the pride of Africa's women entrepreneurs
Mariam Lawani, founder of Greenhill Recycling (Nigeria)
Startup Story
In Nigeria’s rural communities, poverty and unemployment are major challenges, as is the issue of waste management. For entrepreneur Mariam Lawani, finding solutions to all of these challenges was the motivation for her business, Greenhill Recycling.
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Phillipa Geard, founder of RecruitMyMom (South Africa)
Startup Story
South Africa is suffering from tough economic times right now, and unemployment is on the rise. For skilled mothers who are looking to get work whilst also looking after their families, it is a challenge. That’s where Phillipa Geard’s business, RecruitMyMom, comes in.
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From the Lionesses of Africa Operations Department
Africa’s leaders have on the whole moved fast to shut their countries down to stop the spread of this virus. There is also discussion that with Africa’s low age of population (median age in Africa is tragically only 19.7 years), as seen here from the UN, and with its experiences of previous pandemics, these lockdowns will work and work well.
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by Kulani Shiluvane, Founder and Chief Consultant – Shiluvah
The 1st of May 2020 saw South Africa move from level 5 to level 4 of the national lockdown, a measure taken by the South African government to curb the impact of COVID-19. This means that while essentials workers and an estimated 1.5 million workers will go about their business of work in this new normal, we find ourselves in the rest of the South African population working from home (WFH) for those that are able to and this will continue to be the new normal.
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by Sylvia Walker, author of SmartWoman
The world is in crisis, grappling with a new reality. With lock downs and other rules to curb the spread of the Coronavirus, money issues have rocketed to the fore. Many business face ruin as they cannot operate, individuals find themselves off work with no pay, others may be on short pay and yet others are being retrenched as their businesses can no longer operate. Some are fortunate, though, in that they can work from home, or are being paid by their employers irrespective of whether they are working or not.
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by Nomazibulo Tshanga, Ziyana Business Consulting
As the global pandemic deepens and the human cost of Covid-19 rises, the novel coronavirus is sending shocks through the world economy. Across industries, organizations are now taking action to protect their employees, customers and also minimize the economic damage. I wonder if that’s the case for all organizations?
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by Phindile Tapula, Founder and Director of Bhekizenzo Foundation
I want to chat to moms who want to experience joy and peace every day in their lives. This is for moms who want to enjoy motherhood and even through its hurdles, experience the calm in the storm. A life filled with joy, love and peace is possible. You can have it all, if you work on it all.
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by Claire Holden, Empowerment Coach
I’m passionate about empowerment – “the process of becoming stronger and more confident, especially in controlling one's life and claiming one's rights.” This is the area of coaching that I focus on and where I do most of my ongoing learning. The challenge with empowerment is that we don’t often realise how much of our personal power we give away on a daily basis until we feel resentful, run down, fed up and / or confused and uncentered.
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Alison Kirk, founder of Fliggy (South Africa)
Tadziripa Madzima, founder of IGNITE Youth (Zimbabwe)
Start with whatever you have…
Tadziripa Madzima, founder of IGNITE Youth (Zimbabwe)
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Book Review
A Woman's Work: The book every successful businesswoman wishes she'd read — by Sonja Leason, Dr Areej Khataybih, Clare Downes, Jeannie McGillivray, Jill Martin, Lorraine Gannon, Mary Grant, Natalie Jameson, Steph Middleton-Foster and Vicki Wusche.
As a woman, it can feel that the odds are stacked against you in business and when more women than ever before are self-employed and starting businesses, why is it that so few of them are able to scale and get the success they deserve? A heated discussion on this subject by ten super-successful businesswomen led to the creation of this book.
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Event report / Lioness Enterprise
At Lionesses of Africa, we know how tough this lockdown has been on women entrepreneurs in our community across the African continent. It’s more critical now than ever that we remain agile to survive and thrive - and importantly to stay connected with each other. So it was exciting to launch the first in a series of special Lioness Enterprise Webinars on Thursday 30 April in partnership with Absa.
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Dounia Tamri-Loeper, founder of Dounia Home
Lioness Weekender Cover Story
It’s often said that lighting makes a space or a room come alive, and for design entrepreneur Dounia Tamri-Loeper, founder of Dounia Home, lighting is her inspiration. She is creating beautiful, statement lighting pieces that not only celebrate the centuries-old techniques and designs that are uniquely Moroccan, but is elevating them to a whole new level.
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Jess Henrich, founder of A Mari Ocean Gin (South Africa)
Startup Story
Taking a sustainable approach to business is a key in today’s changing world. For entrepreneur Jess Henrich, founder of A Mari Ocean Gin, sustainability was a key ingredient in her business.
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Aliza Rajan, founder of Eventique Limited (Kenya)
Startup Story
Being the winner of a major beauty pageant is one thing, but then taking over the franchise is quite another. Aliza Rajan, founder of Eventique Limited, hosts the annual Miss India Worldwide Kenya pageant. She uses this platform to support women-based initiatives such as Women For Cancer and The Hawkers Market Girls Centre. She also trains children and adults on runway walking and basic etiquette whilst organising the top fashion events within Kenya.
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by Lori Milner
If I asked you to describe your ideal day, could you do it in detail? It sounds like an obvious question but the answer is only clear when you have given yourself sufficient time to find the answer. The answer is not in Google, Instagram, Pinterest or Facebook (that’s everybody else’s curated lifestyle). A lot of the time, we have goals that create the roadmap for our days and years but have you stopped to ask yourself if this is your goal or are you trying to please someone else? That someone else can be the ‘you’ of 5 years ago and now your priorities have shifted but you haven’t sat down long enough on your own to catch up to this fact.
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Impact Partner Content: Absa
In spite of social and economic difficulties before the COVID-19 pandemic, the South African prepared food market remained resilient. However, as the pressure of the pandemic is felt heavily in the restaurant and quick-service industry; the shift to food delivery becomes more important as an option for these businesses to get to their consumers.
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by Marta Roff, founder of Maputo Relocation Solutions, Mozambique
I was challenged to write about my view of the world after COVID-19. Since I have no capabilities to predict the future, I decided to rather change the wording and write about my view at the moment and what I wish COVID-19 would change in humanity.
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by Tapiwa Matsinde, Atelier 55
There is a lot of advice coming at us right now. As entrepreneurs having to adapt in this time of crisis, we are being asked to read this, watch that, do this or buy that. And taking in all the information can at times be overwhelming. Understandably in this time of uncertainty, you want to shore up your business for what comes next but as you read, watch or listen are you considering what all this information means for you and your business’ future.
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