Lioness Radio / The Business of Funding Podcast
In response to the challenges facing Africa’s women entrepreneurs in getting access to essential growth funding for their businesses, Lionesses of Africa has launched The Business of Funding Podcast series through its Lioness Radio division. This new quarterly podcast show aims to inform and inspire, and is powered by Enygma Ventures, a private investment fund focused on investing in women-led businesses in Southern Africa, and co-founded by entrepreneurs Sarah and Jacob Dusek.
Nomalanga Sitole, Lionesses of Africa Ambassador & show host
The Business of Funding Podcast, hosted by Nomalanga Sitole, brings together investors and women entrepreneurs to talk about gender lens investing - the challenges, the opportunities, and the success stories. Investors talk about what they look for when making their investment decisions in women-owned businesses; and successful women entrepreneurs share their personal experiences of taking their businesses to the next level through investment. This is a podcast for all women entrepreneurs who want to better understand the business of funding.
In the launch edition of The Business of Funding Podcast, Sarah Dusek, co-founder of Enygma Ventures shares her belief that the world of investment finance has to be reimagined globally, and particularly when it comes to investing in women-owned businesses. Sarah talks about ‘The Power of Thinking Big’ and how the Enygma Ventures fund plans to empower women entrepreneurs through investment funding and support to help level the business playing field on the African continent. The fund is her practical response to the identified need for new and more innovative funding models for high growth potential women entrepreneurs in Africa.
In the second half of The Business of Funding Podcast, host Nomalanga Sitole talks to entrepreneur Claudia Castellanos Roques, co-founder of Black Mamba Foods in Eswatini. This successful sustainable food company, renowned for its chilli sauces, is on a fast track to growth thanks to a recent Rands 9.2 million investment by Enygma Ventures. Claudia talks about the impact this important investment is making on the growth of the business, and her aspirations for the future of the brand.
Quotes from Sarah Dusek, Co-founder, Enygma Ventures
Sarah Dusek, Co-founder, Enygma Ventures
“Women get so little funding to help them scale. And it doesn't need to be this hard. It's hard right now because there are very few women investors, which made me realize, more women entrepreneurs need to become women investors. And so that's how I got here. We are actively searching for great women entrepreneurs to invest in. My whole thesis is that if we can empower women, we can literally change the world.”
“We all know it's really hard to grow and scale a business, and often it becomes a really big stumbling block. How can you grow without cash? Enygma Ventures was born out of this idea of how could we deploy capital to enable women to grow and scale, and think big and make it big.”
“A really key point for us is how we help women transition from thinking about building a small business that just provides for you and your family and maybe your employees; to thinking about could you build a big business that affects your entire community, that employs hundreds of people, that maybe affects the GDP of your town or your city and maybe your nation.”
Quotes from Claudia Castellanos Roques, Co-founder, Black Mamba Foods
Claudia Castellanos Roques, Co-founder, Black Mamba Foods
“One of the most important things about all our efforts as a business is we want to make products that are good for our consumers, good for the planet, and good for the communities we work with.”
“The impact we have at the moment is that we're working with sixty farmers, each one averaging six dependents. So the direct, positive impact that Black Mamba is having on our rural communities is around five hundred members of the communities. Plus, the impact of these communities in teaching other community members how to grow food in a sustainable way.”
“Part of our vision as a business is we create a business model and we show to the world that it is possible to have success as a business when you have a very strong environmental and social ethos. So that means this sort of business model can be replicated around the world.”
“We show that Africa is able to produce high quality, world class standard products while still keeping a very, very strong social and environmental impact. That's what Enygma Ventures did with us, giving us the possibility of showcasing to the world that it is possible and that impact has to be inherent in what you do as a business.”
To find out more about Lioness Radio podcasts, email: admin@lionessesofafrica.com