Mampho Sotshongaye, an award-winning South African leader in construction

February 27, 2022 Melanie Hawken

Mampho Sotshongaye, founder & Managing Director, Golden Rewards 1981 (South Africa)

Lioness Weekender Cover Story

Golden Rewards 1981 cc, a South African construction business empowering and upskilling women in the sector

Mampho Sotshongaye is the founder and Managing Director of Golden Rewards 1981 cc in South Africa. She is an entrepreneur and award-winning business leader, and her construction business has won local awards and received international recognitions. She founded the business in 2010 but started operations in January 2013 and now employs 56 people from disadvantaged communities. On an ongoing basis, she applies various skills transfer and community upliftment programmes, providing training and support for local workers in all projects. Mampho brings 18 years of experience in the construction industry to the business having previously worked as a Construction Manager and Contracts Manager.

Anna Karina de Sousa, a Mozambican entrepreneur passionate about aesthetics and beauty

February 27, 2022 Melanie Hawken

Anna Karina de Sousa, founder, Executive Nails (Mozambique)

Startup Story

Anna Karina de Sousa is the founder of Executive Nails in Mozambique, a business she launched specializing in aesthetics and beauty in 2019. Her business is dedicated to the treatment of hands and feet, with a range of specialist treatments on offer to customers. Executive Nails is highly differentiated with Anna creating and bringing to the Mozambican market a premium space with investment in the refinement, dedication and implementation of unique details such as gourmet catering, excellent service, investment in staff training, and official distribution of the Andreia Professional brand in the country.

Michelle Geere, a South African entrepreneur empowering SMEs through online advertising

February 27, 2022 Melanie Hawken

Michelle Geere, founder and CEO, Adbot (South Africa)

Startup Story

Michelle Geere is the founder and CEO of Adbot. Adbot empowers all small and medium size business in Africa to successfully advertise online. After 15 years of digital advertising experience working for award winning agencies, as well as managing multiple small businesses, Michelle decided to use her expertise to start Adbot. Her experience in digital advertising coupled with the understanding of small business owner's challenges gives her a unique insight to digital solutions for SMEs.

What really excites Private Equity, Part III? Beware of the Genie!

February 26, 2022 Melanie Hawken

by Lionesses of Africa Operations Department

Over the past two weeks, we have looked at what excites PE Investors at the back end of your business (production, supply etc) as you come to them to catapult your business into the next stage of its growth. We then looked at the front or sharp end of your business - can your current customers handle the massive increase of products, or will you need to find new customers? If so, why the PE Investor is interested in your cost of acquiring these and just how sticky they are. Oh and what your retention rate is over this time, can you hold onto customers, or are you expensively bringing in new, to replace old as they leave for whatever reason? We also pointed out that we as Lionesses need to expect difficult questions, because as the Harvard Business Review has shown here, there is a dis-balance between questions asked of male founders (promotion orientation) and of female founders (prevention orientation) - as if we haven’t enough issues to work around!

5 Steps to Create Your Personal Brand

February 26, 2022 Melanie Hawken

by Naike Moshi

My personal branding journey started 6 months ago; I did not understand what it meant to have a personal brand. I have been busy promoting my business brands for the last 8 years and have been behind the scenes for a while. People are aware of my brands - CVPeople Tanzania and WIMA (Women in Management Africa) but did not know the person running behind the brands. I was under the radar and have remained hidden for a while. After the Covid-19 outbreak, I was disrupted and had to change tactics, focusing on improving my personal brand. Another major wake up call came when I was nominated for the best female CEO, but guess what, I was the one with lowest votes meaning my personal brand was not working well. For the past 6 months, I have made my mission to work on my personal brand and the journey has been amazing. I will share my personal experience and knowledge so that you can improve your own brand.

