Adèle Dejak is one of an emerging group of entrepreneurs who are adding value to Kenya's arts and fashion industry. Speaking to Nikiwe Bikitsha for the Africa Connected series, the jewellery designer said that she aims to create a platform that shares information with women that will empower them in business. Adele is part of a group called "Lionesses of Africa" which aims to recognise all those women entrepreneurs in Africa who are an inspiration to us all, those who have made it to the top of their fields and who are shaking up their industries and business sectors.
Read moreEntrepreneur Advice from Rozanne Collings: Chase your dreams
Rozanne Collings, founder of Chillalas (South Africa)
Chase your dreams....
"Don’t listen to logic. If you know that there is more to you than your 9-5, more to you than just being a mommy or a wife, then abandon logic and chase your dreams with all you have. Don’t let the naysayers kill your dreams!"
- Rozanne Collings is the founder of Chillalas in South Africa, a company that produces fresh, home-made and healthy chilli paste. Rozanne is a passionate and talented home cook who took her love of spice and turned it into a business that is inspiring other cooks who appreciate the culinary power of the chilli. Her new chilli paste brand Chillalas is livening up kitchens and meals across South Africa.
Read moreQuote of the Day by Deborah Nicholls
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.
Read moreEntrepreneur advice for Eldari Visser: Never ever doubt yourself
Eldari Visser, founder of Picketfence Life (South Africa)
Never ever doubt yourself....
"Start as soon as possible - work on that dream. Never ever doubt yourself or listen to negative people. Don't let a bad economy stop you, but always keep your heart open for your customer. Without them you have nothing."
- Eldari Visser is the founder of Picketfence Life in South Africa, a one stop place for the consumer to find expert advice from financial coaches, lawyers, accountants and tax practitioners, life and business coaches, and even psychologists. Following a long and successful corporate career in training, lecturing and finance, Eldari decided to launch her company to support people by providing them with an avenue to easily reach expert advice.
Read moreQuote of the Day Mariéme Jamme
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.
Read moreShona MacDonald, founder of Shonaquip, wins the inaugural SAB Foundation Disability Empowerment Award
Shona MacDonald, founder of Shonaquip (South Africa)
At this year’s SAB Foundation Social Innovation and Disability Empowerment Awards, Shona MacDonald, founder of Shonaquip in South Africa, was announced as the winner of the inaugural Disability Empowerment Award at an official awards ceremony on 27 October 2016. The award was established in recognition of the increase in the number of innovations providing solutions for people with disabilities. As a means of recognizing the critical work carried out in this under-served sector, the SAB Foundation established the Disability Empowerment Awards, which carries an additional total prize money of R1.5-million. In judging this award, the innovation’s business potential, innovation, life change potential and scalability was reviewed.
Read moreRozanne Collings, a South African entrepreneur turning her love for cooking and the humble chilli to new culinary heights
Rozanne Collings, founder of Chillalas (South Africa)
Anyone who loves cooking understands how crucial it is to get great ingredients for the pantry, particularly when it comes to spicing up favourite dishes. Passionate and talented home cook Rozanne Collings took her love of spice and turned it into a business that is inspiring other cooks who appreciate the culinary power of the chilli. Her new chilli paste brand Chillalas is livening up kitchens and meals across South Africa.
Read moreHow entrepreneurs can provide opportunities to the unskilled labour force
One of the greatest challenges in Africa is recruiting the unskilled labour force that makes up the majority of unemployed people. Where we've seen exponential growth in the number of new businesses, in spite of the challenges in accessing markets and funding, skills pose a limitation on the growth of these businesses.
Read moreDeborah DB Nicholls, a South African entrepreneur with a passion for wellness and a unique approach to exercise for anti-ageing
Deborah Nicholls, founder of Ageless Grace (South Africa)
Helping clients to achieve ‘ageless grace’ is the vision that entrepreneur Deborah Nicholls has for her company and she has developed an innovative exercise and wellness programme called Ageless Grace - Anti-Ageing Exercises for Body & Brain, which provides the solution.
Read moreESSENTIAL READ: Flight Club: Rebel, Reinvent, and Thrive: How To Launch Your Dream Business by Felena Hanson
Felena Hanson, entrepreneur & author
Flight Club is a call to rebel, reinvent, and thrive! The book shares the journey of women who "leaned out" of the corporate world to launch their dream businesses. Author Felena Hanson, founder of Hera Hub, shares her personal story and rise to entrepreneurship.
