Quote of the Day by Mireille Karera

December 16, 2016 Melanie Hawken

Mireille Karera, founder of KORA Associates — **Mireille Karera**, founder of KORA Associates

"Your victory is already won, when you choose to keep going on your entrepreneurial journey."

- Mireille Karera is the founder of KORA Associates, a consulting and coaching company headquartered in Dubai, U.A.E, with operations in Africa. Mireille is of Rwandan origin and recently opened the company's latest subsidiary in Rwanda. She speaks 7 languages fluently (English, French, German, Rwandan, Swahili, Burundian and Lingala) and in earlier years pursued her passion for languages which earned her a Bachelor Degree in Business & Legal Translation in Cologne, Germany.

Quote of the Day by Njeri Rionge

December 15, 2016 Melanie Hawken

Njeri Rionge, co-founder of Wananchi Online, Kenya — **Njeri Rionge**, co-founder of Wananchi Online, Kenya

“I touched many things before I touched the thing that turned into gold.”

- Njeri Rionge is one of Africa’s leading entrepreneurs and one of the very few women pioneers in the ICT sector on the African continent. She has co-founded internet service provider Wananchi Online, Ignite Consulting, Insite Limited, Business Lounge, and Njeri Rionge Business Consulting Inc. These days Njeri describes herself as a global citizen cross-pollinating her business interests in Africa, North America and Europe. She 'telecommutes' and regularly travels between her offices in Nairobi and Toronto.

Quote of the Day by Bethlehem Tilahun Alemu

December 13, 2016 Melanie Hawken

Bethlehem Tilahun Alemu, founder and Managing Director of soleRebels — Bethlehem Tilahun Alemu, founder and Managing Director of soleRebels

“If we want to have truly equitable societies, then we need to embrace equity on all levels. And that means women’s economic empowerment and the key to that is women entrepreneurs,”

- Bethlehem Tilahun Alemu is founder and Managing Director of soleRebels, the world's fastest-growing African footwear brand and the only Fair Trade-certified footwear company in the world. Growing up in a poor suburb of Addis Ababa, Bethlehem decided that there was only one way to defeat poverty – use local craftsmanship to make products that can compete in the global marketplace. She decided on footwear and today 70,000 pairs of shoes leave her factory every year. soleRebels has been expanding rapidly and today exports to no fewer than 45 countries and is targeting 50 stand alone soleRebels retail stores across the United States by 2018 and 500 worldwide by 2022.

Quote of the Day by Samrawit Moges Beyene

December 12, 2016 Melanie Hawken

Samrawit Moges Beyene, founder of Travel Ethiopia — **Samrawit Moges Beyene**, founder of Travel Ethiopia

"Circumstances have made us strong. Carrying water, wood, delivering our own babies in some cases. African women get their strength through a difficult life. One day the African women will reach where they aspire to be."

- Samrawit Moges Beyene is a successful Ethiopian entrepreneur who founded Travel Ethiopia in 1994, a tour company involved in eco-tourism. Travel Ethiopia was the first company to hire women as tour guides. She went on to start Village Ethiopia in 1998, a company that operates a lodge – Bilen Lodge – in Afar providing employment to the local community. Samarawit has also started a floral business that is the first in the sector to hire disabled employees.

Quote of the Day by Tabitha Karanja

December 5, 2016 Melanie Hawken

"If we support one another, we Kenyans, we Africans, we'll be able to do even bigger than what the multinationals can do."

- 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 factory produces 10,000 bottles of gin and ready-to-drink vodka, as well as 15,000 bottles of beer per hour.

Quote of the Day by Jenna Clifford

December 1, 2016 Melanie Hawken

“My personal mantra for success is try, try and try again. Once you’ve picked something that you’ve isolated as your passion, it must be all-encompassing. You have to stick to it. You will be met with challenges, good and bad, but the thing is to stay the course.”

- Jenna Clifford is a world-renowned jewellery designer, known for her unique designs and superlative craftsmanship. Established in 1992, her company has steadily grown its clientele and improved its profile to institute itself as a powerful force in the jewellery industry. Her bold and dramatic designs are sought after by some of the most recognised business icons and celebrities from around the world. Today, Jenna Clifford Designs employs around 70 people, including some of the finest jewellery artisans and craftsmen in South Africa.

Quote of the Day by Nkemdilim Begho

November 24, 2016 Melanie Hawken

"The best advice I have gotten in life is that you have to fake it until you make it.”

- Nkemdilim Begho is 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.

Quote of the Day by Abai Schulze

November 23, 2016 Melanie Hawken

Abai Schulze, founder of ZAAF, Ethiopia — **Abai Schulze**, founder of ZAAF, Ethiopia

“I don’t think business school was going to teach me how to run a business in Ethiopia. You don’t go by the book when you are running a business here. You just have to jump into it and learn as you go.”

