the pride of Africa's women entrepreneurs
by Karen Wessels, co-founder of VA Connect and co-founder of SnappSales
The launch of a new business is always exciting! You’ve probably left your corporate job, told your friends and family about your new venture, and you’re putting the finishing touches on your ideation before going public.
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by Eldari Visser, Managing Director, PicketFence.Life
Getting ready for a trip is always exciting - to pack the bags is all part of the fun. Seasoned travellers have a lot of tips on how to be a pro in getting everything in and you can find many examples of practical tips on social media. Packing for a trip to the wild is a different story.
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by Lori Milner: author, entrepreneur, thought leader and founder of Beyond the Dress
One of the toughest challenges of being an entrepreneur is the constant distraction from many perceived opportunities. We suffer from FOMO in that if we don’t get involved in this project, event, deal, you name it – we’ll lose out. Most of the time, these alluring projects do exactly that – lure us away from our core focus and ultimately this leads to more stress, burnout and lack of balance (not that it exists anyway).
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by Dr Laura Camacho, founder of Mixonian Institute
There has never been a better time to be different. After centuries of human success related to blending in with our tribes, we now rejoice in and embrace our personal quirks, our obsessions and even our weaknesses. Our individual uniqueness offers opportunities in a time when technology seems to be taking over so much of our lives.
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by Brigette Mashile, founder of Roka Roko
Last week I met a man…wait, I had an interview with a man! He gave off the energy that he believed he was more important than me, or many of us. He had an attitude about him, which I proceeded to be ignorant of, sending him further into his ego. We all meet people like this, every-single-day…and so you learn to just exist with them. I was doing just ok until he said, “What else do you have to offer, I’ve met so many like you, you are all the same.”
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by Deborah Hartung, founder of Pivot PeopleTech
No matter how good our intentions are, we all have those tasks at work or in life, that we just can’t seem to bring ourselves around to doing. We build them up in our minds and turn molehills into mountains and make excuses for procrastinating. Then we berate ourselves for our tardiness or cause our blood pressure and stress levels to skyrocket – it’s really a vicious cycle. Break free from the chains of procrastination and anxiety with these 3 handy tips!
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by Leigh Ann Gowland, founder of Employee Driven Change
If you were an artist creating delicate glass sculptures, how would you display your masterpiece to the world? A labour of love would be packed carefully and only displayed to art lovers. In an era of disruption, agility and demands for fast change, entrepreneurs are continuously pivoting, re-inventing and introducing new ideas. An aggressive, urgent launch of an idea could be risky. Take some time to prepare for the impact of change. Handle with care when disrupting.
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by Tatenda Rungisa, Human Resources Practitioner and co-founder of Twin Connect Solutions
We make choices from the very moment we open our eyes in the morning. We make the choice to either wake up to the alarm clock or simply snooze it to an hour later, ultimately forgetting all the appointments that could make one’s career or business flourish. This is a simple sign that the choices we make on a daily basis can either bring us closer to, or further from, our dreams.
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by Karen Wessels, co-founder of VA Connect and co-founder SnappSales
I had the good fortune of attending the Lioness Lean In event last week in Johannesburg. Very inspirational to be in a room of business women who are buzzing with excitement with new product launches and celebrating business growth! As you can imagine, when surrounded by this calibre of women, you instinctively think, “Wow, these women can do it all” and yes more than likely they can. But should they?
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by Brigette Mashile, founder of Roka Roko
Each time I speak to someone who renders a service I need for the business but know nothing about, I let them blab on with a straight face and say, ‘ok cool, I heard nothing but proceed’. They laugh; and attempt to explain again. And I start venturing into my happy places filled with waterfalls, meat, whisky and music… then return for the expected ‘uhhmm’. This goes for the accountant, the digital marketing ‘what what’, the furniture creator guy, etc. I tell them you have no clue what ‘arm scye’ means and is needed for in garment construction…wait what is garment construction?