Read moreBuilding sales confidence with a winning mindset
Being an entrepreneur automatically means that you keep learning. You keep developing your skills-sets, understanding new ways of doing business and applying new methods to make your business better. The same principles are applied to sales. If you want to be a better salesperson, with the understanding that all entrepreneurs are salespeople, then you need to keep honing your skills and developing your mindset to have a winning attitude in sales.
Read moreEldari Visser, a South African entrepreneur aiming to be the expert on your side of the fence
Eldari Visser, founder of Picketfence Life (South Africa)
Have you ever wondered what it would be like to have a professional expert in a particular field walking your life journey with you and providing support and advice along the way? Well, entrepreneur Eldari Visser knows the value of having such experts at hand, and her unique company, Picketfence Life, is providing access to information, advice and a powerful network of such experts.
Read moreEntrepreneur Advice from Omoyemi Akerele: Purpose and passion are the most important things
Omoyemi Akerele, founder of Lagos Fashion and Design Week
Find your purpose and passion....
"Life is a journey. Once you understand that some of the most important things are purpose and passion driven, combined with a deeper need to make a difference beyond self as well as contribute in some way to what is happening around you, it certainly makes waking up daily an easier task for me. When you earn a living this way, it is certainly more fulfilling."
- Omoyemi Akerele founded the Lagos Fashion and Design Week in 2011 and is also founder and artistic director of Style House Files, the organising body behind the annual four-day fashion showcase. Style House Files is a Creative Development Agency that primarily focuses on the advancement of the Nigerian and African Fashion Industry. Omoyemi is widely regarded as a driving force behind the burgeoning Nigerian fashion industry. She helps brands gain essential international exposure through presenting showcases at Pitti Immagine in Italy, and through Lagos Fashion and Design Week.
Read moreQuote of the Day by Tigui Traoré
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.
Read moreEntrepreneur Advice from Robyn Victor: It's a steep learning curve
Robyn Victor, founder of August
Starting your own company is always a big learning curve....
"It is a big learning curve when you first start out, and in fact, I still learn something new every week. Try and get a business oriented person or a financial planner involved in the early days for essential advice and guidance."
- Robyn Victor is a Cape Town-based designer, born in Plettenberg Bay. She moved to Cape Town in 2002 to study Graphic Design in Advertising and then Fashion Design. In 2009, after 3 years of working and designing for the retail industry, she launched her own collection under the August label. Robyn’s design philosophy is pure and sophisticated, inspired by both the resort and casual sides of the South African lifestyle, and appealing to the fashion-minded, modern woman.
Read moreQuote of the Day by Ola Orekunrin
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.
Read moreEntrepreneur Advice from Sarah Munyiva: You need a team behind you
Sarah Munyiva, founder of Royal Maids Cleaning Services (Kenya)
You need a team behind you....
"Entrepreneurship requires self-trust and it is so important that you have a team behind you, because things are going to get rough at some point, and you need people who think differently than you in order to prosper and problem-solve."
- Sarah Munyiva is the founder of Royal Maids Cleaning Services in Kenya, a residential and commercial cleaning company in Kenya offering weekly, bi-weekly, monthly and one-time cleanings. Royal Maids gives busy individuals and families clean, comfortable homes to return to and enjoy each day. Sarah began at the Royal Maids alongside her mother and continued to build and grow the business over the past 2 years. She has a bachelor’s degree in Project Planning and Management from The University of Nairobi.
Read moreQuote of the Day by Dr. Jennifer Riria
“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.
Read more100 LIONESSES: Swaady Martin on developing strategies and tactics to expand an African global luxury brand
After an 11-year career at GE, Swaady Martin adopted many of the strategies and tactics instrumental to its successful African expansion to launch YSWARA, an African, global luxury brand.
Read moreChaymaa Rhou, a Moroccan entrepreneur on a mission to encourage more digital nomads to explore the world of film
Chaymaa Rhou, founder of Nomadic Filmland Academy (Morocco)
For all those who love the idea of global travel and filming combined into one unique offering, then the Nomadic Filmland Academy has a great proposition. Entrepreneur Chaymaa Rhou and her film expert colleagues are providing the opportunity for travellers to experience not only fascinating trips to new places, but also the chance to record a film of their travels at the same time.
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