the pride of Africa's women entrepreneurs
Gugu Nkabinde, founder of Gugu Intimates (South Africa)
Gugu Intimates introduces the FIRST skin coloured underwear brand in Africa specialising in affordable luxury undergarments to match your skin tone (across 5 shades). Founded by entrepreneur Gugu Nkabinde, Gugu Intimates aims to create beautiful underwear in nude shades more representative of the African skin palette.
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by Lori Milner: author, entrepreneur, thought leader and founder of Beyond the Dress
I am a professional speaker/trainer/teacher who does talks and workshops to a corporate audience for a living. So when the opportunity to do a TEDx Women talk came along, I was thrilled. Firstly, it’s been on my bucket list for over 10 years and secondly, I was sure having this public speaking background would make the process that much easier. Quite the contrary! It was the most amazing 8 weeks for me, I have not been pushed out of my comfort zone and beyond for a long time. It tested me on every level and the process has been my greatest reward.
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by Eldari Visser, founder of PicketFence Life
On our journey through life we meet an array of interesting people. Some fascinating and others unique. We learn a great deal about ourselves on how we interact with these personalities. In our financial wealth world we often find that our behavior reflects some typical personality and behavioral patterns.
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by Tatenda Rungisa, Human Resources Practitioner and co-founder of Twin Connect Solutions
For a business to be competitive, what is mainly required is a good strategy, a practical road map, and a sustainable marketing strategy. When trying to penetrate a certain industry sector, it’s essential to make a mark and become sustainable. One way to ensure this is to engage as many clients as possible in the business through effective marketing, by ensuring customer service is top notch, and being able to retain those customers for the long term. So how does one achieve all this? The answer can be found in creating a well defined and aligned marketing strategy.
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Deborah Hartung, founder of Pivot PeopleTech (South Africa)
Deborah Hartung, founder of Pivot PeopleTech (South Africa)
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Tabitha Karanja, founder of Keroche Breweries (Kenya)
Tabitha Karanja, founder of Keroche Breweries (Kenya)
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This week, on Thursday 21 March, the hugely popular Lioness Lean In events are heading to Eswatini for the first time, giving women entrepreneurs in the country the opportunity to share their business building stories, inspire one another, and connect for greater business success. The Lioness Lean In Eswatini events are being hosted in partnership with Standard Bank. True to the bank’s Brand Philosophy in the country - “Eswatini is our Home, We Drive Her Growth” - Standard Bank is encouraging the leading women entrepreneurs in its network to connect with fellow women in business from the Lionesses of Africa community at this first Lioness Lean In event to be held at the Royal Villas.
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As International Women’s Day celebrations finally came to a close, Lionesses of Africa and Facebook collaborated on a very special Changemakers Breakfast event in Hyde Park, Johannesburg on the morning of 11 March. The event brought together around 100 leading women entrepreneurs from the city to network and to hear from inspirational fellow women business and brand builders. The highlight of the morning was hearing from Carolyn Everson, Facebook’s Vice President of Global Marketing Solutions, who flew into the city as a very special guest speaker for the morning. It was a truly inspirational, change-making morning for everyone there.
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Bitania Amare, founder of Orbit Consulting PLC (Ethiopia)
Every successful business needs great advice and support in order to be sustainable and to grow. In Ethiopia, that’s where specialist consulting firm Orbit Consulting PLC, founded by local entrepreneur Bitania Amare, comes in.
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Ncheta Dasilva, founder of Zola Eve
The rapidly growing activewear market is constantly looking for new clothing that is not only practical and beautiful, but also increasingly more sustainable. Zola Eve, an exciting activewear brand inspired by Africa and created by entrepreneur Ncheta Dasilva, harnesses her Nigerian heritage to produce a memorable, eco-driven clothing range.
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South African leather accessory manufacturing brand, Star Reflexion, founded by entrepreneur Olaotse Disipi, launches its new range of bespoke leather knee-high boots this month, made to fit the shape and size of any customer’s legs.
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Patricia Bright
In her new book, Heart and Hustle, author, vlogger and award winning content creator, Patricia Bright, shows her readers how to hustle in business and in life in order to achieve personal goals and ambitions. And she brings all her personal experience, practical tips, and advice to the table.
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by Phindile Ndlovu
Last week, I attended the Facebook and Lionesses of Africa International Women’s Day event in Johannesburg on 8 March. I started having small conversations with the ladies attending and quickly realized that around five of the ladies I spoke with had new born babies, just like me. We ended up exchanging nanny tips, we talked abut our hectic schedules, and shared how these days we hardly get time to put on lipstick.
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by Lori Milner: author, entrepreneur, thought leader and founder of Beyond the Dress
Achievers around the world swear by the motto – ‘success is a sunrise away’.
Not everyone can wake up early. Our gadget-filled world has given us enough distractions to keep us awake even when we are in bed. And some of us do that because, after a hectic day, night is the only ‘me-time’ we get. However, there is an increasing awareness of the benefits of rising at 5am. High achievers all over the world find that waking up before the sun has a personal bonus – it gives them an edge in the cut-throat environment that they face as the day sets in.
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by Seno Namwandi
Intellectual Property has various types of rights under its umbrella. Patents tend to be on the far spectrum of strictness and have one of the highest returns on investment for companies through licensing agreements. On the other end of the spectrum are trade secrets, which are governed by contractual agreements, these tend to be more fluid in nature and therefore more difficult to protect, control and manage.
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For so many entrepreneurs, one of the biggest challenges is scaling and sustaining a business, and often expertise advice and practical support is needed to help them take it to the next level. That’s where Perpetu8 comes in, the niche, SME focused consulting firm created by entrepreneur S’onqoba Vuba.
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This year, the Lionesses of Africa community celebrated International Women’s Day in real style, with not just one event, but four - each one with a different audience, geographic location, and objective. If you didn’t manage to attend one of them, here are some of the highlights.
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Chrissa Amuah, founder of AMWA Designs
Creating African inspired design solutions that are relevant for today’s sophisticated marketplace, and for clients who want to put a uniquely evocative stamp on their personal and work interiors, is what drives entrepreneur and founder of AMWA Designs, Chrissa Amuah. Her work reflects her design ethos and passion for celebrating her own African heritage, but with a contemporary flair that is her own.
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by Lizl Naude, founder of Lily Loompa
In the wide world of entrepreneurship, I am a mere baby still. I have been running my business for just over two years and it has been a great blessing! I have been fortunate to meet a lot of great women along the way, and through our interactions, they all have inspired me.
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by Brigette Mashile, founder of Roka Roko
We are the first, in many ways, in this entrepreneurship boom happening currently. Most of us are first amongst our families, friends and generally in all of history. You know what this means…it means we have to find out, teach ourselves, and excel at something we have no history of from a personal perspective. Having a parent who had previously run a business, whether it failed or succeeded, would be just bliss. Someone to ask specific questions to; someone to check in with all the time.
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