- Abai Schulze is an Ethiopian-American entrepreneur and the founder of the creative, new Afro-luxe brand ZAAF who create handcrafted luxury leather handbags and accessories produced by artisans in Ethiopia. Abai spent her formative years in an orphanage in Addis Ababa before being adopted at age 11 by an American family. During her schooling in the US, she travelled back to Ethiopia for summer holidays to volunteer in hospitals and orphanages. Today, she passionately uses her background in economics and fine arts to create unique and practical expressions of beauty, and to open avenues of opportunity for talented artisans in Ethiopia and the rest of Africa. Her designs draw upon precious cultural relics and allow them renewed expression through fresh, uplifting and modern designs.

Quote of the Day from Ally Angula

November 17, 2016 Melanie Hawken

Ally Angula, co-founder of Leap Holdings — **Ally Angula**, co-founder of Leap Holdings

"Give us a blank canvas and we will not only splash on it a million dreams; we will have a good go at making them a reality"

- Ally Angula is a qualified charted accountant and co-founder of Leap Holdings, a group of companies involved in the growing of fresh produce, garment manufacturing and retail in Namibia. She is also the founder of My Republik Brand, Namibia’s first locally designed, manufactured and retailed clothing brand with a flagship store situated in the Grove Mall in Windhoek's Kleine Kuppe suburb. She currently serves as non-executive director for Old Mutual Life Assurance (Namibia) and Rio Tinto's Rossing Uranium mine in Namibia. Ally was chosen as a Desmond Tutu Fellowship programme Associate in April 2013 and was one of two Namibian entrepreneurs selected to attend the 2015 Global Entrepreneurship Summit hosted by US President Barack Obama in Kenya.

Quote of the Day by Mo Abudu

November 15, 2016 Melanie Hawken

Mo Abudu, founder and Chief Executive Officer of EbonyLife TV — **Mo Abudu**, founder and Chief Executive Officer of EbonyLife TV

"For women, never ever see your gender as a handicap. Never think yourself inferior. Be ready to do twice the work for half the usual reward."

- Mo Abudu is founder and Chief Executive Officer of EbonyLife TV, Africa's first and fastest growing black entertainment and lifestyle network. This Nigerian media entrepreneur and talk show host is the first African woman to launch a Pan-African TV channel. The channel currently on DSTV Channel 165, as well as in the UK on the TalkTalk platform, providing premium, original and home-grown programming to its ever increasing viewership. She has received many awards In recognition of her outstanding work in media and her services to humanity, and was most recently honoured with an Honorary Doctorate Degree from Babcock University.

Quote of the Day by Deborah Nicholls

November 8, 2016 Melanie Hawken

Deborah Nicholls, founder of Ageless Grace (South Africa) — **Deborah Nicholls**, founder of Ageless Grace (South Africa)

"If it's your passion - DO IT!"

- Deborah Nicholls is the founder of Ageless Grace in South Africa, a company that provides Anti-Aging Exercise and fitness programmes. Deborah is an educator and teacher of Anti-Aging Exercises – Timeless Fitness for longevity of your body and mind. Deborah resides in Cape Town and offers Ageless Grace group classes to fitness centres, gyms, community centres, wellness centres, schools and retirement villages.

Quote of the Day Mariéme Jamme

November 7, 2016 Melanie Hawken

Mariéme Jamme, Senegalese-Born CEO, blogger, technologist and social entrepreneur — **Mariéme Jamme**, Senegalese-Born CEO, blogger, technologist and social entrepreneur

"In the next fifteen years, I believe technology and finance will change the lives of millions of girls across the world, like it changed mine and that of my friends Barbara in Uganda, Ndeye Awa in Senegal and Lorene in Kinshasa - women who today are also helping to educate girls by teaching them to code."

- Mariéme Jamme is a Senegalese born-British businesswoman, who runs a technology consultancy business. She is best known for her role in promoting technology, good governance, transparency and a better education standard in Africa. She was recently named as one of the 100 most influential Africans of 2014 by the Africa Business Magazine and Forbes Magazine.

Quote of the Day by Tigui Traoré

November 4, 2016 Melanie Hawken

Tigui Traoré, founder of Cocostyle (Guinea) — **Tigui Traoré**, founder of Cocostyle (Guinea)

"Enter no existing mould, do what you love, and dream, because everything begins with a dream!"

- Tigui Traoré is the founder of the fashion and creative events label, Cocostyle in Guinea. Her companies organize thematic fashion events with a cultural character that represent the current Afropolitan trend. Tigui's Cocostyle universe is so much more than just a label, it is a unifying concept that breaks all the clichés and represents the more quirky and colourful side of fashion.

Quote of the Day by Ola Orekunrin

November 3, 2016 Melanie Hawken

Dr. Ola Orekunrin, founder of Flying Doctors Nigeria — **Dr. Ola Orekunrin**, founder of Flying Doctors Nigeria

"We have to stop this habit of trying to aspire to whatever is in the West, a copy and paste model that doesn't fit into our situation in Africa."