Being Human at Work – How to Deal With Emotions in the Workplace

February 26, 2022 Melanie Hawken

by Anja van Beek

Conscious Living, Leadership, Wellbeing

Emotions and the workplace don’t always mix well, but they can if you learn how to deal with them. “It is not the fittest that survive but the ones that can best adapt to their environment,” writes Charles Darwin in The Origin of Species. Over the last few months, we have heard many insights and tips on being more agile and adaptive at work. But what about emotion in the workplace? How do we navigate emotions when we feel overwhelmed by the changes and expectations in the hybrid world of work? Think about emotional agility, consider how emotional agile you are and consider ways to increase this.

Don’t Mix Business and Pleasure

February 26, 2022 Melanie Hawken

by Sylvia Walker

Whether you’re starting a new business, or on your way to success, managing the money aspect can be tough. In the early stages, you are the business and lines are easily blurred between your personal and business finances. You may find yourself paying for business expenses from your personal bank account, or maybe buy some groceries or other personal items, and charging it to the business.

How Much of Your Surroundings Do You Absorb?

February 26, 2022 Melanie Hawken

by Edna Reis

The emotions you feel - are they truly yours, or do they come from the environment that surrounds you? We tend to become so absorbed by our day to day lives that we don’t realize how much our surroundings influence our emotions.

Tatenda Rungisa, a Zimbabwean entrepreneur with a passion for catering and event management

February 20, 2022 Melanie Hawken

Tatenda Rungisa, co-founder, Twin Connect Solutions (Zimbabwe)

Startup Story

Twin Connect Solutions, founded by entrepreneur Tatenda Rungisa and her sister Tafadzwa, is a catering and event management business in Zimbabwe, specializing in creating special celebration cakes and event memories for clients. They are also involved in charity work, motivational speaking, blogging and mentorship programs.

Anja van Beek, a South African coaching professional helping people and business leaders to achieve their ambitions

February 20, 2022 Melanie Hawken

Anja van Beek, founder, Anja van Beek Consulting & Coaching

Startup Story

Having an agile mindset in business and life is one of the keys to success, something that specialist business coach, Anja van Beek, founder of the Consulting & Coaching business that carries her name, knows all about. She has built a business that helps both individuals and companies to achieve their ambitions and fulfill their potential, helping them to lead fulfilled lives and make an impact.

Tigist Kebede, a passionate media entrepreneur showcasing great Ethiopian content

February 20, 2022 Melanie Hawken

Lioness Weekender Cover Story

habeshaview Technology and Multimedia, a fast-growing entertainment and multimedia business in Ethiopia

Tigist Kebede, co-founder of habeshaview Technology and Multimedia, is an experienced entrepreneur specializing in the media, entertainment and telecommunications sectors. Throughout her career she has been driven by a passion for the Arts and Culture and combining this with emerging technologies and the best possible user experience for customers. Tigist is responsible for leading habeshaview, one of the fastest growing entertainment services in Ethiopia and with the Ethiopian diaspora community worldwide focusing on promoting and developing the culture and skills of Ethiopian content creators and bringing them to the global community.

Tiny Business, Big Money: Strategies for Creating a High-Revenue Microbusiness by Elaine Pofeldt

February 20, 2022 Melanie Hawken

Book Review

In her book, Tiny Business, Big Money: Strategies for Creating a High-Revenue Microbusiness, small business specialist and author, Elaine Pofeldt, has written the entrepreneur’s complete guide to making it big while keeping things small. She offers her blueprint for getting a running start with your microbusiness―that is, a business with no more than 20 employees, including yourself.

What really excites Private Equity? (Part 2) Or how to think like an Investor.

February 20, 2022 Melanie Hawken

by Lionesses of Africa Operations Dept.

Last week we looked at some of the questions that will be thrown at us when in front of Private Equity Investors, indeed any investor will have those same concerns so be prepared! Look at your business as if an Investor, and start to think like one.

Beginning of a New Cycle

February 19, 2022 Melanie Hawken

by Catia Mondlane

A new year indicates the beginning of a new cycle and certainly the renewal of hopes and positive expectations. On the one hand, it’s an opportunity to take advantage of the natural inclination most of us feel, to start the new year with new goals and aspirations both professionally and personally. On the other hand, one can consider how the business is doing so that one can implement some changes in terms of purpose and steps to take.

