Event Report
The first Lioness Lean In event of the year is always a special one, and this was certainly the case for 2020. On 7 February, women entrepreneurs came out in force in Johannesburg, gathering once again in the familiar surroundings of Volkswagen South Africa’s Sandton headquarters. The venue was the perfect spot for the event, with one of the best views of Sandton for attendees to enjoy.
We all know that women entrepreneurs are the key drivers of socio-economic change and impact in South Africa and across the continent. So it was wonderful to celebrate this impact with a packed audience of women entrepreneur game-changers in the room for this first Lioness Lean In event of 2020. It was the perfect place for founder and ceo, Melanie Hawken, to announce to South Africa’s women entrepreneurs via video link that Lionesses of Africa has now achieved a key milestone it set for itself back in 2014 when the organization first launched. Today Lionesses of Africa has over 1 million women entrepreneurs in its community, spread across all 54 African countries and in the Diaspora - that’s a lot of fellow women entrepreneurs to connect with and do business with. And, that’s worth celebrating!! Melanie said:
“The vision of Lionesses of Africa has always been to advance Africa’s women entrepreneurs, by building this growing community and delivering much needed women entrepreneur development programmes, mentoring programmes, business tools, digital media channels, community platforms, networking events and information resources. Delivered at scale to women entrepreneurs, always free of charge. Our rapidly growing community across the continent is a powerful reminder that as women entrepreneurs we are stronger together, supporting one another, doing business with one another - that’s how we make a difference to this continent we love.”
The morning’s programme got formally underway with Lioness Lean In Ambassador for Southern Africa, Hlubi Mboya-Arnold, officially welcoming all attendees to the event and encouraging everyone to share their entrepreneurial experiences, to inspire one another, and importantly, to do business. Hlubi introduced Lionesses of Africa’s impact partner for the event, Volkswagen South Africa back on board as a key partner in South Africa for our Lioness Lean In events. Meredith Kelly, Marketing and Communications Manager for Volkswagen South Africa, gave a warm welcome to everyone attending and spoke about what the brand has planned in 2020.
The highlight of any Lioness Lean In event is always the startup stories that are shared by inspirational women entrepreneurs, and this first event of the year featured women who come from a wide range of business sectors, they are at different stages of their entrepreneurial journeys, but they all share one thing in common - they are building businesses and brands that are exciting and on the move. The first inspirational woman entrepreneur who shared her startup story was Sharmantha Valjee, founder of DesignTech Training Academy. She is a Learning and Development Solutions Architect specializing in Human Capital Development, Leadership Development, Transformational Strategies, Design of Learning Management Systems, and a specialist with the SETA Landscape. She shared her experiences of building the company and her aspirations for its growth this year,
The second entrepreneur sharing her story was Josephine Katumba, founder of Biakudia Urban Farming Solutions, which is an urban agricultural startup which aims to reconcile city dwellers to their food and environment through urban agriculture. She is passionate about raising awareness on issues surrounding health, sustainability and access to healthy and affordable food. Her focus is on creating a community of urban farmers in Johannesburg through the three pillars of BUFS which are community, health and sustainability.
The final inspirational startup story speaker was someone who knows all too well what it takes to introduce a niche product and brand into the marketplace. Ana Maria Panait is a global traveller and entrepreneur who discovered her passion for chocolate whilst living and working in Cote d’Ivoire. Last year, Ana launched Rrraw, her new business which is a celebration of raw chocolate, and some of the audience members got the opportunity to try it for themselves during her presentation.
The morning’s official presentations concluded with two popular features in the Lioness Lean In event programme - Lioness CoLab and Lioness Launch. It’s the time when we can introduce women entrepreneurs who are launching great collaborations and creating new products and services that you should know about. Each week at Lionesses of Africa, we have a special Lioness Launch feature on our website and in our newsletters where we showcase individual women entrepreneurs and their new products. Nicola Luther, ceo and creative director at Lunar, a sustainable fashion entrepreneur who last month launched her fantastic new collection in London at the Startup Night Africa event hosted by Lionesses of Africa in partnership with the UK Government, showcased her new range to the audience to great acclaim.
Next on the programme came the Lioness CoLab feature, the opportunity for women entrepreneurs in the Lionesses of Africa community to announce and celebrate a collaboration to create and launch a new product or service. DesignTech Training Academy founder, Sharmantha Valjee, announced a new collaboration with fellow Lioness, Lufuno Khorommbi, founder of Orizur Consulting Enterprises, aimed at encouraging clients attending training to also enhance their Cyber Security by means of consulting with Orizur; and vice versa: DTTA’s POPI ACT Training to be offered to Orizur’s consulting clients.
The ever-popular Lioness Open Mike session followed, giving 10 women entrepreneurs from the audience the opportunity introduce their new products and services they are launching in the form of a 1 minute pitch, quite a challenge. The morning ended with a prize draw, featuring gifts from the women entrepreneur speakers, and with Hlubi Mboya-Arnold giving a call to action to all attendees to join the Lionesses of Africa community, do some serious networking, and of course, use the morning to make essential new business contacts.