the pride of Africa's women entrepreneurs
by Nkemdilim Uwaje Begho
I am sure you have noticed more and more personal brands popping up and business leaders finding creative and innovative ways to position themselves and their companies. You may be shaking your head at this trend and wondering why you should jump on the band wagon and invest in building your personal brand in the first place…. Indulge me a little, as I demystify the WHY, WHAT and HOW of Building Your Personal Brand…. I promise it will be worth the read.
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By Farida Yahya
For any business to succeed, especially a new one making its way into the market, it must be armed with accurate and detailed information. After all, “Knowledge is power!” With the knowledge gleaned from the market research, it provides the entrepreneur with a wealth of information about prospective and existing customers, the competition, and the industry in general. It allows you to determine the feasibility of a business before committing your resources to the venture.
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by Lori Milner
“If you don’t design your own life plan, chances are you’ll fall into someone else’s plan. And guess what they have planned for you? Not much.” - Jim Rohn
If you had to design your ideal day from the moment you wake up to when you go to sleep - what does that look like? Some things to consider...
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by Ntsoaki Sibiya
The coronavirus pandemic is the most challenging situation the security industry has faced. The pandemic has caused an extraordinary degree of business and economic disruption, from local communities to global supply chains—and that’s before you get to the health scare itself and its impacts on families and businesses. The virus has had an impact on the fundamentals of society and security is both becoming critically important and disposable at the same time.
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Nancy Ganzekaufer
Book Review
Business coach Nancy Ganzekaufer, author of the new book Respond with Confidence: The Business Owner’s Blueprint for Handling Difficult Situations, believes that if your words have ever worked against you, you are not alone. She says the words you choose can make or break a situation. And the way you use your words (and your body language) can either help or hurt your business relationships. She knows this firsthand. That’s why in her new book she is on a mission to share the secrets to responding to any scenario in business effectively and with confidence.
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Judy Maina, founder Siafu Leather (Kenya)
Startup Story
There is something rewarding in creating a bespoke product for a customer, especially when that product has been handcrafted using the finest raw materials. Siafu Leather, fouded by Judy Maina in Kenya, is doing just that, and her customers are loving the end results.
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Kátia Agy, founder of The Food Lounge Mz (Mozambique)
Startup Story
Kátia Agy, known as a singer and TV presenter, is also the founder of Food Lounge Mz. The business is focused on making edible bouquets using fresh fruits and chocolates. For the past 7 years, this business has been the main source of income for Kátia, and now also her three employees. Creating a new business concept to present to people in their daily lives has been a constant challenge, but creativity and focus have been winners in such a competitive market! The Food Lounge Mz now has its sights on growth and becoming the largest chocolate maker in Mozambique.
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Michelle Adelman
Lioness Weekender Cover Story
Accite Holdings, delivering environmentally and socially responsible food security models to Africa
Accite Holdings LLC is a boutique business development and mission-driven investment firm focused on technology-led agriculture and food security projects in growth markets, particularly Sub-Saharan Africa. Accite’s investment philosophy brings together proven technologies with a world-class team and localized business models to create pioneering businesses. For the past nine years, Accite has focused on developing socially responsible agriculture and food businesses including fresh produce and plant-based protein. Accite has operations in Botswana, South Africa, Mauritius and Kenya and continuing to grow into east and west Africa. By deploying technology and products that protect the environment and building businesses with local youth leaders at the forefront, Accite’s approach is anchored to 11 of the 17 Millennium Sustainable Development Goals.
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By the Lionesses of Africa Operations Dept
“No one can label you a failure when what you are trying to do is audacious. Botching something easy is a failure. Failing in an attempt to achieve something huge is just courageous.”
…as stated by the fabulous Anne Boden, who against all the odds founded Starling Bank in the UK. Read Melanie’s review of her book here and indeed we too wrote around her book in our Blog entitled ‘Dreaming with Ambition’ here, (so clearly we are fans!). But that one message above from her book ‘Banking On It: How I Disrupted an Industry’, is interesting because great leaders do not worry so much about being labelled (Elon Musk, for example, would stay under the duvet if labels concerned him!). What is noticeable is that they encourage their employees, their teams to reach for the sky, to go for the huge, not because they are relaxed about risk, (in fact they respect risk, never fear it), but exactly because this encourages far greater results for their employees and for their businesses.
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By Shatho Babitse
The relationship between African women and the economy is a strange paradox globally. Women work two-thirds of the working hours and produce more than half of the food, but only earn 10% of the total income, have less than 2% of the land, and receive less than 5% bank loans.
