporting Women in Tech and Data Science
- 33:51 Legacy: Fair, Honest, and Expecting the Best
- 34:35 Closing Reflections and How Women Can Help Women
