Margaret Hirsch has become a leading example to business women in Southern Africa – coming from a humble background, to co-founding and running the multi million rand Appliance and Electronic retail organisation, Hirsch’s. Margaret has been recognised through her efforts in building a successful business, and her determination to give back to the community by, over the last four years, winning a multitude of business awards, including two Lifetime Achievement Awards in business and entrepreneurship.
Read moreJoy Ndungutse and Janet Nkubana - Sisters weaving for peace and profit
Joy Ndungutse and Janet Nkubana co-founded Gahaya Links Cooperatives shortly after the Rwandan genocide ended in 1994 with a vision to “empower rural communities to become entrepreneurs and earn better incomes to live with dignity among their communities.” Many of the women, like Janet and Joy themselves, were returning refugees or survivors of the genocide. The women started weaving baskets in exchange for food. Initially bringing together about twenty women, the sisters taught them how to weave and how to enhance their weaving skills with new design techniques.
Read more100 LIONESSES: Swaady Martin, stylish purveyor of African luxury tea
Swaady Martin is founder of YSWARA, a rapidly growing African luxury brand. YSWARA creates elegant, high-end products using the continent’s natural resources, all produced by African artisans. The product range centres around exquisite teas sourced from across Africa, Swaady aims to capture a true spirit of African luxury by reviving Africa’s endangered cultural heritage and unique ancestral craftsmanship. YSWARA is sold online and in 8 countries with different direct and indirect retail points.
Read more100 LIONESSES: Bethlehem Tilahun Alemu, the shoemaker with a deep social conscience
Bethlehem Tilahun Alemu is founder and Managing Director of soleRebels, the world's fastest-growing African footwear brand and the only Fair Trade-certified footwear company in the world. Growing up in a poor suburb of Addis Ababa, Bethlehem decided that there was only one way to defeat poverty – use local craftsmanship to make products that can compete in the global marketplace. She decided on footwear and today 70,000 pairs of shoes leave her factory every year. soleRebels has been expanding rapidly and has 18 stores around the world, including in Silicon Valley (USA), Japan, Singapore, Austria, Greece, Spain and Switzerland, along with an aggressive e-commerce marketing strategy. in 2015, Bethlehem launched a new venture, Republic of Leather, offering bespoke, hand crafted Leather wear and accessories; and in 2016 she launched an equally ambitious new coffee venture called Garden of Coffee with the objective of taking Ethiopia's ancient coffee culture to the world.
Read more100 LIONESSES: Jenna Clifford, world-renowned jewellery designer
Jenna Clifford is a world-renowned jewellery designer, known for her unique designs and superlative craftsmanship. Established in 1992, her company has steadily grown its clientele and improved its profile to institute itself as a powerful force in the jewellery industry. Her bold and dramatic designs are sought after by some of the most recognised business icons and celebrities from around the world. Today, Jenna Clifford Designs employs around 60 people, including some of the finest jewellery artisans and craftsmen in South Africa.
Read more100 LIONESSES: Featuring Dorcas Muthoni, a passionate techpreneur transforming lives
Dorcas Muthoni is founder and Chief Executive Officer of Openworld Ltd, a specialist computer software company she established in Kenya when she was just 24 years old. Today, Openworld is a leading e-Government and business software services firm involved in the delivery of some of the most widely used Web and Cloud applications in Africa, such as ARIS, an African Union reporting application used by all 54 member states; and the Performance Management System for the Government of Kenya, automating performance contracting in the public sector.
Read moreDR. JENNIFER RIRIA '100 Lionesses' Profile - Meet the woman who has committed herself to empowering Kenya's women
Dr. Jennifer Riria is the Group CEO of Kenya Women Holding and one of Africa's leading women entrepreneurs who has always been on a mission to transform the lives of women and their families in her native Kenya. She is distinguished microfinance banker, researcher and a leading gender specialist. She has served in many leadership roles for which she has been recognized locally and internationally. In 2013 she was awarded the Ernst & Young (EY) Entrepreneur of the year, East Africa 2013, and subsequently, the EY Entrepreneur of the Year Award 2014, at which point she was admitted to EY’s Global Hall of Fame.
Read more100 LIONESSES: Dr Jennifer Riria, a business leader empowering Kenya's women
Dr. Jennifer Riria is the Group CEO of Kenya Women Holding and one of Africa's leading women entrepreneurs who has always been on a mission to transform the lives of women and their families in her native Kenya. She is distinguished as a microfinance banker and practitioner, researcher and gender specialist. She has served in many leadership roles for which she has been recognized locally and internationally. In 2013 she was awarded the Ernst & Young (EY) Entrepreneur of the year, East Africa 2013, and subsequently, the EY Entrepreneur of the Year Award 2014, at which point she was admitted to EY’s Global Hall of Fame.
Read moreDivine Ndhlukula wins Zimbabwe's private sector leader of the year award
Women dominated the Zimbabwe Institute of Management 2017 Leadership Excellence awards that were presented in Harare this month, with Securico Security Services founder, Divine Ndhlukula, picking up the prestigious Private Sector Leader of the Year award. She received the award for her ongoing contribution to management excellence in the country in the preceding year and for being an example and inspiration for others to emulate.
Read more100 Lionesses: Tabitha Karanja’s Keroche Foundation growing a new generation of young entrepreneurs
Tabitha Karanja, CEO of the groundbreaking Kenyan Keroche Breweries empire, has a vision for the empowerment of a new generation of young entrepreneurs in her country. The Keroche Foundation Young Entrepreneurs Mentorship Program is one of the tangible ways she is fulfilling that vision.
