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Lionesses of Africa

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the pride of Africa's women entrepreneurs

Lionesses of Africa

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The 20% Rule by Catherine Gladwyn

October 11, 2020 Melanie Hawken
Catherine Gladwyn

Catherine Gladwyn

Book Review

According to author and entrepreneur, Catherine Gladwyn, as she details in her new book The 20% Rule, life can and does get in the way of our greatest dreams and plans sometimes. And she knows this from first hand experience.

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Supermaker: Crafting Business on Your Own Terms by Jaime Schmidt

October 4, 2020 Melanie Hawken
Jaime Schmidt

Jaime Schmidt

Book Review

In just seven years, entrepreneur Jaime Schmidt, founder of Schmidt’s, the globally successful plant-based natural deodorant, went from making natural products in her Portland, Oregon kitchen to turning her brand into a household name in 30,000+ stores, and selling her company to Unilever in a nine-figure acquisition. Her new book, Supermaker, is Jaime’s guide to business and career development on your own terms.

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Launching While Female: Smashing the System That Holds Women Entrepreneurs Back by Susanne Althoff

September 26, 2020 Melanie Hawken
Susanne Althoff

Susanne Althoff

Book Review

In her brand new book, Launching While Female: Smashing the System That Holds Women Entrepreneurs Back, journalist and professor Susanne Althoff investigates the obstacles women and nonbinary entrepreneurs - especially those of colour - face when launching, funding, and growing their companies, obstacles that persist because the current start-up world was engineered by and for white men. An exposé of the gender gap in entrepreneurship and a road map for a more inclusive and economically successful future for us all.

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Courageous Enough to Launch by Dr Cheryl Wood

September 20, 2020 Melanie Hawken
Screenshot 2020-09-20 at 15.52.20.png

Book Review

Stepping into the world of entrepreneurship requires massive courage, and launching a new business can seem particularly daunting. In her new book ‘Courageous Enough to Launch’, Dr Cheryl Wood speaks to 47 women who developed the tenacity, persistence, determination, commitment and resilience to launch and stay the course to building successful businesses. Their stories are personal, powerful, authentic, and above all, inspiring, and encourage other women to take decisive action to realize their own entrepreneurial visions.

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The Soul-Sourced Entrepreneur: An Unconventional Success Plan for the Highly Creative, Secretly Sensitive, and Wildly Ambitious by Christine Kane

September 13, 2020 Melanie Hawken
Christine Kane

Christine Kane

Book Review

Christine Kane, author of The Soul-Sourced Entrepreneur, is living proof that it’s possible to succeed in business when your strength is more about sensitivity than swagger, and when you are moved by meaning more than manipulation. In other words, she believes that it’s possible to succeed while still being you.

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Ask & Act: 10 Inspirational Tips to Get You Started on Your Entrepreneurial Journey by Jo Macfarlane

September 6, 2020 Melanie Hawken
Jo Macfarlane

Jo Macfarlane

Book Review

Do you want to create the life and business of your dreams? In this debut book from award winning candlemaker and inspirational #SmallBusinessSaturday winner, Jo Macfarlane, founder of the brand that carries her name, you'll learn a host of useful insights and advice about business and entrepreneurship.

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A Chip Off the Silicon Block: The Power of Entrepreneurial Thinking by Carol Latham

August 30, 2020 Melanie Hawken
Carol Latham

Carol Latham

Book Review

Ever wonder why the success rate of start-up companies is so low? In this inspirational and informative book, A Chip Off the Silicon Block: The Power of Entrepreneurial Thinking, entrepreneur Carol Latham demonstrates how the power of sound entrepreneurial thinking can lead to positive results in the most daunting of circumstances. Carol’s company, Thermagon Inc., evolved as an offshoot of the explosive growth of silicon chips driving the computer industry and the information age.

