the pride of Africa's women entrepreneurs
Edna Reis, founder of Active Wellness (Angola)
Startup Story
Companies and organizations know that their strength lies in their people, and it’s why employee wellbeing is key to their success. Helping employees to avoid burnout and ensuring they have support in managing their mental and physical balance is important. In Angola, entrepreneur Edna Reis, founder of Active Wellness, has created a business to meet this growing demand for better health and wellbeing in the workplace.
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Chioma Ukonu
RecyclePoints, a waste recycling social enterprise changing lives and the environment
Chioma Ukonu is an award-winning social entrepreneur with over a decade of hands-on experience and international exposure in environmental sustainability, women empowerment, youth employment, business leadership, circular economy, government and community engagement. She is currently the Co-Founder/COO of RecyclePoints, Nigeria’s foremost waste recycling and social benefit venture that motives post-consumers to recycle by creating value from their everyday waste. Chioma, who is well known for her strong business acumen, has received business training from various prestigious institutions around the world including the Said Business School, Oxford University in the United Kingdom; Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa, USA; and Enterprise Development Centre (EDC) of the Pan Atlantic University Lagos in Nigeria. Chioma has built RecyclePoints, which started from her kitchen, to a major stakeholder in waste management in Africa, creating over 230 green jobs and recycling over 100,000kg of waste monthly, whilst sustaining RecyclePoints as the social currency that converts waste to wealth.
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by Thembe Khumalo
In the kind of creative space that Brandbuilder operates in, there is never a shortage of ideas. We often think of ourselves as an idea generating machine. The trouble with too many ideas and too much creativity is that you can very quickly end up with nothing but hot air - multiple voices telling multiple wonderful stories, but very little happening on the ground. That makes it really important to have systems for turning those ideas into solutions that clients will be prepared to pay for. That, and a team dynamic that contributes to better results.
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Pitsi Ledwaba, founder of Bonolo Naturals (South Africa)
Impact Partner Content - Absa
Pitsi Ledwaba is from Polokwane in the Limpopo Province of South Africa and the founder of Bonolo Naturals, a growing natural, organic beauty brand. For the past 12 years she has been in the retail industry managing both local and international brands. It is where she fell in love with beauty, fashion and everything that makes people look and feel good.
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by Marjon Meyer
This sounds like a nasty accusation, yet the impostor syndrome is real! Do you sometimes feel that others’ applause for you is not earned or deserved? This happens when people doubt their accomplishments or a person has a persistent internalized fear of being exposed as a “fraud”, despite external evidence that they are competent. These self-perceived “fraudsters” tend to be highly competent individuals. While both men and women are affected, this syndrome seems to be more prevalent amongst high-achieving women.
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by Sibongile Mtsabe
Entrepreneurship is what Africa needs right now. Africa needs those who would put ideas into implementation and make things happen.
It has never been an easy road but it’s doable. It takes courage, endurance, passion and believing in yourself.
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Agnes Chikukwa Hove, founder, Sequor Consulting (South Africa)
Agnes Chikukwa Hove, founder, Sequor Consulting (South Africa)
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Denise Umunyana and Celine Uwineza, founders of RightSeat (Rwanda)
Siwela Sweetness Masoga
Lioness Weekender Cover Story
Siwela Wines, a new generation, trail-blazing female black-owned wine business.
Siwela Sweetness Masoga is a biotechnologist, wine maker, and founder of Siwela Wines, a South African wine company focusing on the production of quality accessible wines. Siwela also runs a wine academy focusing on education and training within the wine and hospitality industry. Siwela Wines is currently amongst the few youth female black-owned wine businesses in South Africa and was launched in 2018.
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Nidia D’Almeida, founder of API - Agência de Propriedade Intelectual (Mozambique)
Startup Story
So many businesses wonder if you can protect your Intellectual Property Rights in Mozambique, and the answer is yes, you can. Entrepreneur Nidia D’Almeida, founder of API - Agência de Propriedade Intelectual, is there to show you how.