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By Lori Milner
“All overnight success takes about 10 years.” — Jeff Bezos
When you think about success, often it feels like it will come from one game changing decision or one significant event. Someone is finally going discover your talents or give you your big break. The problem with this way of thinking is that you are putting your happiness in the control of someone else’s hands, you are leaving your life up to external factors. When you keep waiting for things outside your influence to drive your sense of accomplishment, it tends to leave you despondent and feeling out of control. You are always future focused and this is where anxiety breeds so it’s definitely not a good strategy.
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By Safiyyah Boolay-Jappie
Life is busy, and days pass by in a flash. Often, I reach the end of the day wondering what the heck happened! It is the most disorienting feeling to know that one has been not just busy, but frantically consumed by activity, and yet we are unable to account for our time and we have made no progress on our own goals.
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Fidelia Obonetse Masomosomo
By Nandi Odri Usher
An unapologetic and unstoppable force, a yet to be discovered by the world gem, a game changer, Miss Fidelia Obonetse Masomosomo is a 30 year old beautiful young lady from the village of Mochudi here in Botswana. A young lady on a journey of recovery, re-discovery and re-building her life, her dreams and her purpose. In a world full of players, Miss Fidelia has shown to be a game changer; playing by her rules, running her own race.
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Lesego Seloane & Dinah Kgeledi, co-founders, Ronewa Creations (South Africa)
Impact Partner Content - Absa
Lesego Seloane and Dinah Kgeledi are co-founders of Ronewa Creations Ltd (Pty) in South Africa. This is a family business between a niece and her aunt, respectively. Lesego has a background in Botany, having completed her studies in Biochemistry and Botany at the University of Johannesburg. While Dinah has a background in the corporate world, working in the IT field using her Diploma in IT. She worked for various companies before resigning from her corporate career to fully pursue landscaping as her passion. Once Lesego completed her studies at university, she went into landscaping and Dinah followed too, having studied a few courses in landscaping design and horticulture. The passion they have for plants comes from Lesego’ s gran, Dinah's Mother, who has an eclectic small garden in Soweto. So the two have always seen her tend to her garden over the years and been inspired by her work. They are passionate about creating beautiful spaces for their clients.
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Chinwe Ohajuruka
Lioness Weekender Cover Story
Comprehensive Design Services, an innovation-focused organization building climate resilience through architecture
Chinwe Ohajuruka is a Green Architect and Project Manager who is an ardent advocate for sustainability in the built environment. She is the CEO of Comprehensive Design Services (CDS), an innovation-focused organisation that stresses the importance of building Climate Resilience as a basis of all projects. She is successfully able to work globally through teamwork, technology and travel. In addition to her extensive architectural experience, Chinwe is a green building trainer and coach. Chinwe has worked on several award-winning projects in the United States & Nigeria. She was the 2015 Sub-Saharan African Laureate for the Cartier Women’s Initiative Awards in France. Chinwe holds a Master’s degree in Architecture from Heriot Watt University, Edinburgh, UK. She has also attained four Accreditations from the US, UK and South Africa Green Building Councils.
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Holly Tucker MBE
Book Review
Holly Tucker MBE, co-founder of notonthehighstreet and creator of Holly & Co, is on a mission to change business forever, and in her new book Do What You Love, Love What You Do, she is on her way to doing just that. Having inspired over 100,000 entrepreneurs and identified the keys to their success, Holly now wants to help anyone build a business doing what they love, leading to a happier and more fulfilled life.
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Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Director-General of the World Trade Organization | photo courtesy of ngoziokonjoiweala.com
Swaady Martin
Lioness Launch
LovingKindness Boma is an independent Publishing House of Mindful and Diverse books for children, launched by Swaady Martin in South Africa. It creates and sell children's books that entertain, educate and enrich the whole family. This month sees the launch of 7 books that will bring joy and understanding to readers.
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by Tapiwa Matsinde
There is a saying that everyone has got a book in them. Publishing a book is a great way to share your knowledge, skills, and experience with your world. However, knowing what to do and where to turn to for help can make it a daunting task. As with any project you embark on planning and preparation will make the publishing process a whole lot smoother. So, if you want to publish a book but are not sure of where and how to start here are some of the key things you will need to consider…
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by Mircea Neto
Challenge - it is a word that everyone knows, that has about 39 synonyms and that carries immense meaning, because without realizing it every new day there is a challenge to be faced.
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