the pride of Africa's women entrepreneurs
by Lionesses of Africa Operations Dept
Negotiation, a word that brings fear into many, not least because it usually involves two or more parties that are not close, don’t know much about each other, and are not sure as yet if their counterpart can be trusted to ‘negotiate in good faith’. Easy to be overwhelmed.
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by Lionesses of Africa Operations Dept
Without doubt the above is a beautiful picture from the UN Economic Commission for Africa’s recent publication entitled: “Increasing women’s access to capital critical in Africa’s fight against poverty.” Sub-titled: “Women entrepreneurs continue to face greater barriers to accessing financing for their businesses”, see here.
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By Lionesses of Africa Operations Dept
“You have power over your mind, not outside events. Realize this, and you will find strength.” So wrote Marcus Aurelius (seen above in a statue in Rome fittingly with a beautiful Blue Sky above him) in his book Meditations (here), which without doubt would have been a global best-seller at the time had he actually published it, given he was the last of the ‘Five Good Emperors of Rome’ at the end the era ‘Pax Romana’, controlling most of the known world at the time. However it was not published, they were writings only for him and him alone, which in a way adds great strength - they were not written to impress or to dictate or even to guide others, but more of a personal daily exercise, a mantra.
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By Lionesses of Africa Operations Dept
Every so often we come across real life practical issues amongst our Lionesses and even from outside of our inspirational membership as we talk, mentor and occasionally consult to these companies. Sharing the issues and the practical solutions we find, helps others who are in the same position. Obviously no names will be mentioned, but these are all generic problems that can potentially hit us all and from the experiences of others, we all can learn.
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By Lionesses of Africa Operations Dept
Last weekend we showed that one of the best ways to keep good employees and to encourage them to invest their lives into your dream, was through training. We quoted the great Ben Horowitz, (in his book here) who found out that one reason employees left was “The company wasn’t investing resources in helping employees develop new skills.”
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By the Lionesses of Africa Operations Dept
What is it that really creates a loyal customer base? This is the constant question that has hung over entrepreneurs for centuries, even Charles Dickens realized that if he was to successfully write in magazines (how his books first appeared, chapter by chapter), he’d better have a shock or WOW! moment at the end of each chapter to encourage the sales of the next magazine.
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By the Lionesses of Africa Operations Dept
Marc Andreessen, cofounder of a16z with Ben Horowitz, likes to joke “…the best thing about startups is that you only ever experience two emotions: euphoria and terror. And I find that lack of sleep enhances them both.”
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By the Lionesses of Africa Operations Department
‘Doing right’ means different things to different people, but in business it is absolutely essential and represents your core values. The above photo showing the impact that UZURI K&Y, the Rwandan business founded by entrepreneurs Kevine Kagirimpundu and Ysolde Shimwe, has had on so many lives as a perfect example of this. So, “What are the core values of your business?” could have been the title this week…
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By Lionesses of Africa Operations Dept
Since our previous letter in March on the EU’s move to legislate ESG to all via the financial world (here), where financial companies marketing their products within the EU now have to prove if they are ESG compliant (or not, they do have the choice). To take this seriously at a high level and to show this is not just a tick-box exercise, there is no doubt now (as we foretold) that this will filter quickly through to corporations and their supply chains. The finance world (if it wants the ESG tick) must pay attention, research, investigate and invest with ESG in mind.
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By The Lionesses of Africa Operations Dept
Easter is for many across the world a time of hope and new beginnings, but what if the world is in a dark place at the time? There have been times when something small but positive has ballooned into something huge and the globe has grabbed this light and given itself a new energy. Sometimes it can even be something daft, but the smiles and humour generated can do wonders for our mental well-being, that over the previous years had been sorely tested. We are herding animals, we are drawn to each other, we gain energy from each other and together (as we all know) we are stronger. How can this be harnessed for our businesses?
