the pride of Africa's women entrepreneurs
by Nkemdilim Uwaje Begho
“At least 40% of all businesses will die in the next 10 years… if they don’t figure out how to change their entire company to accommodate new technologies.” — John Chambers
Digital Transformation is often pigeonholed as an IT topic or project that only concerns the CIO or CTO….but it is much more than that. It is really all about rethinking your business in the Digital Age.
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Dr Gladys Kalema- Zikusoka
Awards and Accolades
This week, Conservation Through Public Health (CTPH), headed by social entrepreneur and renowned gorilla conservationist, Dr Gladys Zikusoka, has been announced the winner of the prestigious St Andrews Prize for the Environment 2020. The prize was set up by the University of St Andrews and ConocoPhillips in 1998 to recognize significant contributions to environmental conservation.
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Dr Ola Orekunrin
On a global scale, Nigeria has some major health challenges to contend with, not least of which is that it has one of the worst health indices in the world, currently rated 187th out of 191 WHO member countries. Research has suggested that poor healthcare delivery and a lack of good emergency medical services are major contributing factors to the high morbidity and mortality rates. But one woman entrepreneur is making great strides to change these statistics. Dr Ola Orekunrin, founder of Flying Doctors Nigeria, has built an award winning air ambulance service that is saving lives every day.
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100 Lionesses
National Geographic's new documentary, which highlights mothers working in wildlife conservation and more. National Geographic has just launched a new documentary film, Women of Impact: Changing the World, which features prominent conservationists who discuss how they've shared their careers with their children and inspired them to be passionate about preserving wildlife, too. One of those featured is the inspirational Dr. Gladys Kalema-Zikusoka, a wildlife veterinarian in Uganda, conservation biologist, founder of Conservation Through Public Health and Gorilla Conservation Coffee.
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EbonyLife TV founder Mo Abudu has been announced as the Chair of the 47th International Emmy Awards Gala scheduled for November 25, 2019, in New York. The announcement was made on Tuesday, June 18, via Emmys Instagram handle as they shared a photo of the Nigerian media mogul.
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The CEO of EbonyLife Media, Mo Abudu, has been recognized for her significant contribution to the media industry and awarded the 2019 Médailles d’Honneur at the MIPTV ceremony in Cannes, France, on April 8, 2019. She makes history as the first African and Nigerian recipient of this prestigious award, given to senior executives who have made their mark in the global television industry, as well as contributed to the development of the international television community.
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The globally renowned and multi-award winning Malawian fashion designer, Lilly Alfonso, founder of the luxury fashion brand that carries her name, has just been globally recognized for her work once again. This week, Lilly was invited to attend the 5th Edition Summer 2019 International Fashion Awards in Cairo, Egypt where she was honoured for her work and her luxury fashion brand.
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Dr Divine Ndhlukula, founder of Securico (Zimbabwe)
The annual Forbes Woman Africa Awards took place on the evening of 8 March in Durban, South Africa. One of the highlights of the event was the official recognition of Dr Divine Ndhlukula, founder of Securico in Zimbabwe, as the winner of the prestigious Businesswoman of the Year Award.
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Dr Gladys Kalema Zikusoka (R), founder of Gorilla Conservation Coffee with Melanie Hawken at the Lionesses of Africa ‘Start-up Night Africa!’ event in London 2018
Getting global public and industry acknowledgement for your products is always rewarding, and that is certainly the case for multi-award winning entrepreneur and renowned gorilla conservationist, Dr Gladys Kalema Zikusoka. Her new social enterprise, Gorilla Conservation Coffee, has just been awarding with a top ranking in the prestigious Coffee Review Top 30 Coffees ranking in the USA.
Read moreSource: CNN African Voices | 11 January 2019
Building a fashion brand with a unique personality, great style appeal, and a social conscience can be a tall order for many. But for the talented designer and entrepreneur, Lilly Alfonso, a leading light on the Malawian fashion and business scene, this is the nature of the business and brand she is building.
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Mo Abudu, founder and CEO of EbonyLife Media in Nigeria, has been recognized for outstanding services to broadcasting and enterprise, by the University of Westminster in London. She was presented with an honorary degree of Doctor of Arts.