Keep Pushing

February 19, 2022 Melanie Hawken

by Claudia Folgore-McLellan

It quite aptly feels like January and February are one long, drawn out month and I’m sure most of us are suffering latent fatigue from having had to push that much harder in the past year. As solopreneurs and freelancers, the demands on us are just that much greater, it’s literally a permanent no work, no pay situation. The ‘holidays’ also often feel like an extension of the year that casually morphs into a new one with the only change being the date. With Covid fatigue we’ve all felt the exhaustion from being hyper virus vigilant. The easy option is to simply give up (even just a bit to have a rest) – the better option, though, is to KEEP PUSHING!

Why Do We Buy So Much?

February 19, 2022 Melanie Hawken

by Marjon Meyer

The psychology of spending money…Do you sometimes fill a virtual or a real trolley of goods to deal with a hole in your soul? Making purchasing decisions can help reinforce a sense of personal control over our environment. It can also ease feelings of sadness. A study from the Journal of Consumer Psychology found that retail therapy not only makes people happier immediately, but it can also fight lingering sadness. The problem is, we spend money we don’t have on things we don’t need …(often to impress people we don’t like).

The Graceful Fall!

February 19, 2022 Melanie Hawken

by Nontobeko Mbuyane

I have been told on several occasions, “you always land gracefully on your feet,” even from people that are close to me. If gracefully landing is defined by falling forward, becoming flexible in the face of turmoil in my life, being pushed backward and then standing in the uncomfortable truth of the reality of it all before landing one toe at a time, then that’s fine, you can in fact say, I land “gracefully”. Have I cared what people thought at times? Well, absolutely not at all - I am continuously working on how not to give energy to thoughts that do not add value to my life. If it’s thoughts that are not positive or meant to push me further in life, sadly I do not give even the slightest energy to those? My constant interactions with the great women and men of this world through their books are my drive. You are a product of your thoughts and what literature you read. So, if you are continuously going to be infiltrating your mind with negative thoughts, I honestly implore you to start positively affirming your life today. Begin each day with great prospects of how it will turn out, align yourself with positivity, surely the universe shall hear and your life shall be minus the constant negatives you always think of, or rather express.

Violet Amoabeng, a passion-driven natural skincare innovator in Ghana

February 13, 2022 Melanie Hawken

Lioness Weekender Cover Story

Skin Gourmet, a raw handmade skincare brand inspired by the West African bush

Violet A. Amoabeng is the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Skin Gourmet Limited, a Ghanaian innovation that creates Raw handmade skincare sourced from the Wilds of Ghana and so pure you can eat it. Violet created Skin Gourmet on 9th October 2014 when she realized there was need for unadulterated high quality body and skincare that was safe for human consumption. In other words, the rawest, purest and wildest skin care sourced from the heart of the West African bush – Raw edible skincare!

Lioness Launch / Picnic lovers in Mozambique are in for a treat as Azura launches its specialist picnic hamper sales and rental service

February 13, 2022 Melanie Hawken

Lioness Launch

For all those people who love nothing more than getting outdoors into the fresh air with family, friends, and colleagues, then a picnic is the way to go, and in Mozambique, entrepreneurs Yolanda Matine and Sheila Loonat, cofounders of Azura, have just what you need. Their business specializes in selling and renting picnic hampers with the objective of offering unforgettable experiences for all occasions.

Unlocked: How empowered women empower women by Jane Finette

February 13, 2022 Melanie Hawken

Book Review

In her inspirational book, Unlocked: How Empowered Women Empower Women, author Jane Finette reflects on how, according to the World Economic Forum, women lost thirty-six years of progress in 2020 alone, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. That's an entire generation lost. But by empowering one another, women can help each other to realize their potential and make the biggest impact on society as a whole.

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