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Lunch with Lucy: Maximize Profits by Investing in Your People by Sherry Deutschmann

August 22, 2020 Melanie Hawken
Sherry Deutschmann

Sherry Deutschmann

Book Review

If you want to see the concept of transformational leadership through empathy in action, then look no further than Sherry Deutschmann’s book, Lunch with Lucy: Maximize Profits by Investing in Your People. This is a very personal book by someone who knows just how important employees are to the success of any business. She has a fascinating and unique business model to share with readers that will transform not only the way we think about our people, but how we embrace them as the genuine drivers of our business success.

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Ball Gowns to Yoga Pants: Entrepreneurial Secrets for Creating Your Dream Business and Brand by Dr. Shellie Hipsky

August 15, 2020 Melanie Hawken
Dr. Shellie Hipsky

Dr. Shellie Hipsky

Book Review

Dr. Shellie Hipsky’s daughter noted that her mom no longer wore power suits daily for work. As a successful motivational media company’s CEO and the nonprofit leader of The Global Sisterhood, Dr. Shellie helps inspire and empower the women of the world. Her daughter Alyssa stated she was always wearing either, “ball gowns for charity events or running around in yoga pants with her kids making deals on the phone.” This practical book takes you step by step from vision to startup and beyond as Dr. Shellie describes her rise from tenured professor to becoming an award-winning “Best Business Woman” and “Entrepreneur of the Year” whose company has grown massively in impact and revenue. The book takes you through 10 key Success Secrets, from how to be authentic in your leadership and marketing to attract the right customers and clients, through to building your dream team in your business.

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Digital Goddess: The Unfiltered Lessons of a Female Entrepreneur by Victoria Montgomery-Brown

August 8, 2020 Melanie Hawken
Victoria R. Montgomery Brown, CEO and co-founder of Big Think

Victoria R. Montgomery Brown, CEO and co-founder of Big Think

Book Review

With women leading only twenty-four Fortune 500 companies, female founders receiving only 2.2 percent of US venture capital, and the continued presence of sexual harassment and double standards, the gender gap continues to hinder the advancement of women in the professional world. In Digital Goddess, Victoria Montgomery-Brown, founder of Big Think, a collection of experts across all fields and disciplines that are either at the top of their field or disrupting it - shares her story in an entertaining and educational light.

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Talent Liberation by Deborah Hartung

August 1, 2020 Melanie Hawken
Deborah Hartung

Deborah Hartung

Book Review

Talent Liberation, the new book by Deborah Hartung, is for every business leader, entrepreneur and startup founder who has been wanting to axe the annual performance appraisal process in their business, but is unsure of either how to do that or of what to replace annual appraisals with.

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Make Your Mondays Matter: Discover the secrets to propel your business to the next level by Jo James

July 26, 2020 Melanie Hawken
Jo James

Jo James

Book Review

If you wake up on a Monday morning with ambition for your business to grow each day but by Friday haven’t fulfilled your goals, then you need help. Business coach Jo James has written a new book, Make Your Mondays Matter, aimed at helping entrepreneurs to take their businesses to the next level in terms of growth and income. This award-winning book will give you proven strategies for success and one full year of support mechanisms to keep you on track.

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Anatomy of building a business that works for you by Naomi Alabi

July 16, 2020 Melanie Hawken
Naomi-Alabi-Collage.jpg

Book Review

If you want to stop over thinking and start your business but are experiencing analysis paralysis because you are overwhelmed with information, then author and entrepreneur Naomi Alabi has the answers. Why? Because she has personally been there. In her new book, Anatomy Of Building A Business That Works For You, she says that our world was built by people who dared to dream bigger. People who took their ideas, were patient through a number of small tasks which ultimately grew into the big businesses that we all love to celebrate.

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NOtivation: Use the Power of NO to Make Your First Million Dollars by Dr Kristin Kahle

July 11, 2020 Melanie Hawken
Dr Kristin Kahle

Dr Kristin Kahle

Book Review

In her new book, NOtivation: Use the Power of NO to Make Your First Million Dollars, Dr Kristin Kahle explains why she has a love/hate relationship with the word “no.” It’s not her favorite word. As a female entrepreneur in a male dominated industry, Kristin has heard the word “no” more times than she can count. Sound familiar?