Read more100 Lionesses: Nigerian entrepreneur Mo Abudu, founder of Ebony Life TV, honored with journalism award
This week, on 6th July 2017, the 4th Women in Journalism Conference takes place, honoring the outstanding work done by women in their own individual fields in the media sector. Nigerian game-changing media entrepreneur, Mo Abudu, founder of Ebony Life TV, is to be recognized for her work in changing the media landscape in Africa.
Read more100 Lionesses: Divine Ndhlukula appointed new Zimbabwe National Chamber of Commerce President
This month saw the appointment of Divine Ndhlukula, founder of game changing security services company, Securico, as the new Zimbabwe National Chamber of Commerce (ZNCC) President, a post she will occupy for the next two years. She has committed to dedicating her time at the helm of the ZNCC to furthering the cause of small to medium sized enterprises, something close to her heart as an entrepreneur. Divine said: “It will be important to note that we will focus on helping SMEs to realize their full potential as they now anchor the country’s economy. In the same vein, we will also strive to ensure that the country’s economy can realize its full potential.”
Read more100 LIONESSES: Bethlehem Tilahun Alemu the creative force behind soleRebels, Africa's fastest growing footwear brand
Watch this fascinating interview with Bethlehem Tilahun Alemu, founder and ceo of soleRebels, as she talks about how she has led her Ethiopian business to become the fastest growing African shoe brand, now taking the world by storm.
Read more100 Lionesses - Tabitha Karanja and Julian Adyeri Omalla, two game-changing women entrepreneurs recognized for their trailblazing drinks industry businesses in Africa
The Africa Report has just published its list of the 50 women Star Dealmakers, the trendsetters, trailblazers and game-changing business brand-builders, who are shaking up the world of business on the African continent. Two of the women making the list and who have definitely made their significant mark in the drinks industries are Tabitha Karanja, CEO Keroche Breweries; and Julian Adyeri Omalla, Managing Director of Delight Uganda.
Read moreNigerian ecopreneur, Bilikiss Adebiyi and her company WeCyclers, wins the Smart Cities Innovation Awards Grand Prize Le Monde 2017
For the second edition of the Smart Cities Innovation Awards held this past week, the French newspaper Le Monde thought big. Nigerian startup WeCyclers, co-founded by Bilikiss Adebiyi, the innovative startup that brings domestic waste collection and treatment to Nigeria through a fleet of cargo-bikes and a waste sorting hub, was awarded with the prestigious International Grand Prize at the awards event held in Singapore.
Read moreMonica Musonda, founder of Java Foods, Zambia wins the African Agribusiness Entrepreneur of the Year Award 2017
The Market Matters 2017 African Agribusiness Entrepreneur of the Year Award has just been presented to Ms. Monica Musonda, founder and owner of Java Foods in Zambia. Ms. Musonda and Java Foods’ contribution to Africa’s agribusiness sector and food security was officially recognized during the Closing Banquet of the 2017 Making Markets Matter Executive Training Program for the African Agribusiness Sector in Somerset West, South Africa, on 11 May 2017. Java Foods joins a list of 8 other pioneering African entrepreneurs in receiving this honor.
Read moreMargaret Hirsch announces the winners of the Hirsch’s Woman In Business Achiever of the Year Awards in the Western Cape
The prestigious annual Hirsch Women in Business Awards Gala Evening in the Western Cape for 2017 took place on Friday 7 April at the Century City Conference Centre in Cape Town, South Africa, and as usual, was a star studded affair. The theme was old Hollywood and top business women from around the Western Cape dressed the part! Over 300 people attended the event, which was co-sponsored by Hisense, one of Hirsch’s top suppliers. Robyn Hey, Past president of the Cape Town Chapter of the Business Women’s Association of South Africa was the Guest Speaker at the event, and complimented Margaret and Hirsch’s for their initiative for holding the event.
Read moreSarah Collins and Wonderbag collaborate with Pfizer Vaccines to positively change lives in Ghana
In the Upper East Region of Ghana, cooking is a dangerous and time-consuming daily activity. Results from a self-reported survey indicate that women spend two hours a day gathering fuel and water, followed by up to four hours standing over open fires1. Exposed to cooking smoke for hours each day, women and small children can be at higher risk for deadly diseases such as pneumonia, tuberculosis, heart disease and lung cancer.
Read moreIs your favorite lipstick fake? Africa's leading beauty entrepreneur Tara Fela-Durotoye launches campaign to tackle counterfeiting
Leading African beauty industry entrepreneur, Tara Fela-Durotoye, together with other leading Nigerian entrepreneurs are raising their voices to stand against counterfeiting, intellectual property theft and piracy in Nigeria. Their powerful new campaign 'United We Stand' aimed at tackling piracy, counterfeiting and intellectual property theft head-on launched on 24th February 2017. The campaign is a call to action against injustice which also implores the Nigerian public to take extra steps to preserve hard work and to ensure consumer safety by buying genuine products and shunning counterfeit products.
Read moreSoleRebels founder Bethlehem Tilahun Alemu demonstrates the power of thinking big with her new Garden of Coffee venture
Bethlehem Tilahun Alemu, the pioneering and enterprising creator of the inspirational SoleRebels ethical footwear brand, and Republic of Leather, her business venture that puts Ethiopia’s handcrafted leatherwear and accessories on the global map, believes the future of a truly sustainable specialty coffee market can be found in coffee’s birthplace, her native Ethiopia. After more than a decade of building SoleRebels into a global footwear and leather goods brand that combines traditional Ethiopian craftsmanship and materials with fresh new designs while also paying top dollar throughout the supply chain, Alemu late last year launched an equally ambitious new coffee venture called Garden of Coffee.
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