Entrepreneur Advice from Nkemdilim Begho: Don't worry about competition from the big players - there's room for everyone

October 8, 2014 Melanie Hawken

How do you cope with competition from the big players in the industry?....

"I always say there is a market share for everybody no matter how big or small you are. There are always people who need your services and will patronize you. All you need do is be at the right place. So, for me, it’s not a question of the big competition out there, though I must admit that I lost some jobs but I also win a lot of jobs. At the end of the day, it all boils down to building a brand, a reputation, and figuring out how I can stand out from the crowd. My unique selling point."

- 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.

Entrepreneur Advice from Nkemdilim Begho: Starting up lean and small is the way to go

October 8, 2014 Melanie Hawken

Starting up lean and small is the way to go....

"I went for a slim and lean way of working. I tried to make it as small as possible and all I had to do was build a website and then created a business card."

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.

Money cow: The economy-boosting bovine

October 7, 2014 Melanie Hawken

Dr. Victoria Kisyombe, founder of SELFINA (Tanzania) — **Dr. Victoria Kisyombe**, founder of SELFINA (Tanzania)

Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania (CNN) -- Starting a business is never easy, but in Tanzania, the obstacles for women can be particularly fierce. Few women hold land titles, and as a result, many don't have the necessary collateral to secure funding from a bank. Dr. Victoria Kisyombe has set out to change that. She runs SELFINA, a micro-credit institution focused on female entrepreneurs. In addition to lending, SELFINA loans women equipment to start up their businesses

Entrepreneur Advice from Tara Fela-Durotoye: My top advice to any aspiring entrepreneur - Stay true to yourself

October 7, 2014 Melanie Hawken

This is the most important advice I always give out ....

"Stay true to yourself, stay true to what you are trying to achieve, otherwise you get distracted. Side comments, how people think you should do things, and I think that everyone wants to hear their own voice so you need to stay true to yourself. Before you come out of your house you have to decide, yes this is what I want to do. You still need counsel but you should be able to apply counsel to your own decision to be able to take insightful steps."

- Tara Fela-Durotoye is a Nigerian-born lawyer turned Africa's leading beauty and makeup entrepreneur. She started House of Tara at the age of 20, from her living room, whilst an undergraduate at university back in 1998. She's since gone on to launch Nigeria's first ever bridal directory in 1999, and in 2004 she opened the country's leading beauty academy. Today, Tara has over 3,000 reps spread across Nigeria and 14 stores to her name and she is steadfastly dedicated to realising her vision of building a globally respected beauty company of African origin. Tara remains an inspirational role-model and mentor to make-up artists and aspiring beauty business owners across Africa.

Entrepreneur Advice from Tara Fela-Durotoye: Build an enduring business that has spin-off benefits for other entrepreneurs

October 6, 2014 Melanie Hawken

You can build an enduring business that has spin-off benefits for other entrepreneurs....

"For us at House of Tara .... Creating a business that impacts and generates income, developing micro entrepreneurs who will grow their business and employ more people so as to make the Nigerian economy better is what's most important."

Entrepreneur Advice from Juliana Rotich: Stay lean when you start-up

October 6, 2014 Melanie Hawken

Act and stay lean for as long as possible when you start-up....

"Ushahidi ran a lean team of distributed members all over the world ... We often say as long as you are good and awesome, we don’t care where you live”

- Juliana Rotich is a Technologist, MIT Media Lab Director's Fellow, TED Senior Fellow and currently serves as Chair of World Economic Forum Global Agenda Council on Data Driven Development. She is co-founder and Executive Director of Ushahidi Inc, a non-profit tech company, born in Africa, which specializes in developing free and open source software for information collection, interactive mapping and data curation. Ushahidi builds tools for democratizing information, increasing transparency and lowering the barriers for individuals to share their stories. She leads a team that is expanding its global footprint and making crowdsourcing tools available and useful, and catalyzing entrepreneurial initiatives like iHub in Kenya. She also serves on the advisory council of Microsoft 4Afrika and Waabeh Ltd. In 2011 The World Economic Forum named Juliana 'Social Entrepreneur of the Year'.

Entrepreneur Advice from Juliana Rotich: Smart advice on scaling a tech product

October 6, 2014 Melanie Hawken

Scaling your business is often a burning question for technologists. Just how can you expand your technology and products to more countries around the world?....

“For us the biggest lesson in scaling was translation ... It was important to make sure the product was available in a language that people could connect to.”

Dorcas Muthoni - The startup story of this leading Kenyan techpreneur

October 2, 2014 Melanie Hawken

This leading Kenyan entrepreneur, computer scientist and inductee of the Internet Hall of Fame founded her tech company at the age of 24.

Quote of the Day

October 2, 2014 Melanie Hawken

"In our weaving groups we have women who survived genocide, we have women who have husbands in prison, we have girls who lost everyone who are heading households. Through weaving we manage to have everyone under one roof sharing and working together."

- Janet Nkubana, co-founded Gahaya Links Cooperatives with her sister Joy Ndungutse shortly after the Rwandan genocide ended in 1994. These inspiring sisters had a vision to turn ancient basket weaving skills into a source of livelihood for thousands of rural women. Many of the women, like Janet and Joy themselves, were returning refugees or survivors of the genocide. The women started weaving baskets in exchange for food. Initially bringing together about twenty women, the sisters taught them how to weave and how to enhance their weaving skills with new design techniques. Today, Gahaya Links manages a network of over 4,000 weavers across the country, organised into around 52 cooperatives that help provide much needed income and stability. The sisters have successfully opened the business to international markets, partnering with the likes of Macy’s, Walmart, Oprah Magazine, and Kate Spade. Today, Gahaya Links "Peace Baskets” are sold and admired the world over.

