Lioness Business Agility Event Report
Lionesses of Africa’s new event year started with a bang as the first Lioness Business Agility Webinar of 2024, took place on 14 February, with 120 women entrepreneurs predominantly from South Africa joining the event online. Once again hosted in partnership with Absa, the webinar focused on the theme of “New Year, New Green Business Growth”. It’s an important topic and Lionesses of Africa believes in the need to recognise and support the work and commitment of women entrepreneurs who are building green, sustainable businesses and driving economic growth. They are creating much-needed jobs with their businesses, whilst also creating sustainable impact too.
As with all Lioness Business Agility Webinars, the event focused on creating a great conversation featuring highly experienced women entrepreneurs from our Lionesses of Africa community in South Africa who are building impact-driven, sustainable businesses and brands, and importantly creating green jobs - both for themselves and for others. The aim was to hear their experiences, the challenges they have faced, their success stories, and also their thoughts on what women entrepreneurs in South Africa need in terms of support to create more sustainable green businesses in the future. Adding depth to the conversation was the team from 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 team shared news and insights on the Absa Business She Thrives proposition and the bank’s strategy to support women-owned SMEs.
Nomalanga Sitole (L), Melanie Hawken (R)
Host Nomalanga Sitole, Lionesses of Africa Enterprise Ambassador kicked off the session by introducing the theme and the guest speakers and panelists for the webinar. First up to speak was Lionesses of Africa founder and ceo, Melanie Hawken, who shared her insights and information on LoA’s focus on helping more women entrepreneurs to build sustainable green businesses in 2024. She said: “Women entrepreneurs are leading the charge in creating businesses that prioritize social and environmental impacts. Not only are women entrepreneurs contributing to the growth of green businesses and sustainable green jobs, but they are also promoting the need for gender equity in historically male-dominated industry sectors. As women continue to make strides in sustainability, we can expect to see more impactful and environmentally responsible businesses emerge on the African continent.”
Hleziphi Siyothula-Mtshizana (L), Katlego Modisane (R)
As the theme for the event was New Year, New Green Business Growth, it was the perfect platform for Katlego Modisane, Analyst: Renewable Energy, Absa, to share her insights and business sustainability tips with women entrepreneurs in the audience. Speaking on the event theme and with a real focus on the women entrepreneur experiences was Hleziphi Siyothula-Mtshizana, founder of In Pursuit Renewable Energy, a sustainability-focused South African project development, energy efficiency and alternative power solutions business. She provided a unique insight into what it takes to build a growing business in the renewable energy sector in Africa, and shared her advice for others looking to break into the sector with their own businesses.
Vignesh Subramani (L), Khanya Matshikwe (R)
Next up on the programme was Vignesh Subramani, Head: Sales Planning, SME Business, Absa, who shared insights on the bank’s support for women entrepreneurs and their growth businesses, through its Absa Business She Thrives proposition. He also introduced Khanya Matshikwe, Head: Customer Value Propositions, Absa, who gave a great insight into the role she will be fulfilling in support of the bank’s women entrepreneur value proposition and its key ambitions.
The popular Lioness Panel Discussion followed with women entrepreneurs from the Lionesses of Africa community sharing their experiences of growing sustainable green businesses, accessing new markets, and getting funding ready for greater growth in 2024. On the panel were three sustainable South African women-owned businesses including:
Songo Didiza, founder, Green Building Design Group; Songo's business uses innovative design concepts and technologies to implement an integrated ESG strategy for real estate and infrastructure projects.
(L-R) Songo Didiza, Claire Reid Blanckenberg, Mauricia Cox
Claire Reid Blanckenberg, founder, Reel Gardening; Claire invented and patented a new process for planting seed known today as Reel Gardening. The company has sustainably grown since, including the development of a school growing program amongst others.
Mauricia Cox, founder, Wellchemco; Mauricia's wellness company is dedicated to revolutionizing the beauty industry, formulating personal care and cosmetics from clean chemicals that do not have a detrimental effect on our water sources.
Each of the panelists was given the opportunity to introduce their businesses and share their insights on a range of sustainable business topics. The panel also took questions from the audience.
Weli Ntuli
The final speaker on the programme was Weli Ntuli, Area Segment Manager SME, Absa, who gave a more detailed update on the offerings included in the Absa SME Woman Customer Value Proposition, and answered questions from the audience.
The webinar wrapped up with Lionesses of Africa founder and ceo, Melanie Hawken, giving the closing remarks and informing the audience of the various tools and resources available from the Lionesses of Africa team and on the portal.
The next Lioness Business Agility webinar will be hosted on 17 April 2024 - more programme details will be shared on the Lionesses of Africa website - www.lionessesofafrica.com