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by Brigette Mashile, founder of Roka Roko
People tell me they see I have made it. And I used to respond and say no, not really - I’m still working on it. They don’t believe it. They have their own measurements of success for me of course, and based on them, I have made it. Well, thank God, because if they used my measurements I would be nowhere near success. I have learned to say thank you and receive the compliments; and see them as a small reminder from God that I am doing okay and on the right track.
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by Lori Milner: author, entrepreneur, thought leader and founder of Beyond the Dress
In the world of work, we learn to equate silence with doing nothing, and doing nothing is rarely valued as an effective application of professional skill. Since silence is not widely valued, it’s not widely developed. Worse, it’s sometimes knocked out of those to whom it comes naturally. Throughout my career though, I’ve seen that what the very best trainers and coaches have in common is the ability to sit back, observe carefully, and listen intently. Whether applied to yourself or to others, the rare skill of creating and holding silence is worth developing.
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by Karen Wessels, co-founder of SnappSales and VA Connect
In the old days, if we were looking for a shoe repairman or a new fridge, the first place we would turn to would be the classifieds or the yellow pages. Remember those times? Nowadays you bring the world to you by means of your mobile phone. Isn’t great how we can search for a curry restaurant, a new stove, a boating holiday, and a friend’s contact details all in one place, on one device?
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by Eldari Visser, Managing Director of Picketfence.Life
If you ask me to join a gym I get a very uneasy feeling. The mere idea of putting myself through pain does not sit well with me. I prefer to go for the sexier options such as dancing or Zumba; or the calmer options like yoga or Pilates. I program my brain that these type of exercises will not hurt as much as going to the gym. Who exactly am I kidding? My body is going to complain, that is a fact. Don’t even mention all the good reasons that I can come up with for not getting started or not going each week.
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by Lori Milner: author, entrepreneur, thought leader and founder of Beyond the Dress
They used to say that your co-workers assessed your competence, likability and trustworthiness in about seven seconds, but the latest research conducted by Harvard Medical School suggests that all that happens now in just 250 milliseconds! And that’s all based simply on your appearance – so you really have to ensure you have it all worked out! Here are some tips on how to maximise your physical presence when it comes to meetings and interviews.
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by Mignionette Fair, founder of Edita Services
Authenticity is a word that gets thrown around a lot in leadership, business and life. As with most things in life, we all define authenticity and authentic leadership differently.
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by Tatenda Rungisa, Human Resources Practitioner and co-founder of Twin Connect Solutions
Before I gained experience in my profession from the various sectors I had worked in, I frequently wondered why they were only a few successful women leaders and entrepreneurs. After working in different sectors I realized a few but huge hurdles have led to the demise of women leadership skills in the workplace. Women face challenges daily in their lives and for career women, the main one is that of penetrating into a male dominated sector or taking up roles that are societally termed “for men”.
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Over the last few years we’ve seen the theme of Social Entrepreneurship grow exponentially. From the 23 to 26 January, two awesome female social entrepreneurs from Cape Town returned from the World Economic Forum. They joined many other social entrepreneurs from around the world, ready to open the eyes of traditional business to new ways of using business principles to tackle major issues in our world, such as poverty, marginalization and climate change.
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by Brigette Mashile, founder of Roka Roko
There are many things I do that seem selfish to many people; probably because they look like that; and also because behind them, these things are mine only. I have learned all these things are essential for me to stay alive, sane and motivated to complete all the great dreams our clients have. Running a custom-made business is seriously a mind boggler. You have over 300 clients; and have to remember each and every name; each design; each finish; each personality; each account, etc. It can drive you insane, especially at peak business time.
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I have wondered many times, if I am ever in the position to choose an expedition guide for a trip, who would it be? The likes of Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson, Vin Diesel, Bear Grylls, or the steady hand of a game ranger? The most obvious question is ultimately who will die for me? Yes, it is that serious?
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