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By the Lionesses of Africa Operations Dept
The world famous free solo (alone and with no rope!) climber Alex Honnold as pictured above (whilst climbing the face of the world’s most famous rock, the 3,200ft El Capitan in Yosemite National Park) yes, we’ll just say that again - with no rope, says that often his most dangerous moment on any climb is just before the end when the climb starts to level off towards the top of the mountain and he starts to relax. That is when he is far more likely to slip and fall than when he is vertical, clinging to a crack a thousand metres above the ground. See the terrifying trailer from National Geographic here of the film by Jimmy Chin of this amazing assent. The film, "Free Solo" even won an Oscar for best documentary.
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By the Lionesses of Africa Operations Dept
March 10th was a big day in Europe. On that day the EU Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulations came into force, requiring “…investment funds to show how sustainability risks are incorporated into their investment decisions. This applies not only to fund managers, financial advisers and many other regulated firms in the EU, but also to non-EU [finance] managers marketing into the EU.”
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By the Lionesses of Africa Operations Dept
“If knowledge is power, knowing what you don't know is wisdom.”, so wrote Adam Grant, the renowned professor of psychology at Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania in his new book, “Think Again: The Power of Knowing What You Don't Know,”. One of the basic frustrations he has is that: Too many people in the world listen to opinions that make them feel good, instead of ideas that make them think harder.
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By the Lionesses of Africa Operations Dept
“No one can label you a failure when what you are trying to do is audacious. Botching something easy is a failure. Failing in an attempt to achieve something huge is just courageous.”
…as stated by the fabulous Anne Boden, who against all the odds founded Starling Bank in the UK. Read Melanie’s review of her book here and indeed we too wrote around her book in our Blog entitled ‘Dreaming with Ambition’ here, (so clearly we are fans!). But that one message above from her book ‘Banking On It: How I Disrupted an Industry’, is interesting because great leaders do not worry so much about being labelled (Elon Musk, for example, would stay under the duvet if labels concerned him!). What is noticeable is that they encourage their employees, their teams to reach for the sky, to go for the huge, not because they are relaxed about risk, (in fact they respect risk, never fear it), but exactly because this encourages far greater results for their employees and for their businesses.
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Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Director-General of the World Trade Organization | photo courtesy of ngoziokonjoiweala.com
by the Lionesses of Africa Operations Department
We have to immediately state (for those of a fearful nature) that the Lioness cub in the above incredible picture by Sarah Skinner that won the Comedy Wildlife Photograph of the Year 2019, did survive unhurt (somehow!). But it shows clearly that for all of us there are differing levels of understanding and appreciation of risk, in this case both for the cub and for the unsuspecting male who would assume that no one is that daft. As Einstein would agree, Risk is Relative! (Feeling brave? Zoom in and see those claws!)
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by the Lionesses of Africa Operations Department
We have discussed the issues with male dominated finance previously (here) and how imbalances built into applications affect women (as Ai is sadly beginning to show us). Although it is great news that more women are being invited onto bank’s boards, until the Credit and Risk committees and their ‘tick boxes’ are redesigned to remove this strange but deep held belief that women’s businesses are more risky, we shall continue to hear the complaints from many who have raised funding ‘to invest in women’s businesses’ that they have searched high and low, yet been unable to find enough women in which to invest. As the AfDB’s Dr Jennifer Blanke said at the The Global Gender Summit 2019, Kigali: “We know that women are a good bet. We know they pay back. We know they run excellent businesses – and yet they are not getting financed” (here).
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By the Lionesses of Africa Operations Department
According to the FT (here), there is “a new corporate currency, and it is a composite of three factors: purpose, why [the company] does what it does; culture, what staff experience; and brand, its reputation. The era of non-financial data transparency and advanced stakeholder capitalism is upon us. Corporate stakeholders, from employees and customers to board members, investors, partners and regulators, are calling for greater disclosure of information related to the “four P’s”: people, profit, planet and purpose. All corporations must prepare for a future in which details of their work in these areas are open to all.”
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by the Lionesses of Africa Operations Dept
Kaizen is Japanese for ‘continuous improvement’, literally Kai (change) Zen (good) and has a great following amongst the business community in Japan for whom large scale, sudden and ‘disruptive’ moves are not often encouraged. Kaizen allows them to adapt and grow their businesses over time to keep ahead of the competition. It should be pointed out that ‘Over time’ is a little different in Japan where nine of the oldest companies in the world sit.
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