Market Your Genius: How to Generate New Leads, Get Dream Customers, and Create a Loyal Community by Nikki Nash

August 29, 2021 Melanie Hawken

Book Review

If you want an expert-preneur's guide to building your audience in business, then look o further than the new book from Nikki Nash - Market Your Genius: How to Generate New Leads, Get Dream Customers, and Create a Loyal Community. She shares how you can tap into your own personal experiences and expertise to make a profound difference in someone else's life. Nikki believes it’s possible to create a profitable business from your own personal stories, and build a simple plan for growing your audience.

In the meantime

August 29, 2021 Melanie Hawken

by Linda Zuze (PhD)

Is it just me or does it feel as if we spend an awful lot of our time waiting for things to happen these days? Waiting for lockdowns to be lifted. Waiting for schools to re-open. Waiting for financing to keep our businesses going. Waiting to feel better. Waiting for ‘pandemic pivot’ to be yesterday’s buzzword. Waiting for things to get back to ‘normal’.

Let’s keep it simple…

August 29, 2021 Melanie Hawken

by Lionesses of Africa Operations Department

When times are tough, when times are uncertain, indeed, when times are frightening, let us not make our lives anymore complex - let’s just keep it simple.

How to Get Money Savvy - Tip 4: Set Up an Emergency Saving Account

August 28, 2021 Melanie Hawken

by Kathryn Main

South Africa is a buy-now, pay-later society. The effects on young people’s financial literacy are thus characterized by the same behaviour patterns as parents and society. These are high credit and high consumer behaviour with very little savings, and in turn high social risk behaviour. Money Savvy is working to change this disastrous pattern.

How to be a Baking Business Boss by Grace Stevens

August 28, 2021 Melanie Hawken

by Grace Stevens

Women like Julia Child, Nigella Lawson, and Martha Stewart are proof that building an empire based on your home baking skills is not only achievable but incredibly fruitful and rewarding. However, there is a big difference between having a delicious side hustle and building a baking empire.

Sitting on Dry Land

August 28, 2021 Melanie Hawken

by Eldari Visser

After a year or two of just waiting, many entrepreneurs are wandering around with a sense of despair and even guilt. Waiting for the world to get back to some normal. Let’s be honest here. During a world full of turmoil many sat staring at a screen hoping for a call to action. Any action and any type of income - whatever the contract entailed, were welcomed. Many also sold their hours for way less than their worth. Others sat in awe as fellow business ladies invented new strategies that made you cry and your mind struck panic buttons often. Red flags and sleepless nights formed part of daily rituals. Your inner voice was the biggest enemy. Where was the surplus budget? Why didn’t I invest more, save more, buy less, and how did the cashflow dry up? A voice of reason wasn’t part of your thought pattern, no, mostly you had a feeling of kicking yourself and being ridiculous by blaming yourself to a point of utter destruction.

Do You Know How To Wait?

August 28, 2021 Melanie Hawken

by Elizandra dos Santos

Do you know how to wait? That is the question that I bring to the present moment. It’s worse for the quick fixers who want instant results, quick effects, quick responses, goals achieved in the shortest time and miraculous resolutions. I wish life were like this. Many people, because they don't know how to wait, end up frustrated immersed in anxiety, anger, depression, they become impatient. They are overwhelmed by their own emotions counting the days, hours, minutes, crazy seconds until the time comes to get out of this confinement, go back to traveling or have a supposedly normal life.

Special live webinar to announce the results of the South African Women Entrepreneurs Job Creators Research Survey

August 22, 2021 Melanie Hawken

Impact Partner Content / Absa

We all know that South Africa urgently needs jobs, but where are these jobs going to come from? The results of the South African Women Entrepreneurs Job Creators Research Survey are out now - and it’s official, women entrepreneurs are vital job creators, both now and in the future! A special 1 hour live webinar event will be held on the morning of Tuesday 31 August 2021 to share the findings of this important research study.

Ruka Sanusi, a growth driven entrepreneur empowering women business leaders

August 22, 2021 Melanie Hawken

Lioness Weekender Cover Story

Alldens Lane, a business advisory company supporting women entrepreneurs in Africa’s small and growing business sector.

Ruka Sanusi is a highly accomplished business management consultant with 26 years of international consulting experience in Europe and across sub-Saharan Africa. Her career to date has been built around her abilities to both provide advice on matters of business/organisational strategy, operations and transformation, and organizing resources and facilities to implement recommendations – she has strategic and operational ability. An astute professional, through her work at Alldens Lane and her consulting work, Ruka supports enterprise leaders in the small and growing business sector. She particularly works with female business leaders to support them with their business transformation needs. Ruka previously served in senior management at PwC Ghana and PwC Nigeria. She has advised governments, public sector organisations and private corporations on international projects and assignments in 16 sub-Saharan African countries.

Hadija Jabiri, a Tanzanian agripreneur empowering smallholder farmers

August 22, 2021 Melanie Hawken

Hadija Jabiri, founder & MD of GBRI Business Solutions (Tanzania)

Startup Story

Hadija Jabiri is the founder and MD of GBRI Business Solutions in Tanzania. She is a farmer committed to making agricultural production a sustainable and profitable business through empowering smallholder farmers. Hadija is an IVLP alumnae and holder of multiple awards and nominations for her work and business which is making a real difference in people’s lives.

