Event Report

The fourth in the series of Lioness Business Agility Webinars for 2023 took place on 16 August, hosted by Lionesses of Africa in partnership with Absa, and attracting an audience of 160 women entrepreneurs from South Africa. The theme of the webinar focused on “Business growth and getting funding ready,” and provided a focal point for National Women’s Month commemorations in South Africa. The aim was to celebrate women entrepreneurs who are helping to drive economic growth and create much-needed jobs with their businesses, recognizing that when their businesses grow, so too does the country’s economy. The event shone a particular spotlight on the important topic of business growth and how women entrepreneurs can get their businesses funding ready to support that growth.

So, with these aims in mind, the August edition of the Lioness Business Agility Webinar created a great conversation line up, featuring women entrepreneurs from the Lionesses of Africa community in South Africa who are building growth businesses and brands, and creating jobs. The audience was keen to hear their experiences of how they are successfully growing their businesses, accessing new markets, and getting funding ready. Lioness Enterprise Ambassador, Nomalanga Sitole, once again was the host for the event, providing energy and insights and driving the conversation.

The event also included two exciting announcements for women entrepreneurs. The first one saw Melanie Hawken, founder and ceo of Lionesses of Africa launching the latest in the series of digital Lioness Playbooks - this new one is titled “Get Your Business Funding Ready. The Playbook aims to help women entrepreneurs in growth mode to learn how to prepare their businesses to take those all important meetings with banks and other financial institutions to get the growth funding they need. The Lionesses of Africa ‘Get Your Business Funding Ready Playbook’ has been produced with the support of Absa.

Speaking about the launch of the new Playbook, Melanie said:

“Talk to most woman entrepreneurs and they will say that getting access to funding is a real game-changer for business growth. It means they can take control of the future trajectory of their business and fulfill its potential. But I hear from women entrepreneurs all the time that applying for funding support from a bank can be a daunting process. But it doesn’t have to be! With the right funding support and importantly the right business financial advice, women entrepreneurs can be empowered to confidently make important strategic decisions, expand their businesses into new markets, and invest in growth opportunities. So Lionesses, it’s time to help you get your businesses funding ready. We want to help you make the process less daunting, and to give you the confidence you need to take those meetings with your bank. That’s why we are launching the Lioness Get Your Business Funding Ready Playbook.”

Next on the programme was Ronnie Mbatsane, Managing Executive at Absa, who is a real Lioness Key Champion of women entrepreneurs. He shared how the bank is proactively supporting the growth of women entrepreneur-led SMEs in South Africa in order to further stimulate economic growth and job creation, saying:

“As key contributors to our society, Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) are a critical part of our strategy, and we strive to cater for their unique needs through financial and non-financial support. In addition, it is vital that we recognize the contribution of women entrepreneurs in job creation and the growth of the South African economy. One of the ways in which we support women entrepreneurs to achieve their full potential is by meeting their needs holistically through our wide range of innovative products and services and our enterprise development programme.”

The second exciting announcement at the Lioness Business Agility Webinar special Women’s Month edition was provided by Weli Ntuli, Area Segment Manager – SME at Absa. She launched the new and much anticipated Absa SME Women Customer Value Proposition to the audience, which is a direct and proactive response on the part of Absa to better support the growth needs of women entrepreneurs in South Africa. Weli and the Absa SME team took part in a Q & A session with the audience, answering questions about the new proposition and providing greater insights for those women entrepreneurs looking to grow their businesses and get funding ready.

As always at the Lioness Business Agility Webinars, one of the highlights of the programme is hearing from an inspirational woman entrepreneur who is invited to share her business startup story with the audience. This time, it was the turn of Sewela Setshogoe, founder of Lefata Engineering. Regular readers of Lioness Weekender will know that Sewela is a South African entrepreneur operating in the traditionally tough and highly specialized engineering industry sector. Her engineering services and construction business operates mainly within the mining and manufacturing industries. She is a business in growth mode, creating jobs and undertaking turnkey and high quality projects for large corporates and businesses across different sectors, with a specific focus on the mining industry. Sewela’s story of building and growing her business was really inspirational, giving the audience much to think about.

A panel discussion followed on the theme of the morning - Business growth and getting funding ready. Three women entrepreneurs were invited to participate in the discussion, including: Kealeboga Tshikovhi, founder, Lamo BioFuel; Unathi Singata, founder, Unoshea; and Millicent Motsoeri, founder, Heita Ngamla Holidays. Lioness Enterprise Ambassador, Nomalanga Sitole, moderated the conversation, asking a range of questions from how to create a strategy for growth; how to leverage green business credentials and track record to tap into the growing funding interest in green business and sustainability; and how to identify new growth and funding opportunities and then prepare to maximize those business opportunities when they arise. The discussion was lively and informative, and in turn, attracted a range of questions from audience members.

The event came to a close with Lionesses of Africa founder and ceo, Melanie Hawken, encouraging women entrepreneurs in the audience to download their copies of the Lioness Get Your Business Funding Ready Playbook and click on the link to the newly launched Absa SME Women Customer Value Proposition.

To find out more, click on the links below:

The Lioness Playbook Series - Get Your Business Funding Ready Playbook is available to all women entrepreneurs as a digital download from Lionesses of Africa - https://issuu.com/lionessesofafrica/docs/get_your_business_funding_ready_playbook?fr=xIAEoAT3_NTU1.

For more information on funding support for women entrepreneurs from Absa SME Business Team at Absa Relationship Banking - https://www.absa.co.za/business/funding-my-business/short-medium-solutions/explore/