Following on from last year’s hugely successful event, which attracted hordes of local foodies and fashionistas, there is already much talk and anticipation around the forthcoming 2015 Sanlam Handmade Contemporary Fair, which is returning to Johannesburg, South Africa, from 9 to 11 October 2015.
Read moreTREND WATCH: Co-work spaces just for women. Can these dedicated new spaces help Africa's women entrepreneurs break down barriers in the male-dominated startup world on the continent?
One Roof Co-working spaces for women entrepreneurs, Venice Beach, CA, United States
There is a real global buzz about co-working spaces providing a great launchpad for young entrepreneurs who want to hit the ground running, stay lean and fast, and keep operational costs to a minimum. So, will the creation of dynamic new women co-working spaces in Africa help to drive a new and empowering era for women entrepreneurs on the continent? This month, Lionesses of Africa speaks to two young pioneering women entrepreneurs from the US and Australia who are globally rolling out these women co-working spaces, and who are looking at Africa as a possible next destination.
Read moreMellisa Mazingi - The startup story of a Zimbabwean online fashion retailer with a vision to grow the country’s fashion sector
Mellisa Mazinga, founder of zedlabel (Zimbabwe)
The African fashion industry is definitely on the move, and in Zimbabwe one woman fashion retail-preneur is realising her vision to put the country’s fashion designers on the map, and create an innovative online retail fashion outlet to showcase their work. Mellisa Mazingi and her company zedlabel, is an African fashion-preneur with a big vision and big ideas - a name to watch on the continent.
Read moreEntrepreneur Advice from Faraja Nyalandu - Women need to believe in themselves
Faraja Nyalandu, founder Shule Direct (Tanzania)
Women need to believe in themselves....
"We have all heard what we are capable of. Now, we just need to own the accolades. I have met women who have all the details figured out, but they are still too scared to take the next step. They just need to take that leap of faith. Believe in yourself and believe in your ideas. So long as they are solving a problem, you are on the right track."
- Faraja Nyalandu is an inspirational edupreneur and the founder of Shule Direct in Tanzania. Her company creates local and accessible digital educational content for Secondary School students designed around the Tanzanian National Curriculum. She has built an adaptable platform to make this content available on a range of devices from the most basic mobiles to full-featured desktop learning portals.
Read moreLionesses of Africa celebrates the continent’s most inspiring women entrepreneurs in beauty and wellness businesses in July
July is Focus on Africa’s Women Beauty and Wellness Entrepreneurs Month.
This month at Lionesses of Africa we are turning our attention to the women who are changing the face of the beauty and wellness industry in Africa, and creating fabulous new products and brands in the process.
Read moreQuote of the Day
Bilikiss Adebiyi, founder and CEO of WeCyclers
"I definitely think developing countries can build their economies through waste. One of the biggest drivers for the economy is jobs. According to the REI, the US recycling sector employs well over 1.25 million people, I believe that recycling alone can create at least 500,000 jobs in Nigeria."
- Bilikiss Adebiyi is a Nigerian entrepreneur and innovator, and founder and CEO of WeCyclers. This Lagos-based company is focused on giving low-income communities in developing countries a chance to capture value from waste and clean up their neighborhoods through an incentive-based recycling program. Bilikiss holds an MBA from MIT and a Masters degree from Vanderbilt University. She is a 2013 Echoing Green Fellow and WeCyclers were a Sustainia100 Company Award winner in 2014.
Read moreBILIKISS ADEBIYI '100 Lionesses' Profile - Meet the woman building Nigeria's recycling sector
Clare Kagimu - The startup story of a talented Ugandan interior architect bringing her unique design vision to the UK
Clare Kagimu, founder of Phoenix Design (United Kingdom)
Creative entrepreneurs in the interior design and architecture space are by their very nature, highly dynamic individuals with a wonderful eye for detail and a unique way of looking at the world. Clare Kagimu, founder of Phoenix Design, is dynamism personified. As a creative member of the African Diaspora, she showcases the best of her African design talent from her base in the UK, combined with a global perspective and stacks of energy and passion for what she does.
Read moreJohanette van Niekerk - The startup story of a South African jewellery and accessories designer whose creative passion turned into a business and a new, positive life direction
Johanette van Niekerk, founder of Sew Good Handmade (South Africa)
South Africa has a long tradition of beautiful jewellery and accessories craftmanship and beading, and one creative entrepreneur is taking it to a whole new level with her company, Sew Good Handmade. Johanette van Niekerk is a woman with a wonderful creative soul who sees beautiful design possibilities in everything around her and particularly in the materials she uses. Her handcrafted products are literally kaleidoscopes of colour, designed to lift the spirits of anyone wearing or displaying them.
Read moreEssential Read: Feminine Capital - Unlocking the Power of Women Entrepreneurs by Barbara Orser and Catherine Elliott
Today, there are over 200,000,000 women business owners around the world. Many of these entrepreneurs are not doing business as usual, nor are they simply leaning in. Rather, according to authors Barbara Orser and Catherine Elliott, they are tapping into feminine capital—the unique skills and sensibilities that they have cultivated as women—to create enviable successes.
