Rachel Kobo, a South African natural hair care brand builder

March 13, 2022 Melanie Hawken

Startup Story

Rachel Kobo, founder of The Fro Avenue in South Africa, is a devoted natural hair care lover. With a background in Electrical and Electronic Engineering, her brand, The Fro Avenue, was born from her love for and interest in natural hair care. This led her to start up her business in 2020 which is aimed at natural hair care education and product manufacturing. She truly enjoys learning and sharing her knowledge base about natural hair with fellow naturalists and anyone starting out on their natural hair journey. Her aim is to promote a community that embraces their natural hair while learning to understand and love it for the beauty it is.

Lioness Launch / South Africa’s Job Crystal launches new AI recruitment tool to support SMEs and job seekers

March 13, 2022 Melanie Hawken

Lioness Launch

Kelly and Sasha, the owners of Job Crystal in South Africa, found that in their experience with starting businesses, the process of finding staff took far too long, and that this was often the breaking point for many businesses. After further research they found that for smaller companies, agencies were often too expensive and didn’t provide realistic payment plans. In short, there was no specific agency support tailored for SMEs. This led into the core drive of Job Crystal, their new AI recruitment tool to support SMEs and job seekers. They have a passion for helping people find jobs, combined with a focus on the SME market, with an agency who understands cash flow and an AI tool that understands time.

Relatable AND Reliable? Sounds like a Lioness!

March 13, 2022 Melanie Hawken

By Lionesses of Africa Operations Department

So much of our membership is B2C that we tend to concentrate all of our attention on that, and assume that new ways of doing things, all really great ‘touch points’ and omni-channels for customers are driven by the B2C customer wants. Yet this is not so it would appear…B2B uses many of the same touch points as B2C but with differing needs these touch points, or as some call them ‘Omni-channels’, are often used with different emphasis. For our many members in B2B, this weekend we turn to you!

Growth and sustainability for women entrepreneurs

March 13, 2022 Melanie Hawken

Impact Partner Content / by Dr Langelihle Simela, Agribusiness Development Manager, Absa

Women entrepreneurs are business people like their male counterparts. As such, any factors that affect business growth and sustainability, affect their businesses too. These factors include understanding the opportunities and challenges in the sector in which they operate, how the prevailing socio-economic environment impacts on these, and the ability to ride the opportunities and tackle the challenges. For example, in South Africa, one of the biggest challenges is the inconsistent supply and escalating cost of electricity. Absa provides insights and content that focuses on the technologies, available resources, financial considerations for investment in these technologies, suitable implementation, as well as regulatory issues that must be kept in mind. This information is available to all businesses and the opportunity to gainfully use the information is equally open to all businesses. So why would there be special focus on women entrepreneurs in terms of achieving growth and sustainability?

The Importance of Developing a Timeline For Your Business

March 12, 2022 Melanie Hawken

by Lizl Naude

Do you keep a timeline of the history of your business? Have you ever thought of doing it? What is a timeline you ask? According to the Oxford dictionary, a timeline is…

Radical Selfcare as the Gateway to Overall Wellbeing

March 12, 2022 Melanie Hawken

by Emily Kandanga

I love that we now live in a world where prioritising your physical, mental & emotional well-being is being celebrated and encouraged because for far too long people who so boldly chose their happiness over others, were labelled as selfish.

Focus on Strengths, Partner for Weaknesses

March 12, 2022 Melanie Hawken

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:

Staying In Line

March 12, 2022 Melanie Hawken

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.

Entrepreneur Advice from Linda Dempah / Build a determined team

March 8, 2022 Melanie Hawken

Build a determined team!…

“Build a determined team and jump right in!”

Linda Dempah is the founder of Adeba Nature in Cote d’Ivoire

Quote of the Day by Marieme Esther Dassanou

March 8, 2022 Melanie Hawken

“The African Development Bank, through its AFAWA initiative, is committed to accelerating women entrepreneurs’ ability to access finance and the required knowledge to get back on their growth path.”

Marieme Esther Dassanou, Manager, Affirmative Finance Action for Women in Africa (AFAWA), African Development Bank Group

Lionesses Business Confidence Report speaks to high levels of resilience by Africa’s leading women entrepreneurs despite Covid-19

March 8, 2022 Melanie Hawken

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.

Yetunde Ayo-Oyalowo, a game-changing affordable healthcare entrepreneur

March 6, 2022 Melanie Hawken

Lioness Weekender Cover Story

Market Doctors, a social impact-driven organization bringing accessible healthcare to Nigeria’s communities

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.

Brigette Mashile, a South African fashion entrepreneur creating custom designs for discerning clients

March 4, 2022 Melanie Hawken

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.

Lioness Launch / South Africa’s Black Beard Group prepares to launch its new online store

March 4, 2022 Melanie Hawken

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.

Uncommon Results: Secrets & Strategies of High Performance Entrepreneurs by Patricia Wooster

March 4, 2022 Melanie Hawken

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.

3 Incredibly Useful Scarcity Strategies for Creatives

March 4, 2022 Melanie Hawken

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.

It’s Not Just War

March 4, 2022 Melanie Hawken

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.

Own your headspace, own your days

March 4, 2022 Melanie Hawken

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.