LIONESS WEEKENDER COVER STORY
Start-Up Night Africa on 11 July 2023 in The Hague, The Netherlands aims to stimulate investment and international market access for Africa's women entrepreneurs
With support from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in The Netherlands and the Dutch entrepreneurial development bank (FMO), Lionesses of Africa has set up the Start-Up Night Africa event in The Hague, taking place on 11 July 2023. This initiative aims to showcase high-growth, women-owned businesses from Africa and connect them to investment and market opportunities in The Netherlands. Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Cooperation, Liesje Schreinemacher, will deliver the opening remarks at the event, together with Lionesses of Africa founder and ceo, Melanie Hawken. The Start-Up Night Africa event will also celebrate the opening of the European office of Lionesses of Africa.
The programme for Start-Up Night Africa in The Hague has been developed to provide a platform for women entrepreneurs to pitch their businesses to an audience of potential investors, corporate buyers, government representatives and entrepreneur eco-system representatives. The aim is to connect impact-driven women-owned businesses from across the African continent to both investment for growth and new market opportunities.
The women-owned businesses being showcased at Start-Up Night Africa include:
Taeillo, an e-Commerce furniture and lifestyle business (Nigeria)
Wonderbag, a sustainable energy cooking solution (South Africa)
Premier Credit, a Pan African Challenger bank for SMEs (Zambia)
Savanna Premium Chocolate, Zambia’s first bean-to-bar chocolate manufacturer (Zambia)
GBRI Business Solutions (Eatfresh), a growing agribusiness (Tanzania)
Oryx Desert Salt, a sustainable, natural desert salt business (South Africa)
Pure & Just Food, a climate-smart agribusiness specializing in dried fruit products (Ghana)
Exotic EPZ, a macadamia nut agribusiness (Kenya)
Habeshaview, an advanced technology/multimedia platform streaming accessible, affordable content with Amharic, English, French and Arabic subtitles (Ethiopia)
Carmen Stevens Wines, an award-winning wine producer (South Africa)
Carmen Stevens Wines Pty Ltd
Carmen Stevens Wines Pty Ltd, is a multi-award winning, black-and-woman owned winery creating impact in South Africa. Founder, Carmen Stevens, is the first black person accepted to study winemaking in South Africa and qualified in 1995 as South Africa's first black winemaker. In 2019, Carmen registered the first 100% black-and-woman owned winery in Stellenbosch, South Africa and was awarded South Africa’s Entrepreneur of the Year in 2017 and 2019. Carmen was recognised with a Top 10 Pinotage award in 1998 for her very first red wine production, and her wines continue to win recognition and industry awards every year. The Carmen Stevens NPO was registered in 2015, and today the foundation provides over 25000 learners from 125 schools in the Western Cape with a nutritious breakfast and lunch. Read more
Exotic EPZ
Exotic EPZ is a female-owned, agro-based social enterprise, with its plant operations based in Nairobi, Kenya. The company purchases macadamia nuts from smallholder farmers, and processes and exports high quality kernels to the US and Europe. Currently the business has created over 180 jobs and markets for over 5000 farmers in the country. The company processes its nuts under the guidelines of FSSC 22000 food safety systems and quality management principles, working with farmers to ensure sustainable production. Exotic EPZ is also committed to contributing to the achievement of Sustainable Development Goals, specifically SDG 1, 5, 8, 12 and 13. Read more
GBRI Business Solutions (Eatfresh)
GBRI specializes in growing, processing, and selling premium fresh fruits and vegetables in domestic and export markets. Its vision is to be among the leading horticultural companies in the region with a full value chain integrated model.
The company sources its produce from 5000 contracted smallholder farmers from southern and northern highlands of Tanzania. The company supports its smallholder farmers with technical training, extension services, input loans, handling equipment and transport services, thereby guaranteeing produce quality and compliance with International standards. GBRI’s out-growers program has helped the company to ensure consistency and quality in supply. Read more
habeshaview
habeshaview, a multi-faceted media, entertainment and technology company in Ethiopia. With a user-friendly OTT platform and apps to provide a premium viewing experience that includes live channels, Video on Demand, audio channels with a catch-up service of content sourced from a wide variety of studios in multiple languages, monetization model and the options to geo blocking some territories. habeshaview’s feature rich white label OTT solution with mobile and TV apps is available to third party broadcasters, telcos and network operators to license and customize with corporate branding. Read more
Oryx Desert Salt
Oryx Desert Salt is a naturally organic, pure crystal-white gourmet salt – sundried, mineral rich, unrefined, unpolluted and free from plastic, additives or chemicals.
