Impact Partner Content / Absa
The first Lioness Business Agility Webinar of 2022 took place on 23 February 2022, taking as its theme “How to Turn Your Big Vision into a High Growth Business,” with 143 women entrepreneurs joining to be inspired, to learn, and to connect with their fellow women business builders from South Africa and the African continent. The event marked the start of a new year of powerful webinars ahead, with new opportunities to be grasped and new challenges to meet head on, and, after everything that has happened over the past two years, attendees were more than ready to make the event count! The Lioness Business Agility Webinar series for 2022 is once again a partnership between Lionesses of Africa and Absa.
The Lioness Business Agility Webinar kicked off with the familiar face and voice of Nomalanga Sitole, the Lioness Enterprise Ambassador at Lionesses of Africa, and the host for the event. She gave some context for the selected theme of the Webinar, explaining that 2022 is going to be a year of focusing on growth, taking our businesses and brands to the next level, and creating more jobs and opportunities for others. She added that Lionesses of Africa will also, together with its partners, be focusing attention on how we can develop and upskill ourselves as women entrepreneurs on the personal growth front. After all, if our businesses are to grow, they need us to be strong women founders and leaders.
The programme officially started with some welcome remarks from Lionesses of Africa founder and ceo, Melanie Hawken. She encouraged all attendees to think about their growth ambitions and to use the start of the new year to really focus on attaining those growth goals throughout the next 12 months, not forgetting to learn the lessons from the past couple of tough years. She encouraged everyone to think proactively about collaboration with other women entrepreneurs, supporting one another through business, peer to peer mentoring, and as consumers.
L-R: Nomalanga Sitole, Melanie Hawken, Dr Langa Simela, Gwen Mahuma, Michelle Geere, Sasha Knott, Mampho Sotshongaye, Refilwe Sebothoma
Next on the programme was Dr Langa Simela, Business Development Manager, Agribusiness at Absa. A real champion of women entrepreneurs, Dr Langa started her welcome remarks by sharing some valuable economic insights, taking attendees through South Africa’s current recovery phase following the negative impact of the Covid-19 pandemic. She explained that momentum is building slowly, giving confidence to both consumers and business. Dr Langa also provided highlights on how Absa has supported business during the past two years, from enhanced customer propositions and relief, to greater customer engagement and outreach. She also took the opportunity to reflect on how the bank is understanding changes to the business environment and advising clients accordingly, providing a fascinating example of the use of dark kitchens in the restaurant and fast-food sector. She also encouraged the use of Absa’s cash flow manager tool, an accounting system that is linked to the client’s transactional account and enables the client to manage their finances digitally.
Next on the programme was a woman entrepreneur who knows all about growing successful businesses across a range of business sectors. Gwen Mahuma is the Director of Mahuma Investment Holdings (Pty) Ltd, or MIH as it is better known, an investment company with interests in South Africa’s Steel and Infrastructure sectors. Gwen is someone who knows what it takes to build strong growth companies in tough industry sectors. She is a dynamic, proactive entrepreneur and a real supporter of women’s empowerment through entrepreneurship, and she has a keen eye for new business opportunities. Gwen shared her experiences of what it takes to grow multiple businesses to the next level.
Following a fascinating and insightful first half of the programme, host Nomalanga Sitole introduced a panel discussion featuring a group of inspirational and highly experienced women entrepreneurs. They shared their own personal and business insights around the theme of turning a big vision into a high growth business. Panelists included Michelle Geere, founder, Adbot; Sasha Knott, MD, Job Crystal; Mampho Sotshongaye, founder, Golden Rewards 1981 Construction; and Refilwe Sebothoma, founder, PBM Group. The discussion covered a range of topics including how to grow a small business by harnessing the power of digital advertising; how to create job opportunities for local people and investing in skills development to create high growth workforces; how to use technology to bring the right talent on board to achieve growth; and how to effective manage a growing workforce and harness their potential.
The Lioness Business Agility webinar wrapped up with host, Nomalanga Sitole, providing her take-out of learnings from the event, reitterating that if we want our businesses to really grow and fulfill our visions and ambitions, then we need to harness the power of technology; collaborate with other women entrepreneurs; actively look for opportunities and seize them when they appear; and stay focused on that growth.
The next Lioness Business Agility webinar will be taking place in April 2022 - look out for forthcoming details on the Lionesses of Africa website www.lionessesofafrica.com