- Dr. Ola Orekunrin is a medical doctor, helicopter pilot and the healthcare entrepreneur founder of Flying Doctors Nigeria, West Africa’s first Air Ambulance Service. She's dedicated to bringing trauma care to the most remote parts of Western Africa and her company, an air ambulance service based in Lagos, is doing just that. She was motivated to start the company after her younger sister tragically died whilst traveling in Nigeria as a consequence of their being no medical air service available to transport her to hospital. Ola graduated as a medical doctor from the University Of York in the UK and is a member of the American Academy of Aesthetic Medicine.

Quote of the Day by Dr. Jennifer Riria

October 31, 2016 Melanie Hawken

“Growing up, I learnt a lot from my mother because she was a go-getter. She is my role model, my rock and my mentor. She encouraged me to believe in myself.”

- Dr. Jennifer Riria is the Group CEO of Kenya Women Holding and one of Africa's leading women entrepreneurs who has always been on a mission to transform the lives of women and their families in her native Kenya. She is distinguished as a microfinance banker and practitioner, researcher and gender specialist. She has served in many leadership roles for which she has been recognized locally and internationally. In 2013 she was awarded the Ernst & Young (EY) Entrepreneur of the year, East Africa 2013, and subsequently, the EY Entrepreneur of the Year Award 2014, at which point she was admitted to EY’s Global Hall of Fame.

Quote of the Day by Susan Mashibe

October 27, 2016 Melanie Hawken

Susan Mashibe, founder of Via Aviation, Tanzania — **Susan Mashibe**, founder of Via Aviation, Tanzania

"As a successful female entrepreneur, I recognize that I have a responsibility to support those following in my footsteps, and to give back to the community."

- Susan Mashibe is founder and executive director of VIA Aviation, an international fixed-base aircraft services operation and the first company of its kind in Tanzania. Susan is also the first woman in Tanzania to hold both a FAA certified commercial pilot and an aircraft maintenance engineering qualification. This passionate aviator left Tanzania at the tender age of 19 to learn to fly jetliners in the United States, later returning home to help reshape African private air travel. Today, VIA Aviation provides logistical support for corporate, diplomatic and private jets. Her clients include heads of state, monarchs, Fortune 500 executives, celebrities, and military flights. VIA was the first company to offer such services in Tanzania and East Africa as a whole.

Quote of the Day Teta Isibo

October 26, 2016 Melanie Hawken

“Africa is trending, so made in Africa has a certain cache. It’s about building a brand.”

- Teta Isibo is the founder and creative force behind Inzuki Designs a young Rwandan brand specializing in jewelry, accessories and interior decor. Teta's creations are hand-made using local craft skills and materials - she works with numerous local women's cooperatives to create vibrant, quality pieces. With no background in fashion or business, Teta quit her job as an urban planner in Kigali to launch Inzuki, which means 'bees' in the local language. This has grown into a popular Rwandan brand with a boutique located in the Heart of Kigali City. Teta is now targeting international markets including the rest of Africa, Europe, Asia and North America through distributors and an online store.

Quote of the Day by Judith Owigar

October 25, 2016 Melanie Hawken

Judith Owigar, co-founder and executive director of Akirachix — Judith Owigar, co-founder and executive director of Akirachix

"Innovation is simply finding better ways to do things. Don't stress about tech, use what you have to improve lives – that is real innovation.”

- Judith Owigar is co-founder and executive director of Akirachix, an organisation centred around building, supporting, and inspiring African women in technology. Judith is passionate about all things women and all things tech. She believes that exposure, education and use of technology can increase the quality of life and as such change the world. Apart from Akirachix, Judith is the founder of JuaKali, an online micro jobs site for skilled manual workers. Through the Akirachix activities she seeks to increase the number of women who are creators of technological solutions and in effect change the perception of women in technology.

Quote of the Day by Deola Sagoe

October 20, 2016 Melanie Hawken

Deola Sagoe, founder of Deola (Nigeria) — **Deola Sagoe**, founder of Deola (Nigeria)

"...unless you love who you are and what makes you, 'you', you’re going to have a difficult time getting anyone to like you or value you."

- Deola Sagoe is the founder of Deola and the leading lady of African haute couture fashion from Ondo State in Nigeria. Deola has been at the cutting edge of high fashion since 1989, becoming the first black woman to present a collection at AltaRoma, Rome’s celebrated fashion week, back in 2004. Her globally appealing style has earned her an enviable clientèle that ranges from Africa's first ladies, to society girls like Lydia Hearst, top model Alek Wek, and famous personalities such as Oprah Winfrey and Will Smith.

Quote of the Day by Swaady Martin

October 19, 2016 Melanie Hawken

“Africa is too often viewed as a place of low quality goods and lack of refinement”

Swaady Martin, founder of Yswara