Quote of the Day by Graça Machel

August 15, 2016 Melanie Hawken

Graça Machel, founder of the Graça Machel Trust — **Graça Machel**, founder of the Graça Machel Trust

"Our lives will only have a meaning if each one of us can confidently say that I was able to bring five, ten, fifteen and twenty women along with me. What I am saying is, do not climb alone!"

- Graça Machel is the founder of the Graça Machel Trust and one of the world’s leading advocates for women, children, and communities affected by conflict and injustice. Born in a rural part of Portuguese East Africa, she attended university in Lisbon before returning home to be a freedom fighter and schoolteacher. After the declaration of Mozambique’s independence, Machel became the country’s first Education Minister. In the years following her government ministry, Machel produced a ground-breaking UNICEF report on the impact of armed conflict on children that changed the way the United Nations and member states respond in conflict zones. Since then, she has worked tirelessly in support of global health, child welfare, and women’s rights and empowerment. Machel is a founding member of The Elders, and played a key role in establishing Girls Not Brides.

Essential Read: The Ultimate Survival Guide for Mompreneurs by Stepfanie Cuevas

August 14, 2016 Melanie Hawken

The Ultimate Survival Guide for Mompreneurs is a must read for all mothers who are balancing building a business and the demands of motherhood. Learn how to manage your time, create schedules, and take care of your children all while discovering way to still grow your own dreams. A short read jam packed with info from fellow mompreneur coach, Stepfanie Cuevas.

Claire Keet, a South African entrepreneur making the world of yoga and fitness a more inspirational design place

August 14, 2016 Melanie Hawken

Claire Keet, founder of Sentiens (South Africa) — **Claire Keet**, founder of Sentiens (South Africa)

For those of us who have spent hours in yoga studios, with boring yoga mats tucked under our arms, help is at hand. Claire Keet, founder of Sentiens, is on a mission to create beautiful yet practical yoga mats that will inspire anyone looking for that perfect zen moment as they exercise and meditate.

South Africa’s Popcorn Training wins gold at the 2016 Golden Bridge Business Awards

August 14, 2016 Melanie Hawken

South Africa’s Popcorn Training has earned the prestigious Gold Winner status in the 8th annual Golden Bridge Awards® in the Winner Category - Information Technology and Security Innovations: Training and Education - Best Product or Service of the Year fortheir Security Awareness Series “Cyber Heroes”.

Kenya’s women entrepreneurs gather at the Global Women’s Summit to talk about business and innovation

August 14, 2016 Melanie Hawken

Each year, over 1,000 Global Women’s Summits are being presented by The Women Information Network (WIN) in major cities worldwide. The mission is to strengthen women and families through Education, Empowerment, and Entrepreneurship in order to eradicate illiteracy, poverty and hunger in every nation. This year’s theme is Towards Vision 2020, Women Leading Innovative Transformation. On Wednesday 10 August, the Global Women’s Summit was hosted by Nairobi, Kenya.

Angela Livu, a Kenyan entrepreneur providing her customers with luxury, ethically sourced hair products

August 14, 2016 Melanie Hawken

Angela Livu, founder of Luxury Hair (Kenya) — **Angela Livu,** founder of Luxury Hair (Kenya)

Having beautiful hair is something many women long for, but often can’t attain. For one Kenyan entrepreneur, Angela Livu, this provided an opportunity to create a business that would provide the solution. Her company, Luxury Hair, is providing discerning women with the highest quality hair products that are 100% ethically sourced and beautiful to look at and wear.

Mignionette Fair, a South African entrepreneur on a mission to improve the quality of written communication

August 14, 2016 Melanie Hawken

Mignionette Fair, founder of Fair Translation and Editing Services (South Africa) — **Mignionette Fair**, founder of Fair Translation and Editing Services (South Africa)

In the world of business, the art of storytelling is no longer a ‘nice to have’ but a necessity. People connect with brands through stories and therefore companies are becoming more aware of the need to tell those stories in a way that will best connect with consumers. Entrepreneur and language guru, Mignionette Fair, the founder of Fair Translation and Editing Services, has a passion for helping companies to master the art of language to make that all important connection with customers.

