the pride of Africa's women entrepreneurs
Margaret Hirsch receiving her Impactful Social Innovators award in India
Margaret Hirsch, co-founder of the Hirsch Group, recently travelled to Mumbai, India to receive a prestigious award as one of the 50 Most Impactful Social Innovators (Globally) at the World Sustainable Development Congress 2018.
Read more
Tabitha Karanja, CEO of the groundbreaking Kenyan Keroche Breweries empire, has a vision for the empowerment of a new generation of young entrepreneurs in her country. The Keroche Foundation Young Entrepreneurs Mentorship Program is one of the tangible ways she is fulfilling that vision.
Read more
Tabitha Karanja (L), founder & CEO of Keroche Breweries with young mentees of the Keroche Foundation entrepreneurship mentorship programme
Tabitha Karanja's Keroche Breweries has announced plans to expand its young mentorship programme to other parts of the continent as part of supporting emerging young entrepreneurs. The Keroche Foundation has set aside Sh50 million this year as part of empowering and connecting the group with masters of industry, experts and consultants.
Read more
Tabitha Karanja with the graduates of Keroche Foundation's season 1
The Keroche Foundation, the brainchild of Keroche Breweries CEO, Tabitha Karanja, whose 18 year journey to create the first truly Kenyan owned beer manufacturer has become a celebrated benchmark for locally owned businesses in Kenya and Africa, has announced it will spend about Sh20 million to mentor nine young and established entrepreneurs in the second phase of its business academy.
Read more
This month saw the much-anticipated launch of a wonderful new online platform, created as a destination for all organizations that serve women and girls. It is an online community where they can share stories, ideas, best practices and materials with each other, with the goal of strengthening a global community focused on enabling women and girls to thrive. WomenStrong International’s new online platform can be found at www.womenstrong.org.
Read more
The real importance and value of artisan enterprise in contributing to economic development, poverty alleviation and women's empowerment is finally being recognised by the world. The timely launch of the #ChooseArtisan global campaign today (10 September 2015) is certainly getting people talking, and rightly so, about the incredible work being done by forward thinking women artisan entrepreneurs, particularly in places like Africa, where traditional crafts are being elevated to a whole new status.
Read more
Divine Ndhlukula founder of SECURICO Security Services (Zimbabwe)
'Use your business to do good' are the profound words of Zimbabwe's leading woman entrepreneur, Divine Ndhlukula. And, she has made sure to live up to them. Through her company, Securico, she has always delivered on her strong desire to empower previously disadvantaged women in Zimbabwe who were not able to access opportunities for formal employment. She recognized that the security sector had the potential to be a large-scale employer of women. Today, Divine is the single biggest employer of women in her country outside of government. She is a real changemaker!
Read more
Janet Nkubana, co-founder and managing director of Gahaya Links (Rwanda)
Source: Voice of America | 23 July 2015
In the aftermath of the 1994 Rwandan genocide, with thousands of families decimated, and many Rwandans left to fend for themselves, two intrepid sisters Janet Nkubana and Joy Ndungutse devised a way to help women become self-reliant.
Read more
Cape Town, March 2015: Little Bo Babies launches its 'When I Grow Up…' doll, an initiative that will help young girls from poor and underprivileged areas have a vision for their future, and a tangible reminder of that vision as they grow up.
Read more
Tara Fela-Durotoye, founder of the House of Tara International, Nigeria
House of Tara International in partnership with First City Monument Bank has launched a new women economic empowerment initiative in Nigeria known as the ‘Beauty Business on the Go’ (BBOG). The initiative is aimed at empowering women to become entrepreneurs, setting them on a path to realise their aspirations and dreams. With this wonderful new initiative Tara aims to recruit and empower 5,000 women to become beauty representatives.
Read more
The end of January draws to a close a focused month of storytelling, aimed at celebrating and acknowledging the incredible achievements and impact being made by Africa’s inspirational women social entrepreneurs. At Lionesses of Africa, we salute their life-changing contributions to making the African continent a better place for all who live and work there.
Read more
Dr. Victoria Kisyombe, founder & CEO of SELFINA, Tanzania
Dr. Victoria Kisyombe was motivated to launch a business to provide women entrepreneurs, specifically micro-entrepreneurs in rural areas of Tanzania, with the financial support they needed to create and sustain their own business. Her personal experience opened her eyes to a new horizon — that of widows left without land or significant assets.
Read more
Ellen Chilemba, founder and director of Tiwali, Malawi
Congratulations to Ellen Chilemba the founder of Tiwali, a social enterprise in Malawi, for being one of the five winners of Ashoka's Future Forward: Youth Innovations for Employment in Africa challenge.
Read more
Achenyo Idachaba, founder of MitiMeth, Nigeria
Finding an innovative eco-solution to Nigeria's problem of its waterways being invaded by highly destructive water hyacinth plants, also created a unique business opportunity for Nigerian social entrepreneur, Achenyo Idachaba.
Read more
Adenike Ogunlesi, founder and CEO of Ruff 'n Tumble, Nigeria
Source: The Guardian Nigeria | December 3, 2014
Adenike Ogunlesi, founder and Chief Executive Officer of Ruff and Rumbles Clothing in Nigeria has partnered the NECA and ITF to use her company as a platform for training jobless youths seeking to be self-employed. Adinike says that the project is part of her company’s corporate social responsibility in reducing the level of unemployment in the country.
Read more
Not every startup in sub-Saharan Africa and beyond has what it takes to become a successful multinational business. But with a $2-trillion economy, Africa is home to some of the world’s most disruptive technology, with new startups and early-stage entrepreneurial activity that have caught the eye of Ghanian and Zimbabwean business partners Ethel Cofie and Dave Chakombera. They have created Africa Twenty 10, a startup accelerator they said will bridge the gap between great ideas, talent and the global market.
Read more
It’s estimated that a rhino dies every 14 hours in South Africa due to the illegal rhino horn trade. Poachers have declared war on one of our biggest natural assets wiping out over 1,300 precious rhino in the last five years. Jenna Clifford is taking action and has teamed up with StopRhinoPoaching.com through the launch of the Jenna Clifford Rhino Collection to assist in combating this crisis.
Read more
The United Nations appointed jewellery designer Jenna Clifford as a South African ambassador and torch bearer for the Millennium Development Goal 3: Call to Action Global Campaign in March this year. The campaign draws attention to the empowerment of women and gender equality. Clifford has been designing jewellery for nearly three decades and launched her company in 1992.
Read more
Fine jeweler, Jenna Clifford has set some time aside to fight for wildlife conservation.
Jenna Clifford designs fine jewellery adorned in diamonds and other precious stones. She encapsulates the symbol of romance on her rings, neckpieces, bracelets and earrings. And notably, over the years she has created outstanding bespoke jewels.
Read more
Dr. Victoria Kisyombe, founder of SELFINA (Tanzania)
SELFINA was developed out of a need to overcome the barriers that social norms and customary law often impose on women entrepreneurs in the East African country.Dr. Victoria's personal experiences along with her academic interests have inspired her to serve widows without land or significant assets. She was motivated to launch a business to provide women entrepreneurs, specifically micro-entrepreneurs in rural areas of Tanzania, with the financial support they needed to create and sustain their own business.
Read more