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Mumpreneur Evolution: On our terms: An inspirational book for women in business: 23 success stories of building businesses around family life

July 4, 2020 Melanie Hawken
by Erin Thomas Wong

by Erin Thomas Wong

Book Review

Mumpreneur Evolution, by Erin Thomas Wong, is a collection of insightful and inspiring interviews with 23 women who share their stories of building businesses around family life. Millions of women around the world are choosing a different way of working. They are not opting to return to a full time career working 60 hours a week, but they are instead carving their own paths, building businesses which allow them to be a mother and a business owner side-by-side.

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Energetic Selling & Marketing; A New Way to Create Extraordinary Growth in Your Business by Lenka Lutonska

June 28, 2020 Melanie Hawken
Lenka Lutonska

Lenka Lutonska

Book Review

So many women entrepreneurs find sales and marketing the tough part of their businesses, it doesn’t always come naturally to them. But in her new book, Energetic Selling & Marketing; A New Way to Create Extraordinary Growth in Your Business, author, entrepreneur and sales guru, Lenka Lutonska, has a different approach. By focusing energetically on five critical areas of business, she shows readers how to change their current ways of thinking and doing, and instead to experience growth by adopting a new way of selling and marketing.

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Think Like a Marketer: How a Shift in Mindset Can Change Everything for Your Business By Kate Colbert

June 21, 2020 Melanie Hawken
Kate Colbert

Kate Colbert

Book Review

If you want to know the secret to taking your business from mediocre to meaningfully different, then author Kate Colbert has the answer in her new book Think Like a Marketer. It doesn’t matter whether you’re a management consultant or the owner of a small retail business, the ability to think like a marketer will give you a competitive edge.

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Business Empowerment: 8 Simple Steps to Master the Game by Rinat Keinan

June 13, 2020 Melanie Hawken
Rinat Keinan

Rinat Keinan

Book Review

According to author Rinat Keinan in her new book Business Empowerment: 8 Simple Steps to Master the Game, most idea generators quit in the early stage, 30% don’t vest after 1 year, and 50% don’t make it over time. She thinks too many great ideas fall because of wrong decisions.

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Obsessed: Building a Brand People Love from Day One By Emily Heyward

June 6, 2020 Melanie Hawken
Obsessed-Collage.jpg

Book Review

In her new book Obsessed, Emily Heyward, the cofounder and chief branding officer of Red Antler, the branding and marketing company for startups and new ventures, explains how hot new brands like Casper, Allbirds, Sweetgreen, and Everlane build devoted fan followings right out of the gate.

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The Key Leadership Qualities It Takes to Be a Boss, A Woman Entrepreneur in Business Today by Judith Baker

May 29, 2020 Melanie Hawken
Judith Baker

Judith Baker

Book Review

Starting a business and running one is challenging. What do you do first? What should you pay attention to? What tools are there to help the modern woman entrepreneur? In her new book, The Key Leadership Qualities It Takes to Be a Boss, A Woman Entrepreneur in Business Today, Judith Baker brings you all the insights you need.

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Tech FoundHER AFRICA CHALLENGE

Five female founders win over $100,000 in TechFoundHER Africa Challenge. Read more


CELEBRATING 10 YEARS


LATEST PODCASTS

Lioness Radio Show Interview: Listen to Mr Jules Ngankam, Group Chief Executive Officer of the African Guarantee Fund, discussing the journey from Bias to Bankable - AGF’s Case for Financing Women Entrepreneurs.

Lioness Radio Show: Five Mozambican women entrepreneurs share their experiences of building successful green businesses and creating green jobs for local people. From an environmentally-friendly, high-impact skincare brand, to an innovative green transportation business transforming marine waste into bicycles, these Lionesses are making waves in Mozambique. Listen to their stories, learn from their experiences, and be inspired by their tenacity.


