the pride of Africa's women entrepreneurs
Kathryn Finney
Book Review
Build the Damn Thing, is an indispensable guide to building a startup business and breaking down the barriers for diverse entrepreneurs, written by the visionary venture capitalist and pioneering entrepreneur Kathryn Finney. This riveting book is a hard-won, battle-tested guide for every entrepreneur who the establishment has left out.
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by Lionesses of Africa Operations Dept
We saw a fascinating statistic recently regarding job applications and the differing actions of women vs men. In job applications according to an original study by Hewlett Packard and discussed by the Harvard Business Review (‘HBR’) back in 2014 (here) and continually confirmed in more recent studies such as from LinkedIn here, men will apply to jobs if they feel they match 60% of the requirements on the job application. Women? They will apparently agonize for ages over the last 5% on the way to 100% certainty.
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by Laura M Camacho, PhD and Culture Fixer
Small changes in the way you communicate can bring big changes in the life you live. I see this reality every single day.
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by Lizl Naude
Woman, stop being emotional about your business! If you are a woman in business, you might feel offended by this! How can you say that Lizl? Well, as tough as it is to say...it's time to put the emotions away! And believe me, I am preaching to myself!
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by Teboho Seretlo
In an article that I recently read, which led me to a TED talk with the same topic by Heidi Grant, I came across some very useful tips, coupled with a deeper understanding of why I am always struggling to ask for help. I used to be the top student in my class since primary school and getting a prize at every prize-giving ceremony was etched in my childhood memory. Seeing my parents sitting there and watching with pride as I stood up to claim my prize. I never participated in any sports. Could it be that the individual achievement was an incentive for me to perform well and that all the praises were for me and not a team? Could it be that I valued being viewed as an independent person who was good at solving her own challenges without “bothering” others and asking for help? Luckily, as I progressed in life, I quickly learnt that collaborating and asking for help is very normal and was not a sign of weakness on my part.
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by Lori Milner
When your laptop or phone begins to slow down to the point of unbearable speed, a wave of terror takes over you. You have horrifying visions of being without your precious device for a few hours. The good news is the simplest solution is often the most effective. Most likely, once you restart the device, it will work again perfectly. It’s the same with you. No matter what work you do or where you are in your career, you also feel as if your operating system is not functioning at its maximum capacity.
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Charlotte Binya, founder, Country Foods SARL (Cameroon)
Startup Story
Charlotte Binya is the founder of Country Foods SARL which is an agri-food company based in Douala, Cameroon, producing products such as fish, pork, beef sausages, natural jams, natural fruit juices and peanut butter. Holder of an engineering diploma in transformation and quality control of fishery products, Charlotte is also a trainer in the food industry and delivers several training courses in the food industry, as well as with international organizations, individuals or companies wishing to update their teams in the food industry.
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Wada Kealotswe, founder & director Aiko Creations t/a Eco Zera (Botswana)
Startup Story
Wada Kealotswe is the founder and director of Aiko Creations t/a Eco Zera in Botswana, a company that manufactures eco graphite and colour pencils. The business has been running for 2 years and today has 3 permanent employees and 15 part time employees, mostly youth who have never worked before. Wada is a Development Economist from Botswana with over 10 years’ experience doing developmental work, and a graduate from the University of Pretoria in South Africa. The company was a 2021 runner-up for the Catalyst SEED award in the Waste Management category, and its stories have been featured on global platforms like Forbes and Xinhua.
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Adanne Uche, Founder & CEO, Ady's Agro Processing Limited (Nigeria)
Lioness Weekender Cover Story
Ady's Agro Processing Limited, a food processing business in Nigeria providing families with healthier cooking ingredients.
Adanne Uche is the Founder/CEO of Ady's Agro Processing Limited formerly known as Ady's Food Mart, a food processing and packaging business based in Lagos, Nigeria, that is focused on providing families with healthier cooking ingredients in Nigeria, Africa and the world where African dishes are appreciated. Having 2 failed businesses, she founded Ady's in 2016 from her kitchen and no structure to a now globally recognized brand, that empowers and motivates both the young and old generation. She is a seasoned and resilient entrepreneur who despite the harsh business terrain have stood the test of time.
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Erica Paiva
The empowered woman of today receives this question almost every day in an ironic way. As if she could not choose and had to blindly consent that there is no possibility of pursuing a career to the detriment of the family, only to the man is given that possibility of being able to venture into his academic or professional career and leaving the care of the family in the woman's responsibility. But is that right?
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by Lori Milner
Imposter syndrome is not based on logic. The most successful people still experience the feeling that everyone will find out that they know nothing, that their success is based on luck, and that they don’t deserve to be there. It’s a debilitating pattern and one that can keep you playing small if you buy into your own story.
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by Safiyyah Boolay-Jappie
Determining what our purpose is in life can be one of the hardest questions that we as humans are compelled to answer. It is the guiding light we seek to help us create value that is meaningful to us far beyond the remuneration, adoration and adulation we may enjoy from our worldly pursuits. Our purpose is also where we are challenged the most.