Chika Ruth Nwajoku, a woman entrepreneur changing lives in Nigeria through footwear making

August 22, 2021 Melanie Hawken

Chika Ruth Nwajoku, founder, NCR Design Limited (NCR Design Shoemaking School) (Nigeria)

Startup Story

Chika Ruth Nwajoku is a women and youth entrepreneurship advocate and the founder of NCR Design Limited (NCR Design Shoemaking School) in Nigeria. The business was created to foster socio-economic growth and reduce youth unemployment in Nigeria through footwear making. Chika is a graduate of soil science from the Federal University of Technology Minna and an experienced salesperson who has built her career in a variety of industries for nine (9) years. She is passionate about empowering women and girls in the communities who are denied access to education because of poverty, early marriages, and the patriarchal nature of the society, and unemployed youths with vocational training, and skill acquisition programs in footwear making. Her business model empowers them to be financially independent, and contribute to economic development.

Vantage Properties in Botswana launches platform to give users tool to value their properties

August 22, 2021 Melanie Hawken

Sethebe Manake, founder, Vantage Properties (Botswana)

Lioness Launch

Vantage Properties is a Botswana-based PropTech startup founded by Sethebe Manake, and focused on real estate data analytics and automated property valuations. The company simplifies access to real estate expertise and information to drive informed decision making. Through its online platform, it gives the ordinary person power to extract value from their property assets. Vantage has developed the platform gosmartvalue.com that is set to change the real estate landscape forever by giving users the choice to automatically value their property or instruct a qualified and registered valuer to carry out a detailed valuation. Over and above valuations, gosmartvalue.com provides various market research reports covering various locations around the country that help guide real estate decision-making.

From Start-Up to Grown-Up: Grow Your Leadership to Grow Your Business by Alisa Cohn

August 22, 2021 Melanie Hawken

Book Review

According to executive coach Alisa Cohn who is the author of the new book From Start-Up to Grown-Up, every start-up founder feels overwhelmed and uncertain at various times. The key to managing the relentless turmoil of a start-up is learning to manage yourself.

The Secret Sauce to disrupt a comfy industry…

August 22, 2021 Melanie Hawken

by Lionesses of Africa Operations Dept

Think what you like about him and his choice of design for his spaceship, or even his use of words on landing back on earth, but Jeff Bezos certainly had this right when he said:

“Your brand is what other people say about you when you're not in the room.”

Fail Your Way to Success!

August 22, 2021 Melanie Hawken

by Nontobeko Mbuyane

It’s such a pity that we are so obsessed with living up to expectations that we can deny ourselves the permission to take chances. So many people are afraid of risk and often are paralyzed by the fear of failure. Sadly, this robs us of our creativity and moments of spontaneity that are often the source of our greatest triumphs. And although some may view failure as the end of the road, it’s far from being an absolute.

How Creatives Can Approach Free Work For Exposure

August 22, 2021 Melanie Hawken

by Robyn Keet

A topic that has been controversial in creative circles for years. When asking this question to any creative doing paid work — “Do you do work for exposure?” - you will likely be met with a flurry of different answers. Some negative and some positive.

Speak Up at Every Meeting

August 19, 2021 Melanie Hawken

by Laura Camacho

When you don’t say anything at a meeting, the assumption is you have nothing to say. If you seriously want to raise your Leadership Presence quotient, start speaking up at every meeting. Here are three easier ways to speak up, when you feel so nervous your voice may be shaking.

Making Sense of Accounting Jargon

August 19, 2021 Melanie Hawken

by Charmel Flemming

Hi, I’m Charmel Flemming, CEO and founder of F Twelve in South Africa. F Twelve is founded on the premise of using innovative cloud-based accounting technologies to provide real-time and relevant information to clients. As an outsourced cloud-based accounting company, we are committed to solving the challenges many small and medium business owners face. This goes beyond just accounting but spans into real business challenges because your business functions as an ecosystem and all the parts work together and rely on each other.

Dr. Angela Dick, a visionary leader in the staffing and outsourcing industry

August 15, 2021 Melanie Hawken

Lioness Weekender Cover Story

Dynamic Outsourced Solutions (Pty) Ltd, South Africa’s pioneering and innovative staffing and outsourcing business

Dr. Angela Dick (Hon) is the Founder and Managing Director of Dynamic Outsourced Solutions (Pty) Ltd (South Africa). She is the recipient of many exceptional business awards and is recognised as the female leader in the Staffing and Outsourcing Services Industry. Angela has 38 years of business experience and as a Founder of her first company, she grew the revenue from R85 000 back in 1983 to well over three quarters of a billion rand by 2020. Her vision for her new company DYNAMIC is to create a positive legacy by making a substantial and sustainable contribution to improve the quality of life and hope for the future, for as many South African citizens as possible.

Fatima Agoujil, a Moroccan entrepreneur creating a unique tourism experience for visitors to her country

August 15, 2021 Melanie Hawken

Fatima Agoujil, founder, Le Petit Riad (Morocco)

Startup Story

Fatima Agoujil is the founder of Le Petit Riad, a unique guest house business in the city of Ouarzazate in Morocco. She is an impressive example of a tourism professional and also of a woman entrepreneur who has taken the path of adventure. After a rich career as a tour guide and travel agent, Fatima created "Le Petit Riad" in order to welcome foreign visitors to the city in a warm family setting, sharing different cultures, traditions and typical Moroccan meals. She is a woman entrepreneur driven by the pleasure of moving forward and the curiosity to continually discover new things.

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