LIONESS WEEKENDER COVER STORIES

LIONESS WEEKENDER COVER STORY
Vanessa Mhlom, a South African wellness brand builder
Vanessa Mhlom, a South African wellness brand builder
Morongwe and Michelle Mokone, two social impact entrepreneurs building a high-growth, premium sustainable homeware business
Morongwe and Michelle Mokone, two social impact entrepreneurs building a high-growth, premium sustainable homeware business
Dr. Phindi Cebekhulu-Msomi, an agripreneur focused on climate-smart solutions
Dr. Phindi Cebekhulu-Msomi, an agripreneur focused on climate-smart solutions
Retang Phaahla, a pioneer for South Africa’s indigenous teas
Retang Phaahla, a pioneer for South Africa’s indigenous teas
Dr Margaret Kemigisha, a publishing entrepreneur passionate about childrens’ literacy
Dr Margaret Kemigisha, a publishing entrepreneur passionate about childrens’ literacy

IMAGE OF THE DAY. CELEBRATING WOMAN MADE IN AFRICA.

Image of the Day / The Joinery

Sustainable Tote Bags…We have always been big fans of The Joinery, the sustainable and ethical product design brand based in South Africa founded by Natalie and Kim Ellis, and their exciting Future Tex™ fa
Image of the Day / Barbara McKenzie

Classic meets contemporary…If you are in the market for classic-inspired yet modern clothing which is both stylish and ultra-feminine and trans-seasonal to wear throughout the year, then Kendi Sapepa, found
Image of the Day / Adèle Dejak

Luxury statement accessories…We are big fans of luxury jewellery and accessories made with love and passion on the African continent, and Adèle Dejak in Kenya is the epitome of handmade luxury. The
Image of the Day / Lunar

Stylish sustainable clothing…We have always been big fans of Lunar in South Africa, the sustainable clothing brand created by owner Nicola Luther and her talented team. Lunar has firmly established itself as one of th
Image of the Day / Dathonga Designs

Traditional craft elevated…We love the impact-driven accessories created by Márcia Nangy O’Connell, founder and artistic director of Dathonga Designs in Mozambique. Since 2010, she has establis
Image of the Day / Dounia Home

Statement lighting… from Dounia Home, the home of innovative, handcrafted and ethically made Moroccan lighting and home decor founded by Dounia Tamri-Loeper. Her company designs, produces and brings to market hi
Image of the Day / Mash. T Design Studio

Award-winning furniture design…We are big fans of talented South African designer Thabisa Mjo, founder of Mash. T Design Studio in Johannesburg, and these fabulous side tables are firm customer favouri
Image of the Day / Quazi Design

Sustainable Home Decor…If you want to make a statement with your interior design and home decor, and at the same make a contribution to supporting eco-friendly enterprise, then these unique decor pieces from Qu
Image of the Day / Eki

Silk Sensation…Nothing is quite as luxurious as silk, that’s why we love the ‘Africa on Silk’ collections from Eki, founded by Hazel Eki Osunde. Eki is known for its signature soft silks and ethereal c
Image of the Day / ‘57 Chocolate

Bean to bar luxury chocolate… Taste the difference with the finest chocolate lovingly produced by ‘57 Chocolate, the pioneer bean to bar chocolate manufacturer in Ghana, created by sisters Kimberle
Image of the Day / The Joinery

Sustainable Tote Bags…We have always been big fans of The Joinery, the sustainable and ethical product design brand based in South Africa founded by Natalie and Kim Ellis, and their exciting Future Tex™ fa Image of the Day / Barbara McKenzie

Classic meets contemporary…If you are in the market for classic-inspired yet modern clothing which is both stylish and ultra-feminine and trans-seasonal to wear throughout the year, then Kendi Sapepa, found Image of the Day / Adèle Dejak

Luxury statement accessories…We are big fans of luxury jewellery and accessories made with love and passion on the African continent, and Adèle Dejak in Kenya is the epitome of handmade luxury. The Image of the Day / Lunar