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by Lizl Naude
Recently in the span of 48 hours, I received complaints from two individual customers about product breakages. Because I am so pedantic about delivering a quality product, I was initially completely stunned. It felt like a barrage coming my way. I remember a heat rush going to my head, as I tried to make sense of it all. I took a deep breath and took a 5 minute walk before I replied.
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Kunjina Tesfaye, founder, Kunjina (Ethiopia)
Lioness Launch
Kunjina, a unique Ethiopian ready-to-wear clothing brand that mainly caters to women within the age range of 25-40 and founded by Kunjina Tesfaye, is launching its new concept collection this month. The collection named UDET, a Geez word meaning cycle, is Inspired by Kunjina's personal experience. The collection revolves around topics like fear, productivity guilt and growth. It shows the process of self-doubt, transformation and self-actualization using the metamorphosis cycle of a butterfly as a metaphor.
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Julie Solomon
Book Review
In Julie Solomon’s new book, Get What You Want: How to Go from Unseen to Unstoppable, this empowering guide is for women who are tired of being told "just be yourself” in life and in business. Julie is the host of the chart-topping The Influencer Podcast and in her new book, she teaches you how to shake off outdated ideas of what is possible. She encourages you to use your newfound confidence to make anything you want happen, and start getting seen and known for getting things done.
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by Lionesses of Africa Operations Department
Last weekend we asked you to reach for your inner Steve or Elon a.k.a. ‘war leaders’ (ok, we did say ‘not too much Steve or Elon’ - as these are 100% ’power, drive and complete belief’ that would completely exhaust many of us mere mortals on the best of our days), to keep ourselves and our decision making focused and processes nimble for what looks like difficult times ahead. As troubles rush towards Africa in the form of inflation; lack of staple foods, cooking oils and fertilizers (see here); ongoing droughts in East Africa; western Central Banks raising interest rates and cutting off at the kneecaps the fix of cheap money that has kept the globe hooked (and a rush to higher yielding investments - such as in Africa), it could create recessions, civil unrests, and so on.
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Umutoni Thuku-Benzinge, founder and creative director, Umutoni (Kenya)
Startup Story
Umutoni Thuku-Benzinge is the founder and creative director of Umutoni, a luxury jewelry brand where every piece is handmade with love by the best artisans from the heart of Kenya. She is on a mission to empower the disenfranchised through her ethically driven jewellery. With a degree in Economics and background in the IT industry, Umutoni is utilizing skills developed in her professional background to share the narrative that jewellery can be an agent for social change. Having spoken at Cambridge University, being featured in Forbes and BBC, she's keen to share the brand story and continue to make an impact as she continues to amalgamate her worlds together.
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Sasha Knott, CEO, Job Crystal (South Africa)
Startup Story
Sasha Knott, the CEO of Job Crystal in South Africa, started her career in IT and moved quickly in her career finding her passion for entrepreneurship and combining this with technology that works for the customer and often disrupts industries. Sasha’s current plan is to make job seekers lives easier while helping SMEs find talent fast and effortlessly! With Job Crystal’s new system called Crystal which combines RecTech, AI, machine learning and UX functionality that makes it easy to find the needle in the haystack for SMEs looking for talent. The vision is to make a dent in unemployment.
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Jane Maigua
Lioness Weekender Cover Story
Exotic EPZ, a Kenyan macadamia nuts processing and export company supporting smallholder farmers
Jane Maigua is the CEO of Exotic EPZ, a macadamia nuts processing and export company based in Nairobi Kenya. The company was restarted in 2017 under Jane's leadership and has grown its supply of high quality nuts from Netherlands to a growing customer base in USA, Spain, Germany, Italy and China. Jane has two business partners, Charity Ndegwa and Loise Maina, and together they have established the only solely woman-owned processing and export company in the macadamia value chain in East Africa. Exotic EPZ employs over 100 workers giving them a decent employment, and it sources its raw nuts from over 5000 small holder farmers. Of the company’s workers, 85% are women and 75% are youth. Exotic EPZ’s commitment to environmental sustenance has been demonstrated in its use of solar power to run its processing factory and recycling of shells as boiler fuel, in addition to use of energy efficient processing systems. Currently the company is launching a campaign for planting of macadamia trees as a source of income as well as for carbon sequestration.
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Obizo (Ruth) Chiamaka, founder, GlambyRuthie (Nigeria)
Startup Story
Obizo (Ruth) Chiamaka is the founder of GlambyRuthie in Nigeria, a brand focused on providing the best makeup services for women across the nation and the training of aspiring makeup artists. She is also studying accountancy at Nnamdi Azikiwe University and currently pursuing her ICAN qualification. Ruth founded GlambyRuthie in 2020 and is focused on growing her brand, getting involved in fashion shows, and looking for collaborations in the beauty industry.
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