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Josefa Amélia Massinga, founder of Florista Flor Khyathu e Servicos (Mozambique)
Startup Story
Every great event needs great floral decorations to create memorable occasions, and it is the same with creating the right impression in a home or office. In Maputo, Mozambique, entrepreneur Josefa Amélia Massinga, founder and CEO of Florista Flor Khyathu e Servicos, has just the floral decorations and expertise to turn any event or space into something truly special.
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Charlene Shapiro, founder of CNC Products (South Africa)
Impact Partner Content - Absa
Charlene Shapiro is the founder and Managing Member of CNC Products in South Africa. She is an all-rounder entrepreneur and has 29 years’ business experience working in the hospitality industry. Charlene's business is focused on providing high quality service and affordable food products to the hospitality industry, corporates and home users at large. Her experience in sales and marketing come from her years spent in the newspaper industry. She is proudly continuing a family legacy of service and is proud to have her daughter, Kerry, continuing with the same passion at CNC Products.
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Shelley Brander
Book Review
People always ask Shelley Brander, author of the new book Move the Needle: Yarns from an Unlikely Entrepreneur, what possessed her to leave the successful advertising firm she founded with her husband to open a local yarn store. And then they wonder how that one storefront grew into an e-commerce business, and from there into a global movement to Knit the World Together. In Move the Needle, Shelley shares stories from her life to show that you can pursue your life's passions, both personal and professional, no matter how quirky or impossible they may seem to everyone around you.
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By the Lionesses of Africa Operations Dept
January, just the mention of that month brings high hopes and expectations of greater things. Given the low base that was 2020 (although as we pointed out in our last Blog, 2020 was a year of such incredible opposites, not only of terrifying lows but also for many Lionesses, incredible highs), 2021 for the entire world from a health perspective has to be better!
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by Thembe Khumalo
Many people dream of a career in consulting; working the hours they want, with only the people they like, and being in charge of how much money they earn, as opposed to being at the mercy of some rigid salary scale. It almost sounds too good to be true, and in many ways it really is very, very good.
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by Eldari Visser, founder of Picketfence Life
This bee is loaded with the future of his nest. The stuff that yummy honey is made of for the existence of that nest. Bees need this as a crucial part of their future. After and during the time of COVID-19, many people still do not have the slightest idea of where to even start to look for their own juicy extras to make sure their families are ok or will be ok! They have lived by doing the same thing week to week or even day to day. Unfortunately, this has happened to even the most seasoned, experienced bee entrepreneurs. In the blink of an eye, their nests were empty and the panic set in.
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by Usha Maharaj
Do you often hear a negative inner voice that makes you doubt your decisions and your self-worth? You are not alone! This inner voice, your inner critic, may act as an invisible barrier to trying new things, reaching your full potential, or enjoying your life.
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by Marjon Meyer
The future is not what we used to think it would be…our world is literally infected with new ways of thinking and working. With so many staff members working remotely, the way organisations manage performance has to be adjusted. There should also be a bigger focus on re-skilling and constructive feedback to build confidence amongst staff. Problems and challenges need to be solved differently and creatively.
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Susie Carder
Book Review
Power Your Profits by Susie Carder is a comprehensive, bulletproof start-to-finish plan for taking your business from startup mode to the multi-million-dollar mark, straight from the inventor of the Predictable Success Method™.
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Esta van Heerden, founder of iWater Pty Ltd (South Africa)
Startup Story
Many women entrepreneurs in Africa are driven to start their businesses because of an identified need. For Esta van Heerden, founder of iWater Pty Ltd in South Africa, she is passionate about the environment and wants to ensure that all citizens have access to clean water in the future. She also believes that companies that have contaminated the environment MUST clean it up! Her business is now offering companies a solution to this clean-up need, harnessing the best of technology solutions to aid the process.
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