the pride of Africa's women entrepreneurs
Bethlehem Tilahun Alemu is founder and Managing Director of soleRebels
- Bethlehem Tilahun Alemu, founder and Managing Director of soleRebels (Ethiopia)
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Farai Simoyi, founder of Farai Inc.
Johanna Mukoki, co-founder and group CEO of Travel With Flair Travel (South Africa)
- Johanna Mukoki, co-founder & CEO of Travel With Flair (South Africa)
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Eva Muraya, founder and CEO of Brand Strategy and Design, Kenya
- Eva Muraya, founder & CEO of BSD Group (Kenya)
Read moreMellisa Mazinga, founder of zedlabel (Zimbabwe)
- Mellisa Mazingi, founder of zedlabel (Zimbabwe)
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- 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.
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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 in Africa. 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. In January 2015 the company commissioned a new state-of-the-art EMV-certified smartcard manufacturing plant – the first of its kind in Sub-Saharan Africa. The 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.
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Dee Poku, founder and CEO of WIE
- Dee Poku is a social entrepreneur and the Founder and CEO of WIE, an innovative women’s leadership and empowerment network. WIE, which stands for Women, Inspiration and Enterprise launched its first symposium in New York City in 2010. Their mission is to provide a platform for curating dynamic conversations with powerful industry leaders via its global conferences and salons, all designed to inspire emerging women leaders. The organisation has attracted an incredible range of speakers to its US, European and African events, including Donna Karan, Arianna Huffington, Queen Rania, Graca Machel, Ted Turner, Melinda Gates, Diane von Furstenberg, Nancy Pelosi, Jill Biden, Katie Couric, Tyra Banks, Lauren Bush, Elizabeth Banks, Iman, Deepak Chopra and Christy Turlington.
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Dr. Jennifer Riria (Right), founder & group chief executive of Kenya Women Holding
- 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.
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Adenike Ogunlesi, founder of Ruff 'n' Tumble (Nigeria)
- Adenike 'Nike' Ogunlesi is the founder of Ruff 'n' Tumble a leading designer, manufacturer and retailer of designer children's clothing in Nigeria. Nike started out modestly in 1996 selling the clothes she made from the boot of her car and in bazaars. Today, Ruff 'n' Tumble is an instantly recognisable brand in Nigeria and has a reputation for being one of the top manufacturers of children's clothing throughout West Africa. Ruff 'n' Tumble successfully caters to the unique fashion sense of today’s youngsters, from new born to age 16, happily mixing indigenous lifestyle trends with an international appeal.
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Mariéme Jamme, founder Spotone Global Solutions
- Mariéme Jamme is a Senegalese born-British businesswoman, who runs a technology consultancy business, Spotone Global Solutions, that helps technology companies to identify a new markets, generate leads, increase revenue and set a foothold in Europe, Middle East, Asia and Africa. Mariéme 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.
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Tammy Frazer, founder of Frazer Parfum
- Tammy Frazer founded Cape-Town-based Frazer Parfum in 2008 creating organic and natural perfume products, all handcrafted in collaboration with local artists. Tammy is part of a growing new generation of African women entrepreneurs transforming quality local raw materials into world-class African luxury products.
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Damilola Solesi, founder of Smids Animation Studios, Nigeria
- Damilola Solesi is founder and CEO of Smids Animation Studios based in Lagos, Nigeria specialising in computer animation, motion graphics and visual effects. Damilola's passion for animation dates back to her childhood when she used to dream about producing her own cartoons. Today, her work fuses the richness of African stories with the latest world-class animation techniques.
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Oreoluwa Somolu Lesi, founder of the Women’s Technology Empowerment Centre, Nigeria
- Oreoluwa Somolu Lesi is founder and Executive Director of the Women’s Technology Empowerment Centre a Nigerian NGO working to empower girls and women socially and economically, using information and communication technologies. Oreoluwa is a 2014 Vital Voices Lead Fellow, 2013 Ashoka fellow and a recipient of the Anita Borg Change Agent Award for her commitment to issues of women in computing in Nigeria.
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Sonia Mugabo, founder of Sonia Mugabo (SM), Rwanda
- Sonia Mugabo is the founder of Sonia Mugabo (SM), Rwanda , a fashion brand established in 2013. It was born out of Sonia’s strong interest in design; and the desire to tap into the existing local artisan talent to make high quality men and womenswear. Sonia Mugabo develops 2 collections each year, and all year round makes bespoke items for its clientele. A pioneer of Rwanda’s fashion industry; Sonia is setting the standard for Rwandan fashion in global and local markets.
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Mo Abudu, founder and Chief Executive Officer of EbonyLife TV
- 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.
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Vere Shaba, founder of the Shaba & Ramplin (South Africa)
- Vere Shaba is the founder and Director: Green Buildings & Certifications at Shaba & Ramplin Green Building Solutions in South Africa. She holds a BScEng (Hons) Mechanical Engineering degree from the University of Cape Town and is a Green Star SA Accredited Professional with the Green Building Council of South Africa, a Green Star Accredited Professional with the Green Building Council of Australia and a LEED Accredited Professional with the United States Green Building Council. In 2013, she was selected as one of SA's Top 100 Women in Business in the "Top Women in Business and Government 10th Edition" publication, featuring as one of the ten Top Women in Engineering. In 2017, she was selected as one of the Inspiring Fifty women in science, technology, engineering and mathematics in South Africa by the Kingdom of Netherlands and as one of Mail & Guardian’s 200 Young South Africans for Environment.
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Josephine Marie Godwyll, founder of Young At Heart in Ghana
- Josephine Marie Godwyll is the founder of Young At Heart in Ghana, a social entreprise bringing the world of learning to young Ghanaian children through digital platforms. Josephine has developed a Digital e-learning platform driving computer literacy for rural and deprived communities in Ghana; and the Ananse the Teacher App to help young children to learn through animation. Josephine Marie is a young enthusiastic engineer and a passionate Social Entrepreneur. She is a Mandela Washington Fellow and in 2016 won the Tigo Digital Changemakers Competition globally.
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Johanna Mukoki, co-founder of Travel with Flair
- Johanna Mukoki is the co-founder of Travel with Flair, a company she started 18 years ago with her two partners. She started with only 3 employees and one office in Pretoria. Currently her company employs 800 staff country wide and they have offices in Johannesburg, Pretoria, Durban and Cape Town. She is the first person from the African continent to sit on the Global Tourism Board (ACTE) - Association of Corporate Travel Executives where she represented the Middle East and Africa.
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Bethlehem Tilahun Alemu, founder and Managing Director of soleRebels (Ethiopia)
- 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.
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