Stylish sustainable clothing…We have always been big fans of Lunar in South Africa, the sustainable clothing brand created by owner Nicola Luther and her talented team. Lunar has firmly established itself as one of th Image of the Day / Dathonga Designs

Traditional craft elevated…We love the impact-driven accessories created by Márcia Nangy O’Connell, founder and artistic director of Dathonga Designs in Mozambique. Since 2010, she has establis Image of the Day / Dounia Home

Statement lighting… from Dounia Home, the home of innovative, handcrafted and ethically made Moroccan lighting and home decor founded by Dounia Tamri-Loeper. Her company designs, produces and brings to market hi Image of the Day / Mash. T Design Studio

Award-winning furniture design…We are big fans of talented South African designer Thabisa Mjo, founder of Mash. T Design Studio in Johannesburg, and these fabulous side tables are firm customer favouri Image of the Day / Quazi Design

Sustainable Home Decor…If you want to make a statement with your interior design and home decor, and at the same make a contribution to supporting eco-friendly enterprise, then these unique decor pieces from Qu Image of the Day / Eki

Silk Sensation…Nothing is quite as luxurious as silk, that’s why we love the ‘Africa on Silk’ collections from Eki, founded by Hazel Eki Osunde. Eki is known for its signature soft silks and ethereal c Image of the Day / ‘57 Chocolate

Bean to bar luxury chocolate… Taste the difference with the finest chocolate lovingly produced by ‘57 Chocolate, the pioneer bean to bar chocolate manufacturer in Ghana, created by sisters Kimberle

STARTUP STORIES. MEET THE WOMEN WHO’VE LAUNCHED.

Featured
Júlia Silota, a Mozambican green business builder, focused on environmental waste management
Júlia Silota, a Mozambican green business builder, focused on environmental waste management
Claudia Machaieie, a Mozambican green business innovator transforming marine waste into reading glasses
Claudia Machaieie, a Mozambican green business innovator transforming marine waste into reading glasses
Matilde Mawelele Rungo, a Mozambican tech-preneur helping to drive digital transformation in the country
Matilde Mawelele Rungo, a Mozambican tech-preneur helping to drive digital transformation in the country
Yanara Tavares Viana, a Mozambican entrepreneur developing a smart urban housing solution in the country
Yanara Tavares Viana, a Mozambican entrepreneur developing a smart urban housing solution in the country
Isabel Mandofa, a Mozambican woman entrepreneur building a successful, high-impact agri-food business
Isabel Mandofa, a Mozambican woman entrepreneur building a successful, high-impact agri-food business

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LIONESS BOOK REVIEWS

Featured
Built on Purpose: Discover Your Deep Inner Why and Manifest the Business of Your Dreams by Betsy Fore
Built on Purpose: Discover Your Deep Inner Why and Manifest the Business of Your Dreams by Betsy Fore
The Magnetic Female Entrepreneur: The Art of Empowered Presence, Rising to New Levels of Impact and Influence, and Financial Success on Your Own Terms  by Mary Grant
The Magnetic Female Entrepreneur: The Art of Empowered Presence, Rising to New Levels of Impact and Influence, and Financial Success on Your Own Terms by Mary Grant
Women Entrepreneurs Rewired To Rise: Powerful Habits that Break Through Burnout, Silence Your Inner Critic, and Build a Thriving Business from the Inside Out  by Fiona Soutter
Women Entrepreneurs Rewired To Rise: Powerful Habits that Break Through Burnout, Silence Your Inner Critic, and Build a Thriving Business from the Inside Out by Fiona Soutter
Dream Big and Win: Translating Passion into Purpose and Creating a Billion-Dollar Business by Liz Elting
Dream Big and Win: Translating Passion into Purpose and Creating a Billion-Dollar Business by Liz Elting
After the Idea: What It Really Takes to Create and Scale a Startup by Julia Austin
After the Idea: What It Really Takes to Create and Scale a Startup by Julia Austin

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