Tabitha Karanja - The startup story a Kenyan beer brewer who started small and built an empire

October 1, 2014 Melanie Hawken

This mould-breaking Kenyan woman has battled monopolies, gender-descrimination, industry sceptics and other challenges to create a Kenyan business success story that is internationally admired.

Quote of the Day

September 30, 2014 Melanie Hawken

"The biggest problem in Uganda is unemployment, .... I know what to do—we can create more employment.”

- Julian Adyeri Omalla is one of Uganda's top female entrepreneurs. She is founder, chairperson and managing director of Delight Uganda Limited, producing the country's most popular fruit drink sold under the brand name 'Cheers'. Julian has diversified into a range of other business activities, including egg and poultry farming, maize-feed production, a flour mill and bakery, a student hostel for 400, as well as coordinating women’s farmer cooperatives that provide food aid into Sudan. Today, Julian employs over 1,000 Ugandans and exports to countries such as Rwanda, Kenya, Tanzania, Sudan and Zaire.

Entrepreneur Advice from Juliana Rotich: Developers need to prioritise function over form

September 22, 2014 Melanie Hawken

Juliana Rotich, co-founder and executive director of Ushahidi — **Juliana Rotich,** co-founder and executive director of Ushahidi

Budding developers and entrepreneurs need to focus on utility over appearance....

“It’s not just about what looks pretty .... Software needs to work for each situation and solve a problem.”

Quote of the Day

September 22, 2014 Melanie Hawken

"You can be in the non-profit space but think like an entrepreneur, and you can mix that with for-profit partners."

Quote of the Day

September 22, 2014 Melanie Hawken

"If you have a farm, you should plant fruits and cash crops. Cash crops will bring income for the family and fruits are enjoyed by the children. A woman must know she has to till the land for the nation."

Essential Read: 'Innovating Women' by Farai Chideya and Vivek Wadhwa explores the role of women in innovation and technology

September 21, 2014 Melanie Hawken

Innovating Women explores the world of women in the technology industry, and other fields of innovation, but told from the unique perspective and first-hand experience of women in the front-line. This extraordinary collection of personal, highly candid interviews and essays from hundreds of technology executives and entrepreneurs, gives an insight into the challenges faced by women in this sector, and how they have achieved success despite the odds.

Essential Read: 'All in Startup' by Diana Kander helps startups find their way

September 21, 2014 Melanie Hawken

Diana Kander, author of 'All in Startup'

All In Start-Up is a lifeline for entrepreneurs who are thinking about launching a new idea, or for those who have already started, but can't seem to generate the traction they were expecting.

6 Steps to Becoming More Productive in your Entrepreneurial Day

September 21, 2014 Melanie Hawken

As women entrepreneurs, how many of us start our working days by making endless action lists, noting all the tasks we are aiming to complete if we are go reach our goals? And, how many of us end the day by looking at those same lists and becoming disheartened by the sheer number of actions still remaining to be done? Where did the time go? How did we manage to seemingly achieve so little? Well, for all of you entrepreneurial list makers out there, here are a few tips to help you become more productive in your daily work-life....

Tabitha Karanje Africa's pioneering woman brewer scoops the AABLA 2104 Business Woman of the Year Award

September 20, 2014 Melanie Hawken

Tabitha Karanja, founder and CEO of Keroche Breweries in Kenya scooped 'The Business Woman of the Year' category at the East African round of the CNBC Africa All Africa Business Leaders Awards (AABLA) presented By Johnnie Walker Blue Label.

Entrepreneur Advice from Alexa Von Tobel: My biggest money lesson

September 16, 2014 Melanie Hawken

Alexa von Tobel, founder of LearnVest.com, on 'Financial Risk Management for Entrepreneurs' — **Alexa von Tobel**, founder of LearnVest.com, on *'Financial Risk Management for Entrepreneurs'*

Putting every last penny of your personal savings into your startup is a bad idea....

"That is one of the worst things you can do... take so much risk that you can't think clearly. If you are literally blindly desperate because you are worried that if the business does not work your entire family, house, whatever goes under, you're not going to be in a clear, steady position of power. And that's what you need to be in when you're running a business,"

- Alexa von Tobel is the American founder and CEO of LearnVest.com, a leading financial-planning and lifestyle website. Alexa, a certified financial planner, was recently selected as one of Fortune's Most Powerful Women Entrepreneurs and highlighted in Inc.'s 30 Under 30 list of cool young entrepreneurs. Her company has raised $69 million to date.

"I went for a slim and lean way of working. I tried to make it as small as possible and all I had to do was build a website and then created a business card."

"For us at House of Tara .... Creating a business that impacts and generates income, developing micro entrepreneurs who will grow their business and employ more people so as to make the Nigerian economy better is what's most important."

"Ushahidi ran a lean team of distributed members all over the world ... We often say as long as you are good and awesome, we don’t care where you live”

“For us the biggest lesson in scaling was translation ... It was important to make sure the product was available in a language that people could connect to.”

"In our weaving groups we have women who survived genocide, we have women who have husbands in prison, we have girls who lost everyone who are heading households. Through weaving we manage to have everyone under one roof sharing and working together."

"The biggest problem in Uganda is unemployment, .... I know what to do—we can create more employment.”

Behind every great social media platform stands millions of great women. And, boy do we women love our smartphones!

“It’s not just about what looks pretty .... Software needs to work for each situation and solve a problem.”

"You can be in the non-profit space but think like an entrepreneur, and you can mix that with for-profit partners."

"If you have a farm, you should plant fruits and cash crops. Cash crops will bring income for the family and fruits are enjoyed by the children. A woman must know she has to till the land for the nation."

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