Read moreEntrepreneur Advice from Mary-Anne Grobler - Never give up on your dream
Mary-Anne Grobler & Kara Furter, co-founders of Matter of Fakt (South Africa)
Giving up is not an option....
"Just don’t give up - if you think it is not working, you just have to keep pushing and never give up on your dream."
- Mary-Anne Grobler is the co-founder of Matter of Fakt, an up-and-coming South African jewellery design brand that specialises in crafting raw, semi-precious stone pieces. Mary-Anne originally trained as an art director and worked in the advertising industry for a few years. But, she always knew that she wanted to build her own brand and take control of its destiny.
Read moreCalling all Geeky Divas! Applications are open for the W.TEC Girls Technology Camp 2015 in Lagos
Applications are now open for the 2015 W.TEC Girls Technology Camp themed ''Geeky Divas - Grooming ICT-preneurs'', which takes place in Lagos, Nigeria from August 2 - 15, 2015. The aim of camp is to help girls develop an early interest in computers and other information technology.
Read moreAMPION is looking forward to your applications for The Ampion Venture Bus Africa 2015!
Ampion has opened applications for its third edition of The Ampion Venture Bus Africa which will take over 200 Ampioneers on 5 buses in 2015. Ampion is encouraging young African women entrepreneurs and ICT professionals to jump on Ampion's five 2015 venture bus tours this September through to December. Each tour is a 7-day full-immersion program for developing entrepreneurial skills and creating new ventures in a team-based competition. 50% of the participants will be female, 50% from Africa, 50% from the rest of the world.
Read moreQuote of the Day
“Failing a lot is the ultimate proof that you're meant to be a successful entrepreneur, as it shows you're willing to shake up the status quo and try new things. You need to be able to take a hit, bounce back up and say, ‘hit me again.’ If you can't take a hit, you won't stay in business.”
- Barbara Ann Corcoran is an American businesswoman, investor, speaker, consultant, syndicated columnist, author, and television personality. As a television personality, she is a "Shark" investor on ABC's Shark Tank.
Read moreEntrepreneur Advice from Asma Dukanda - You need to manage your own expectations
Asma Dukanda, founder of Mokopu (South Africa)
You need to manage your own expectations as a new startup....
"It is not easy - I planned a lot, and saved up my money ready for the day I was to launch. You forget that in the initial stages it is slow, and you have to remember that you are building a new business and a brand. In all the initial excitement and with so much to do, it is easy to forget that you are a new startup and you are often tempted to raise your own expectations to impossible limits, or to look at others that are so much further down the business journey than you are and wish you were there already, so you have to continually remind yourself that you are just starting out on your own journey and that it takes time to become established. One of the key challenges is to manage your own expectations."
- Asma Dukanda is the founder of Mokopu, a South African startup company, launched in December 2014, that designs and produces a range of baby products and clothing, and specialises in locally sourced and created products. The name Mokopu comes from the South-Sotho word for Pumpkin. Asma is a qualified civil engineer who has reinvented herself as an entrepreneur.
Read more8 Things we're loving at Lionesses of Africa this month!
A new regular Lionesses of Africa feature is 'Things We're Loving This Month', where we showcase some of the fabulous and truly unique products being created by our talented women designers, makers and crafters across the continent. These are some of the things we are loving this month - hope you enjoy them too!
Read more2 Young Namibian women entrepreneurs selected to attend the 2015 Global Entrepreneurship Summit set to be hosted by President Barak Obama in Kenya
US ambassador to Namibia, Thomas Daughton, flanked by Ally Angula (L) and Tammy Knott (R)
Ally Angula and Tammy Knott are two young women entrepreneurs making names for themselves as rising stars of the Namibian business scene. Their success has seen them invited to attend the Global Entrepreneurship Summit (GES) to be held July 24-26, 2015 in Nairobi, Kenya under the auspices of the United States Government. President Barack Obama will attend the GES summit reinforcing his commitment to women's entrepreneurship in a recent Whitehouse briefing where he stated, "... we’re going to step up our efforts to support young entrepreneurs and women, which is just smart business."
Read moreMatilda Sekoakoa - The startup story of a social-edu-preneur with a vision to help underprivileged South African children develop a love of reading
Matilda Sekoakoa, co-founder of Help A Child Grow Foundation (South Africa)
The challenge of inspiring young, underprivileged and orphaned children in South Africa to learn to read and develop a love of books and learning, is one that social edupreneur Matilda Sekoakoa, together with her business partner, Lerato Kadiaka, have embraced. They are not just actively working to provide solutions, but their inspirational Help A Child Grow Foundation is positively and tangibly changing the lives of these children each day.
Read moreQuote of the Day
“We need to open up to experiences and to visiting other African countries to learn about them, so that when we talk about intra-African trade – from the macro perspective and coming back to sector specific – it’s not just the thing that people talk about at the World Economic Forum Africa,”
- 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'.
Read moreUganda ranked as the country with the highest level of entrepreneurship in the world according to latest research
It might come as a surprise to some that an African country, Uganda, ranks first in the world for having the most entrepreneurs per capita, according to recent research conducted by UK-based business-networking group, Approved Index. Three further African countries, Cameroon, Angola and Botswana also occupy places amongst the top nine countries with the most entrepreneurs, many of them women.
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