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Abai Schulze
Award-winning Ethiopian accessory brand, ZAAF, founded by Abai Schulze, has recently announced the exciting news of its planned opening of its new store in Washington DC in the US.
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The Margaret Hirsch 2018 Regional Women in Business Achiever of the Year Awards Evening took place at Emperor’s Palace in Gauteng, South Africa on 2 November. This prestigious event saw over 500 people, including top entrepreneurs and business women from around Gauteng attending the event to see who would be announced as the Regional and Branch winners. The event was co-sponsored by GRUNDIG, one of Hirsch's Homestore's most valued suppliers. Guest Speaker at the event was Melanie Hawken, the founder and CEO of Lionesses of Africa and a Champion of Africa’s Women Entrepreneurs.
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Entrepreneur Bethlehem Tilahun Alemu is on a mission, to encourage consumers around the world to taste hand-roasted Ethiopian coffee. Her company, Garden of Coffee, produces a brand that uses artisanal methods to source, process, roast, and package Ethiopia’s legendary beans. This month sees the brand venturing into an exciting and potentially vast new market, China, traditionally a tea loving market but one whose taste buds are now developing a love for coffee.
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hZimbabwe’s multi-award winning security industry market leader, Securico, founded by Divine Ndhlukula, celebrates its 20th anniversary this month, a real milestone in the company’s history. Speaking at the company’s special anniversary celebrations at its Harare headquarters, Divine said: “The last 20 years have been very exciting for me, for all of us and for our clients and our families. As we celebrate our 20th anniversary and 20 years of quality and excellence, we are also unveiling our new look.”
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At the heart of every great business is a creative solution to a problem—and those solutions sometimes change the world. To assemble TIME’s first annual list of ‘The 50 Most Genius Companies of 2018’, it asked its global network of editors and correspondents to nominate businesses that are inventing the future. Then we evaluated candidates on key factors, including originality, influence, success and ambition. The result: 50 companies that are driving progress now, and bear watching for what they do next. The Wonderbag, created by Sarah Collins, is one of those companies to make the Top 50 list.
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Dorothy van’t Riet, founder and principal designer at DVR Design & Decor Consultants (South Africa)
Internationally renowned interior design guru, Dorothy van’t Riet, founder and principal designer at DVR Design & Decor Consultants in South Africa, is to be celebrated with this year’s 2018 Decorex Designer Spotlight feature stand. The timing is perfect given that DVR is celebrating 30 years in the design industry this year. At Decorex, Dorothy will be creating an individual curated living space filled with beauty, style and colour using some of her favourite pieces that evoke a personal sense of joy. Decorex takes place from 8 to 12 August at the Gallagher Convention Centre in Johannesburg, South Africa.
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Flora Mutahi, founder and ceo of Melvin Marsh International (Kenya)
This month saw leading Kenyan woman entrepreneur, Flora Mutahi, founder and ceo of Melvin Marsh International, founder of the popular Melvin’s tea brand, taking up two influential global roles. She has been appointed to the board of the United Nations Global Compact by the UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres where she will be using the platform to support responsible business practices in Kenya and the continent through the integration of the UN Global Compact in business. She has also stepped down from her Chairperson’s role at the Kenya Association of Manufacturers to take up a new role as Head of the Anti-Counterfeit Agency in the country.
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Mo Abudu, founder & CEO of EbonyLife TV (Nigeria)
Africa's leading Indigenous lifestyle and entertainment brand marks a milestone year and looks ahead to a bright future. EbonyLife TV, Nigeria’s leading television channel proudly announced its fifth anniversary, on July 1. Launched in 2013, this is a significant achievement for the proudly ‘made in Nigeria’ company, which has become a major feature film producer as well.
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Dorcas Muthoni, founder of Open World Ltd (Kenya)
This week saw Kenyan tech pioneer, Dorcas Muthoni, founder of Open World and creator of Open Business, sharing her thoughts on doing business in Kenya and the general lack of women in the tech sector in Africa as a whole, during a fascinating podcast interview with the Financial Times. Dorcas talked about the exciting new business opportunities in Silicon Savannah and also about how to avoid corruption in a country which has its challenges in the way that business has traditionally been done.
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