the pride of Africa's women entrepreneurs
by Kathy Mann
I was recently reminded of an exercise I did in around 2009 when I was struggling to adjust to having a child and a career. It’s called Gallup’s Strengths Finder. I bought the book, did the online test and digested the findings eagerly. According to the test, your main strengths don’t really change over time. So revisiting them now was quite meaningful. These were my top five:
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by Brigette Mashile
Apparently the first step to a solution is to realize you have a problem; then recognize the problem and finally make a plan to change it. Some of these issues take us a long time to realize, or to accept. I realize my issues fast, but I need to see the pattern it is creating before I do anything about it. It is that stubborn scientist part of me that needs proof first! Definitely a time waster, but this is how I have been. And that too needs to change.
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Linda Dempah
Build a determined team!…
Linda Dempah is the founder of Adeba Nature in Cote d’Ivoire
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Marieme Esther Dassanou, Manager, Affirmative Finance Action for Women in Africa (AFAWA), African Development Bank Group
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Press Release
Report financed by African Development Bank’s Affirmative Finance Action for Women in Africa (AFAWA) initiative
Abidjan, 8 March 2022 - Women-owned businesses are faring better than expected with relatively high levels of resilience despite the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, a new report funded by the African Development Bank shows.
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Yetunde Ayo-Oyalowo
Lioness Weekender Cover Story
Yetunde Ayo-Oyalowo is the ceo and founder of Market Doctors in Nigeria, a social impact organisation looking to bring affordable healthcare to people with minimal disturbance to their economic activities. She is a tenacious, self-driven medical doctor determined to ensure that location and financial capacity is not a barrier to access quality healthcare services. Market Doctors has a team of 18 permanent staff and 40 who are employed adhoc on a 2 year contract basis. Yetunde is determined to ensure 100 markets can have access to healthcare in the next 5 years.
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Brigette Mashile, founder, Roka Roko (South Africa)
Startup Story
Many people dream of wearing clothes that are unique to them, designed to reflect their tastes and personalities. Brigette Mashile, founder of Roka Roko is a South African fashion design entrepreneur who understands how to take a client idea for an outfit and turn it into a wonderful reality.
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Pendo Galukande, Co-founder, Dis N Dat (Uganda)
Startup Story
Pendo Galukande is one of the original three co-founders of Dis N Dat (Uganda) Ltd and the current Managing Director. She has been featured several times on National Television and print media as a positive example of a social entrepreneur. Her social enterprise having started out creating hand crafted greeting cards, and now has expanded into providing the youth access to skills and employment through the provision of premium gift services. Dis N Dat was launched in 2007 and employs 2 full time people, 4 consultants, and provides about 25 placements for part-time positions for youth annually. Pendo has a track record in Health Management having been the first manager of the leading private hospital in Uganda. She also managed a pharmacy in a rural hospital and oversaw refugee programs in rural Uganda.
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Bontle Mmapela, founder, Black Beard Group (South Africa)
Lioness Launch
Black Beard Group is an interior design and decor boutique firm in South Africa, founded by entrepreneur Bontle Mmapela. In a drive to deliver innovative and practical solutions to its clients, Bontle and her team utilize their experience across the fields of interior design, decor and project management. The team are currently preparing to launch a new online store selling wallpapers, rugs, vases, sculptures, art pieces, candles, portraits, lamps and coffee tables.
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Patricia Wooster
Book Review
If you are tired of working "in" your business instead of "on" your business, then Patricia Wooster’s new book Uncommon Results: Secrets & Strategies of High Performance Entrepreneurs is a must-read. If you are worried that maybe your business is not sustainable; or you are wondering how to make it successful; or maybe you want to create lifestyle freedom, generational wealth or monetize your life's purpose, Patricia has some great insights and advice shared by eighteen different entrepreneurs. They provide their tactical advice and talk about what they have done to grow and scale their businesses.
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by Robyn Keet
Let me save you some time by sharing what I’ve learned about keeping your customers dialled in. It’s called Scarcity aka FOMO (fear of missing out) You might have seen this strategy been used before by service-based businesses. It’s a great strategy that Creatives can use to boost sales during the year or reduce stock before including a new range in your offering.
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by Aleshia van der Ploeg
The recent invasion of the Ukraine got me thinking about the affect war has on all our contracts as well as our insurance. Unfortunately war is never good news.
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by Lori Milner
“Your day is determined by a thought you had this morning” – Dandapani
What is your default thought when you wake up? Oh, another day to get through! First you may hit snooze a few times and then ask yourself the same question. This matters because it is the theme song you are planting into your mind which will dictate your entire day.
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by Safiyyah Boolay-Jappie
They say that confession is good for the soul. If only it weren’t so darned embarrassing! I’m constantly evangelizing and advocating rituals and routines that set us up for alignment with our best intentions for ourselves. And yet, here I am, slowly emerging from an almost week long bender of crisps and TV. Don’t ask me what I watched. I vaguely recall the Romanoffs, but I was indiscriminately captivated and captured by crap. As the new week rolled in, I yearned to come back to myself and to my mission, but the inner chatter of regret and guilt was thick, and it throttled my efforts to return to self and to sanity. I had to find a way to move forward, but I was stuck. Thankfully a friend dropped a gem that was like smelling salts to my fogged-up brain. She had counselled that “you can’t change what you have done; only what you are going to do”. Indeed. Thank you, Friend.
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Impact Partner Content / Absa
The first Lioness Business Agility Webinar of 2022 took place on 23 February 2022, taking as its theme “How to Turn Your Big Vision into a High Growth Business,” with 143 women entrepreneurs joining to be inspired, to learn, and to connect with their fellow women business builders from South Africa and the African continent. The event marked the start of a new year of powerful webinars ahead, with new opportunities to be grasped and new challenges to meet head on, and, after everything that has happened over the past two years, attendees were more than ready to make the event count! The Lioness Business Agility Webinar series for 2022 is once again a partnership between Lionesses of Africa and Absa.
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Denise Duffield-Thomas
by Denise Duffield-Thomas
For all those who want to make twice as much money with half the work, Chill and Prosper, the new book from money mindset coach and bestselling author Denise Duffield-Thomas, can tell you how to do it? She says it's time to shift your mindset, recognize your worth and become a successful entrepreneur on your own terms!
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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!
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