Nkemdilim Begho is the founder and Managing Director of Future Software Resources Limited, an IT solutions provider focused on online solutions, e-learning and IT security. As one of a few Nigerian women in the industry, her success is founded on a passion for driving innovative thinking, building a globally recognized technology brand and setting trends in the Nigerian Technology space.
Read more100 LIONESSES: Monica Musonda, high-flying lawyer turned food manufacturing entrepreneur
Monica Musonda, founder of Java Foods (Zambia)
Monica Musonda is founder and Chief Executive Officer of Java Foods, a food processing company based in Zambia. Monica's vision is to revolutionize the eating habits of the youth market by offering them affordable and nutritious food options made from local products. Monica is a dual-qualified English solicitor and Zambian advocate with over 15 years of experience in legal practice and corporate management, including being corporate counsel at the International Finance Corporation and for Aliko Dangote of Dangote Industries Limited.
Read more100 LIONESSES: Featuring Divine Ndhlukula, founder of SECURICO a market leader in the Zimbabwean security services industry
Divine Ndhlukula, Founder and Managing Director of SECURICO (Zimbabwe)
Divine Ndhlukula founded SECURICO Security Services from humble beginnings in Zimbabwe in 1998. Divine identified a need in the market for a quality oriented security company and she has driven SECURICO to become the market leader in Zimbabwe. She has tackled a previously male-dominated industry head on and her business success story is nothing short of remarkable - marking her as one of Africa's most tenacious and inspiring women entrepreneurs.
Read moreKofo Akinkugbe '100 Lionesses' Profile - Meet Nigeria's trailblazing innovator in smart card manufacturing
Kofo Akinkugbe, founder & CEO of SecureID Nigeria Ltd (Nigeria)
Kofo Akinkugbe is recognised globally for her entrepreneurial success story and strong business track record. She is founder & CEO of SecureID Nigeria Ltd a market leader in smart card technology and digital security. SecureID is a world-class manufacturing facility with the only smart card production plant in West Africa and one of only six on the continent. This company serves 16 countries across Africa and is fully certified by VISA, Verve and MasterCard. In 2012, Kofo won the Africa Awards for Entrepreneurship Mature Business Award.
Read more100 Lionesses: Divine Ndhlukula recognised as Businesswoman of the Year Award at the Forbes Woman Africa Awards 2019
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.
Read more100 LIONESSES: Aïssa Dione, Revivalist of Ancient Weaving Craftsmanship
Aissa Dione, founder of Aissa Dione Tissus, Senegal
Senegalese entrepreneur and textile designer, Aissa Dione, has made it her lifelong mission to revive her country’s ailing textile industry, and in the process, create products that are highly desirable the world over.
Read more100 LIONESSES: Carrol Boyes, the woman who's made business an art form
Carrol Boyes, founder of Carrol Boyes (South Africa)
Carrol Boyes is an iconic South African designer who has built a global brand. She founded Carrol Boyes (Pty) Ltd in 1991 combining her artistic flair and talent in sculpture with her jewellery experience to create an extensive range of distinctive homeware, giftware, flatware and table top products. Today, her company designs and manufactures a meticulously crafted product range of well over 1000 items and sells over a million items every year. Products are always imbued with Carrol's trademark artistic flair and finesse. The brand is available through her 35 branded shops in South Africa and in over 30 other countries around the world.
Read more100 LIONESSES: Dr Victoria Kisyombe, Tanzania's trailblazing champion of women's financial empowerment
Dr. Victoria Kisyombe is the founder of SELFINA, a company in Tanzania that provides micro-leasing to mostly widows and young girls. Victoria is a leader who has used innovation, initiative, and determination to empower women in Tanzania to become economically self-sufficient. Her pioneering micro-leasing model as an alternative way to financing women has generated praise beyond Tanzania, and efforts are under way to expand the model to other countries in the region. SELFINA has gone on to economically empower more than 25,000 women with a total credit worth 25 billion Tanzanian Shillings (approximately $17 million US dollars). Over 250,000 lives have been impacted through the benefits accrued and more than 125,000 jobs have been created.
Read moreDr Gladys Kalema Zikusoka’s Gorilla Conservation Coffee ranked in Top 30 Coffees list in USA
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 moreMeet 8 Women-Owned Companies to Inspire Africa in 2019
On 16 January 2019, London Stock Exchange Group launched the second edition of its ‘Companies to Inspire Africa’ report, identifying and celebrating some of Africa’s most dynamic growth businesses. Lionesses of Africa saw eight of its most inspirational women entrepreneurs and their companies from across the African continent making it into the final publication.
Read more100 Lionesses Project: Tabitha Karanja, founder of Keroche Breweries - Africa's gender and monopoly busting brewer
Tabitha Karanja, founder and CEO of Keroche Breweries (Kenya)
Tabitha Karanja is founder and CEO of Keroche Breweries. She is one of Kenya's leading entrepreneurs, a remarkable trailblazer and an example of a woman made good against all the odds. Tabitha chose to venture where none before her had dared. She took on an 87-year-old business monopoly and entered an industry with a deeply entrenched male gender stereotype. Tabitha broke the mould to become Kenya’s first home-grown beer and alcoholic drink manufacturer. Today, her company's state-of-the-art production facility is targeting 20% of the Kenyan market.
Read more100 LIONESSES: Featuring Kofo Akinkugbe, innovator and smart card technology market leader
Kofo Akinkugbe is recognised globally for her entrepreneurial success story and strong business track record. She is founder & CEO of SecureID Nigeria Ltd a market leader in smart card technology and digital security. SecureID is a world-class manufacturing facility with the only smart card production plant in West Africa and one of only six on the continent. This company serves 16 countries across Africa and is fully certified by VISA, Verve and MasterCard. In 2012, Kofo won the Africa Awards for Entrepreneurship Mature Business Award.
Read more100 Lionesses: South African Homeware Designer, Carrol Boyes, launches new textile range
Building on her highly successful global homeware brand, South Africa’s leading design and retail entrepreneur Carrol Boyes has launched her first range of textiles incorporating her signature figure motifs.
Read more100 Lionesses: Bethlehem Tilahun Alemu, founder of Ethiopian homegrown coffee brand Garden of Coffee, launches the brand in China
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.
Read more100 Lionesses: Divine Ndhlukula celebrates the 20th anniversary of Securico in Zimbabwe
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.”
Read moreTIME Magazine honours Wonderbag, founded by South African entrepreneur Sarah Collins
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.
Read more100 LIONESSES: Jennifer Riria recognized with two prestigious awards in Kenya
Dr Jennifer Riria, the founding member of Kenya Women Holding and Kenya Women Finance Trust Microfinance Bank, and the CEO of Echo Network Africa, has been officially recognized for her longstanding impact and contribution to Kenyan society with two awards.
Read more100 LIONESSES: South Africa’s Dorothy van’t Riet selected as the prestigious Spotlight Designer for Decorex 2018
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.
Read moreKenya’s Flora Mutahi, Founder and CEO of Melvin Marsh International takes up two influential new global roles
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.
Read moreMo Abudu's EbonyLife TV celebrates 5 years of groundbreaking television broadcasting
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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