Karené Wedekind, a creative photographer on a mission to help businesses succeed through great imagery

August 12, 2016 Melanie Hawken

Karené Wedekind, founder of Karené Wedekind Photography (South Africa) — **Karené Wedekind**, founder of Karené Wedekind Photography (South Africa)

We’ve all heard the phrase ‘a picture is worth a thousand words’ and in the case of South African entrepreneur, Karené Wedekind, she is capturing eye-catching images that can help businesses to portray themselves and their products in the best possible light.

Quote of the Day by Janet Nkubana

August 12, 2016 Melanie Hawken

Janet Nkubana, co-founder of Gahaya Links Cooperatives (Rwanda) — Janet Nkubana, co-founder of Gahaya Links Cooperatives (Rwanda)

"Once you earn an income you are economically empowered. You are given a voice, you can argue your values, you can argue your point, you can argue your rights.”

- 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.

Entrepreneur Advice from Njeri Rionge: You need to have the right people around you to succeed

August 12, 2016 Melanie Hawken

Get the right people and experts around you....

“You need to have the right people around you – you can’t do everything yourself. A lot of entrepreneurs think they need to be good at every aspect of the business but this is not the case.”

- 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. This serial entrepreneur founded numerous companies including co-founding the internet service provider Wananchi Online, one of east Africa’s leading providers of pay-tv, broadband internet and VoIP services. Today she splits her time between strategy consulting, speaking engagements, and investment work, either personally or through one of her portfolio businesses. Her focus is on working with SMEs and entrepreneurs to grow indigenous businesses that can be scaled across Africa.

Quote of the Day by Essma Ben Hamida

August 11, 2016 Melanie Hawken

Essma Ben Hamida, co-founder of Enda Inter-Arabe (Tunisia) — **Essma Ben Hamida**, co-founder of Enda Inter-Arabe (Tunisia)

"Money empowers women and lets them contribute in decision-making."

- Essma Ben Hamida is a Tunisian born development activist, co-founder and Executive Director of Enda Inter-Arabe in Tunisia, and President of the Sanabel Microfinance network of Arab countries. Essma launched Enda in 1995 as the first microcredit institution in Tunisia. Today, with a staff of 1300 working out of 79 branches, Enda serves 270,000 micro-entrepreneurs (70% are women) with a US$150 million loan portfolio and a repayment rate above 99%. Essma was selected Social Entrepreneur of the year for the MENA region in 2010 by the prestigious Schwab Foundation.

Meet 41 Nigerian Women Entrepreneurs Putting the Country on the Global Business Map

August 10, 2016 Melanie Hawken

Nigeria is the leading economy in Africa right now and an exciting place to be a woman entrepreneur. So, throughout the month of August at Lionesses of Africa, we are showcasing some of the inspirational women entrepreneurs who are changing the face of business in the country and getting the world to sit up and take notice of the products they are creating and the business empires they are building. Each of these businesswomen, in their own unique way, is flying the flag for Nigeria, either at home or around the world.

Quote of the Day by Bilikiss Adebiyi-Abiola

August 10, 2016 Melanie Hawken

Bilikiss Adebiyi-Abiola, founder and ceo of WeCyclers — **Bilikiss Adebiyi-Abiola**, founder and ceo of WeCyclers

"To improve innovation in Africa, we need to invest more in education. You cannot innovate when you do not have a good education."

- Bilikiss Adebiyi-Abiola 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 also a 2013 Echoing Green Fellow.

Quote of the Day from Rapelang Rabana

August 9, 2016 Melanie Hawken

Rapelang Rabana, founder of Rekindle Learning, South Africa — **Rapelang Rabana**, founder of Rekindle Learning, South Africa

"There will never be enough jobs for all the young people today – more and more of us must become entrepreneurs."

