the pride of Africa's women entrepreneurs
Juanita Naidoo Rea, founder of eduSOIL
In the face of the glaring lack of mental and emotional health programmes for South Africa’s children and youth, entrepreneur Juanita Naidoo Rea created eduSOIL, a social enterprise on a mission to make a difference. Today, it is helping the most vulnerable young members of society to deal with stress in their daily lives.
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Christine Moraa (L) and Ruth Ogendi (R)
Finding a niche in business can often be a challenge in itself for many entrepreneurs, but for Christine Moraa, founder of Kenyan PR company Tendai Communications, her journey was inspired by her personal business experiences.
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Ever been asked, “so how long have you been doing this for?” Saying anything in terms of months doesn’t leave the impression that you know what you are doing”. At this point in the conversation, the doubtful voices in your head that seem to follow you everywhere, and get louder. I’ve seen how this question can burst the bubble of confidence at networking sessions.
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Pat Duckworth
Many women at midlife consider a new career due to changes in their work or personal life. For others it is about fulfilling a long held dream. Hot Women Rock will help new entrepreneurs to discover how to take the first steps towards achieving their dream business with authenticity. Author Pat Duckworth provides practical exercises to ignite your entrepreneurial mojo. Learn from the stories of inspirational midlife entrepreneurs who have overcome obstacles to live authentically fulfilled lives.
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“Don’t forget: What you are obsessed with will become a reality.” - Grant Cardone --- Do you wake up in the morning, thrilled to start the day, excited to tackle new challenges and take the day head on? Or do you start the day wishing you could have slept in a bit longer, or that you didn’t have to go to a certain meeting?
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- 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.
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Abai Schulze, founder of ZAAF, Ethiopia
- Abai Schulze is an Ethiopian-American entrepreneur and the founder of the creative, new Afro-luxe brand ZAAF who create handcrafted luxury leather handbags and accessories produced by artisans in Ethiopia. Abai spent her formative years in an orphanage in Addis Ababa before being adopted at age 11 by an American family. During her schooling in the US, she travelled back to Ethiopia for summer holidays to volunteer in hospitals and orphanages. Today, she passionately uses her background in economics and fine arts to create unique and practical expressions of beauty, and to open avenues of opportunity for talented artisans in Ethiopia and the rest of Africa. Her designs draw upon precious cultural relics and allow them renewed expression through fresh, uplifting and modern designs.
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Lizl Naude, founder of Lilly Loompa (South Africa)
Face it head-on!....
- Lizl Naude, is the founder of Lilly Loompa in South Africa, a company that creates beautiful and usable furniture pieces made with recycled material. Lilly Loompa's “Rubbish Range” is the result of Lizl's craving to deliver pieces that are completely "green". Lizl is a self taught designer and started designing and making furniture because she couldn’t afford to buy new pieces to furnish her home. She started to scout and source for budget material and quickly realised that most people discard of very usable materials. This led to her building and designing beautiful furniture items that she used in her home.
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Stephanie Cowper, the inspirational co-founder of Bespecular has been recognized for her groundbreaking work to help the blind see. She has been awarded with the Forbes Woman Africa - Tech Entrepreneur Award for 2016! Stephanie’s business, Bespecular, is a startup that uses technology to solve the problems which visually impaired people around the world face on a daily basis, all the while bridging the gap between the sighted and visually impaired communities.
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Sofia Cassimo, founder of Sublime Special Events and Catering (Mozambique)
Finding a niche in business is always the challenge, but in the case of Mozambican entrepreneur, Sofia Cassimo, she has found a wonderful niche in the private catering sector in the country. Her company, Sublime Special Events and Catering is both winning fans and influencing discerning palettes in the country.
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Ndidi Okonkwo Nwuneli
A new book, Reaching Millions with Impact, authored by social entrepreneur Ndidi Okonkwo Nwuneli, has recently been launched in Lagos Nigeria, to serve as a guide to achieving impact on a larger scale in order to better address the major challenges posed by rapid population growth. These challenges include food provision, healthcare, housing, energy, sanitation, and education.
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“Be creative, be unafraid, and take that step off the mountain. I assure you it’s worth it.” This advice from Lynn Worsley, the founder of the successful eco-inclusive enterprise and 2014 SEED South Africa Award Winner All Women Recycling, encourages women who are considering founding their own social enterprise to go for it.
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One of the advantages of leaving the corporate environment to start a business is you often know so much more of what you don’t want. However, having a clear vision of what you do want to achieve can be both a blessing and a curse.
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Lizl Naude, founder of Lilly Loompa (South Africa)
It takes vision and creative skill to see possibilities where others see rubbish, and entrepreneur Lilly Loompa has both attributes in large quantities. She is designing individual pieces of furniture and interior accessories that have a unique story to tell and celebrate the authenticity of the recycled material used.
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When you decide to start your own business, FIRST AND FOREMOST, you need to decide which legal entity you are going to use to house your business. Your business entity will depend very much on the nature and size of your business, and should suit your specific needs. Each legal entity in South Africa has different pro’s and con’s, and each entity is regulated by different laws.
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Pippa Hetherington, founder of Behind the Faces (South Africa)
Women entrepreneurs need to be brave....
- Pippa Hetherington is the founder of Behind the Faces in South Africa, a storytelling concept designed to highlight the many roles fulfilled by the daughters of Africa – the custodians of this continent’s past, present and future. Pippa is a social and information entrepreneur who through her unique platform encourages women to let their voices be heard. Through writing, photography, exhibitions and storytelling, Behind the Faces aims to build connections, using contemporary platforms to share personal stories of strength and inspiration.
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Sofia Dias Cassimo, founder of Samsara Development and Investment & Sublime Special Events & Catering (Mozambique)
You don't need a business background to be a great entrepreneur....
- Sofia Dias Cassimo is a serial entrepreneur and the founder of Samsara Development and Investment and Sublime Special Events & Catering in Mozambique. Sofia, who has a medical degree, turned entrepreneur following a stint working for an NGO, when she followed her passion for food, catering and hosting, starting up Sublime Special Events & Catering. She also followed her passion for developing programs that help neglected people and communities, starting Samsara Development and Investment, a social enterprise that creates programs for empowering women to become changemakers in rural communities.
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Ally Angula, co-founder of Leap Holdings
- Ally Angula is a qualified charted accountant and co-founder of Leap Holdings, a group of companies involved in the growing of fresh produce, garment manufacturing and retail in Namibia. She is also the founder of My Republik Brand, Namibia’s first locally designed, manufactured and retailed clothing brand with a flagship store situated in the Grove Mall in Windhoek's Kleine Kuppe suburb. She currently serves as non-executive director for Old Mutual Life Assurance (Namibia) and Rio Tinto's Rossing Uranium mine in Namibia. Ally was chosen as a Desmond Tutu Fellowship programme Associate in April 2013 and was one of two Namibian entrepreneurs selected to attend the 2015 Global Entrepreneurship Summit hosted by US President Barack Obama in Kenya.
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Raheel Muhammad, founder of Excolo (South Africa)
Be true to your vision everyday....
- Raheel Muhammad is the founder of Excolo in South Africa, a company that provides business improvement services to entrepreneurs in the SMME sector. With more than two decades’ experience in FMCG management and almost a decade’s specialist Business Design and Development insight, Raheel is focused on delivering business process optimisation guidance to SMEs, single and multi-business units and franchises.
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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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