Event Report

The final Lioness Business Agility Webinar of the year in South Africa, as always hosted in partnership with Absa, took place on Friday 17 November, with a special focus on the theme of “Celebrating Women Entrepreneurs as Job Creators”. The event, which brought together 150 women entrepreneurs from across the country, aimed to recognise and support the work and commitment of women entrepreneurs who are helping to drive economic growth. Not only are these inspirational women entrepreneurs creating much-needed jobs in South Africa with their businesses, they are also creating sustainable impact too.

The latest in the series of Lioness Business Agility webinars for 2023 once again focused on stimulating great conversations with highly experienced women entrepreneurs from across the Lionesses of Africa community in South Africa on the subject of job creation. Every entrepreneur in the audience was a great example of how to build impact-driven, sustainable businesses and brands, and importantly creating jobs - both for themselves and for others. The event programme created a platform to share experiences of creating jobs, to discuss challenges faced, to showcase success stories, and also to hear their thoughts on what women entrepreneurs in South Africa need in terms of support to create more jobs in the future.

The event also marked two other milestones. Firstly, Lionesses of Africa celebrated it’s 9th birthday, having officially launched on 19 November 2014, and today is proud to announce that it’s community of women entrepreneurs now stands at 1.7 million across all 54 African countries. Secondly, the event marked the official launch of the annual South African Women Entrepreneurs Job Creators Report, now in its third year. The programme aimed to share some of the highlights and trends that our Lioness Data team have uncovered this year. As always, the report makes for really interesting reading.

Attendees at the event also had the opportunity to meet and listen to the latest news from partner, Absa, who shared how the bank is proactively supporting the growth of women entrepreneur-led SMEs in order to further stimulate economic growth and job creation. The newly launched Absa Business She Thrives proposition was announced for women entrepreneurs in South Africa to support their current and future growth. Preshan Rambridge, Executive: SME Regions, Gauteng South at Absa, who is a real supporter of women entrepreneurs, shared more about the bank’s strategy to support women-owned SMEs. Weli Ntuli, Area Segment Manager – SME at Absa, a pivotal point of contact for women entrepreneurs in South Africa looking for advice and support for their businesses, presented more detail on the new banking proposition and answered questions from the audience.

The event programme got underway with welcoming remarks from Nomalanga Sitole, Lioness Enterprise Ambassador at Lionesses of Africa. She gave a big welcome to attendees and kickstarted the programme with an introduction to Thuli Zikalala, founder of Yellow Owl, who has been the sign language interpreter for Lionesses of Africa for those women entrepreneurs in the audience who are deaf or hard of hearing. Thuli has been an impactful member of Team Lioness for the past few years, creating access to the Lioness Business Agility webinars and helping to deliver on Lionesses of Africa’s ethos of leaving no woman entrepreneur behind. She is an inspirational Lioness of Africa.

Welcoming remarks came next on the programme from Lionesses of Africa founder and ceo, Melanie Hawken, followed by Preshan Rambridge, Executive: SME Regions, Gauteng South at Absa. Preshan is a real champion of women entrepreneurs and understands the power of building sustainable growth businesses that create much needed jobs in the country. Preshan’s remarks were followed by the new Absa Business She Thrives video presentation.

Melanie returned to share news of the official launch of the annual South Africa Women Entrepreneur Job Creators Report, now in its third year, produced with the support of Absa. She shared some of the findings and highlights with audience members, giving them much to think about on their own entrepreneurial job creation journeys. Melanie also took the time to encourage everyone to reflect on and acknowledge the impact women entrepreneurs make through their businesses to create the jobs that South Africa, and the African continent as a whole, so badly needs.

The programme then moved onto the highlight of the programme, the Panel Discussion, with the launch of the South Africa Women Entrepreneur Job Creators Report giving everyone much to talk about. The discussion was moderated by Nomalanga Sitole and featured women entrepreneurs who are all job creators in South Africa, including: Mapholo Ratau, founder, Ledikana; Shantelle Booysen, founder, Elim Spa Products; Boikano Sikwane, founder, Chuck Chilli Foods; and Rebecca Tshuma, founder, Becks Foods.

Shantelle was the first panelist to kickstart the discussion. She is a highly experienced woman entrepreneur and her spa products business has been an industry leader for the past 2 decades, winning many industry accolades including: exporter of the year, entrepreneur of the year and National Gazelles, an award given by South Africa’s minister of small business. She currently exports to 14 countries, has an impressive range of 34 distinctive products, and has created jobs for 5 full-time employees. She shared the challenges of finding employees with the skills needed but also importantly the right attitude, and acknowledged the importance of ongoing skills development in the business. Her personal philosophy embraces the belief that an entrepreneur’s legacy should not be measured in monetary assets but rather in the positive impact made on individuals’ lives. She shared how creating jobs and helping people to fulfill their potential and become economically independent fits into this philosophy.