Oryx Desert Salt is sourced from an ancient, ever-replenishing, sustainable underground salt lake in the pristine and remote Kalahari Desert of Southern Africa.
Environmentally responsible, Oryx Desert Salt is committed to #RefillNotLandfill packaging. Oryx Desert Salt is loved by chefs from around the world for its unique and exceptional taste, which enhances and enriches the flavour of food. The business is now focused on growing its international markets. Read more
PremierCredit
PremierCredit is a multi-award winning and fast growing Pan African Challenger bank for SMEs that is democratizing access to digital financial services for the unbanked population through an online micro-lending and investment platform. PremierCredit contributes to economic growth though supporting SMEs, who form the backbone of economies in emerging markets, with capacity building through financial literacy as well as providing working capital solutions and investment services. By introducing previously disadvantaged income groups into formal financial services, PremierCredit is contributing positively to financial inclusion. Read more
Pure and Just Food
Pure and Just Food is a dynamic, youth-powered, and women-led Ghanaian company catalysing African potential through climate-smart agribusiness. The company transforms fresh fruit into natural, tropical dried fruit products (mango, pineapple, pawpaw, and banana) and in doing so, catalyses African potential through climate-smart agro-processing that creates sustainable jobs, raises incomes, and protects the environment. The company aims to scale its capacity to supply natural global food companies, tapping into the growing global market for dried fruit (valued at approximately $7 billion and the European market for tropical dried fruit alone which is increasing at an annual growth rate of 5-7%.). Read more
Savanna Premium Chocolate
Savanna Premium Chocolate is Zambian’s first bean-to-bar chocolate manufacturer founded in 2018. We are a woman-owned company that hires women from underprivileged backgrounds. Our products are sold in specialty stores, supermarkets, hotels and corporations in Zambia and Tanzania. We use the finest single-origin natural cocoa beans, exotic fruits, and superfoods from Africa (e.g., Moringa, Baobab). We purchase our cocoa beans directly from a women’s cooperative to ensure the best and freshest quality while empowering them to create sustainable futures through direct trade. We are the first African-grown and produced chocolate to win the International Chocolate Awards, and we are now focused on growing our international markets. Read more
Taeillo
Taeillo is an e-Commerce furniture and lifestyle brand in Nigeria, on a mission to help Africans with big dreams on a budget live better and work better in their homes and workplaces. Taeillo, which represents the African style, colour and culture, offers customers a product range which includes sofas, chairs, tables, and a wide range of home accessories, as well as custom-made pieces. It is the first e-commerce furniture business in Nigeria to enhance its customers’ experience by allowing them to envision their lifestyle purchases, via augmented reality and virtual reality. Read more
Wonderbag
Wonderbag is a heat retention cooking solution, enabling women to have more time to earn an income and girls to get back to school instead of cooking all day. The business model is built on empowering entrepreneurs across the supply chain, bringing dignity and freedom to vulnerable communities across Africa. Founded by Sarah Collins in 2008, the Wonderbag was developed as a solution to the South African energy shortage which forced blackouts across the country, with the aim of allowing families to continue cooking daily meals even with the absence of power.
The Wonderbag was inspired by a method her grandmother had used in the 1970s to help save power when cooking. Sarah knew straight away that this simple idea had the potential to change billions of lives around the world. Read more
The Start-Up Night Africa event in The Hague will also introduce a short video showreel featuring four young women entrepreneurs pitching their businesses virtually from Ghana, Nigeria, Sudan and DRC who are part of the Orange Corners initiative of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The Start-Up Night Africa event will also provide the platform for the official launch of the Lionesses of Africa European office in The Netherlands, which is on a mission to catalyze partnerships between governments, academia and the private sectors to build and deliver impactful, sustainable and scalable solutions that empower Africa’s women entrepreneurs. Lionesses of Africa aims to contribute and add value to social impact innovation in Europe for the benefit of women entrepreneurs on the African continent.
For more information about Start-Up Night Africa, The Hague, on 11 July 2023, send an email to: events@lionessesofafrica.com