- Rapelang Rabana is a South African technology entrepreneur and founder of Rekindle Learning, a company looking to improve education in Africa by turning people’s compulsion to check their phones into an opportunity to learn. She previously co-founded Yeigo Communications a company that provided services that took advantage of the internet, mobile and cloud computing technologies to tackle the cost of communication in South Africa. In 2008, a European company acquired a majority stake in Yeigo, enabling the group to provide the full range of telecommunications services.

Quote of the Day by Ethel Cofie

August 8, 2016 Melanie Hawken

Ethel Cofie, founder of Edel Technology Consulting (Ghana) — **Ethel Cofie**, founder of Edel Technology Consulting (Ghana)

“Access to the internet is critical – the internet is no longer a luxury; it’s important for development,”

- Ethel Cofie is a Ghanaian-born entrepreneur and founder of Edel Technologies. This techpreneur is passionate about technology, female leadership and empowering women entrepreneurs. Ethel is a Mandela Fellow for President Obama’s Young African Leaders initiative(YALI), and has beenfeatured in BBC and CNN for work in technology and women leadership. She is the founder of Women in Tech Ghana, initiator of the 1st Pan African woman in tech meetup and was shortlisted for the UN GEM Tech Award for her work supporting women in ICT.

Entrepreneur Smarts: Learn from other Ecosystems

August 7, 2016 Melanie Hawken

How well do you understand the ecosystem in which you are working? What will happen next in this space? How will the forces shaping it affect your venture?

Essential Read: Entrepreneurship is a Mindset not a Storefront by Yolanda Conley Shields

August 7, 2016 Melanie Hawken

In her new book, "Entrepreneurship is a Mindset not a Store Front”, Yolanda Conley Shields, shows just how to create the type of mindset that shapes your understanding of how to stay focused in business. She gives practical advice and information on what it takes to keep you moving on your business journey, and how to stayinnovative in order to create great ideas, seize new opportunities and facilitate change that makes breakthroughs.

The Global Women’s Summit brings Johannesburg’s women together in the spirit of innovative transformation

August 7, 2016 Melanie Hawken

Each year, over 1000 Global Women’s Summits are being presented by The Women Information Network (WIN) in major cities worldwide. The mission is to strengthen women and families through Education, Empowerment, and Entrepreneurship in order to eradicate illiteracy, poverty and hunger in every nation. This year’s theme is Towards Vision 2020, Women Leading Innovative Transformation. On Friday 5 August, the Global Women’s Summit was hosted by Johannesburg, South Africa.

Hanita Muthray, a South African entrepreneur making her mark in the spa and wellness industry

August 7, 2016 Melanie Hawken

Nish & Hanita Muthray, founder of Nt Shonalanga Valley Resort (South Africa) — **Nish & Hanita Muthray**, founder of Nt Shonalanga Valley Resort (South Africa)

Many entrepreneurs find themselves pivoting along their career journeys, often by finding a passion that can translate into a business. Hanita Muthray’s entrepreneurial journey took such a turn, making the move from physiotherapy and joining the family business. Today, her experience and passion for wellness has found a new mission through the creation of a successful company, Nt Shonalanga Valley Resort, that creates a unique spa and wellness experience for individuals and corporates alike.

Christine Khasinah Odero - A Kenyan entrepreneur on a mission to connect and inspire mums in her country

August 5, 2016 Melanie Hawken

Christine Khasinah Odero, founder of Supamamas (Kenya) — **Christine Khasinah Odero**, founder of Supamamas (Kenya)

Every mum and mum-to-be knows how important it is to learn as much as possible about being a parent and caring for those precious little ones. Seeing a gap in the market for a focused online and event platform that would bring the best information, networking and support for mums in Kenya, led to entrepreneur Christine Khasinah Odero creating Supamamas, a destination of choice for discerning mums.