Next in the panel discussion was Boikano Sikwane, founder, Chuck Chilli Foods, a specialist food production business launched in 2019, with a much-loved chilli sauce range retailing both in physical stores and online to reach customers nationwide. The business currently employs 8 people, mostly youth. She shared what personally drives her to create jobs, particularly for young people in her business. She spoke about the opportunity to create more new jobs for youth in her business and industry sector going forward. She also shared her strategy for growth and expansion through partnerships with local farmers for the supply of raw ingredients, and also contract manufacturing for part of the process.

Rebecca Tshuma, founder of Becks Foods joined the discussion with some high impact business building experiences to share. For Rebecca, farming has been passed down the generations in her family, starting with her grandparents, which inspired her to pursue a career in the culinary, agricultural and hospitality industry. After joining the Christina Martin School of Food and Wine, and qualifying Cum Laude as a chef, it earned Rebecca the title ‘Chef Becks’, and she started her own business Becks Foods. Today, she has created 6 full-time jobs and has 24 in-service students. She shared her personal drive to create jobs and training opportunities for young people in the food industry, and the challenges encountered in creating jobs in her industry sector? She also spoke about the need for more specialist training and development for a new generation of chefs and food service staff.

The final panelist to share her extensive knowledge and experience was Mapholo Ratau, founder of Ledikana, a highly established decade-long lifestyle brand in South Africa which is known and loved by many, both at home and abroad, with a distinctive range of products that are both distinctive and memorable. The business specializes in the manufacturing and retailing of contemporary African clothing and accessories targeted at locals, tourists, business travellers, employees, hotels, and corporations in and around OR Tambo International Airport and the Melrose Arch precinct in South Africa, where her retail businesses operate. Mapholo has created 6 full-time and 2 independent contracting jobs, and also supports a women’s project in Limpopo and Gauteng producing Merino Wool into felt fabric for her products. She shared her passion for creating jobs in her industry sector, and about how hard is it to find skilled employees. She also spoke about the biggest opportunities for job creation in the fashion and clothing sector, and what support is needed to turn those opportunities into reality.

The formal part of the programme ended with a presentation by Weli Ntuli, Area Segment Manager – SME at Absa, who shared more information and answered questions on the Absa Business She Thrives Presentation and the support for women entrepreneurs’ business growth, including access to funding, specialist advice and information. Absa has created this exciting new proposition for women SMEs in South Africa, so Weli encouraged attendees to read the brochure to find out more, or to send an email for a direct conversation. Weli spent the rest of the session answering questions from audience members and sharing more information on financial support and advice.

It’s always wonderful to celebrate women entrepreneurs as job creators, but also women entrepreneurs as creators of world class products. So wrap up the event, and to celebrate the final Lioness Business Agility Webinar of the year, there was also a fabulous end-of-year giveaway prize draw, featuring 5 wonderful gifts produced by 5 women entrepreneurs from the Lionesses of Africa community - these included: Carmen Stevens, founder of Carmen Stevens Wines; Ann Finch, co-founder of The Chocolatiers; Adri Williams, ceo of Khayalitsha Cookies; Natalie and Kim Ellis, co-founders of The Joinery; and Brenda Wilkinson, co-founder of Rio Largo Olive Oil.

A big thank went to Absa for procuring the gifts for the Prize Giveaway and showing their support for South Africa’s women owned brands. Five lucky winners were selected by Absa from the audience and prizes included: A wine selection from Carmen Stevens Wines (valued at R500); a selection of luxury boxed bonbons and chocolate truffles from The Chocolatiers (valued at R500); a beautiful and impactful Tote made from recycled bottles from The Joinery (valued at R500); a delicious cookie and treat hamper box from Khayalitsha Cookies (valued at R500); and a hamper of award-winning olive oils from Rio Largo (valued at R500).

The event closed out with remarks from Melanie Hawken and Nomalanga Sitole, who once again thanked Absa for their continuing support over the past year, and to all the hundreds of women entrepreneurs who have participated in the events as attendees, speakers and supporters. They were encouraged to get inspired and motivated to grow their businesses and create those much needed jobs, with the help of the new Absa Business She Thrives proposition for women entrepreneurs.

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