the pride of Africa's women entrepreneurs
Patience Maame Mensah, founder, Self Indulgence Company Limited (Ghana)
Lioness Launch
For customers looking for an event venue in Accra, Ghana for that special occasion, then Patience Maame Mensah, founder of Self Indulgence Company Limited, the multi-faceted home maintenance and property management agency with specialist nanny services and events offerings, has launched an exciting new venue.
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By Lionesses of Africa Operations Department
Just over 50 years ago, a throw-away comment that there were no great women painters sparked the famous reply from Linda Nochlin in her 1971 essay: “Why have there been no great women artists?” (here). Today in 2022, we seem no nearer to a level playing field in Art, as a recent exposé of art prices by Doctor Helen Gorrill, shows (here). Dr Gorrill was driven to research pricing in the Art world following comments made by the painter Georg Baselitz who claimed "women couldn't paint!”, using as his proof the lower price their artwork commanded in comparison to that of men (here). That is not to say he doesn’t appreciate any women painters, being a self proclaimed fan of artist Artemisia Gentileschi (17th Century), although as we show later it would indeed be a brave man to say she couldn’t paint…
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Book Review
Wendy Muhammad, entrepreneur and author of the book The Mind of an Entrepreneur: Mental Strategies for Navigating the World of Business, climbed the ladder from struggling real estate agent to self-made millionaire. She achieved this all while overcoming the marginalization she faced as an African-American woman. In this powerful book, Wendy shares her experiences and the things she learned that have helped her on her successful entrepreneurial journey.
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by Farida Yahya
The early days of most startups are full of creativity, passion and sometimes doubt. At this point, most startup founders double as operations managers and business owners. They have the title but barely have enough time to actually do the work required of a founder or chief executive officer, which is, the ability to step away from the daily operations and create a long-term vision and strategy that will sustain their company.
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by Brigette Mashile
Consistency: acting or done in the same way over time, especially so as to be fair or accurate - Google
Every guru in every speciality will tell you that you can do anything you set your mind to, and you will excel if you are consistent in it. If you have a strategy and you follow it religiously, over time it becomes easier and you start seeing the results of your efforts. The simplest example is gym. A lot of posts on social media on the subject of weight loss talk about being consistent. Even if the exercise is 5 minutes long, as long as you are consistent daily, at some point you start seeing a difference.
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by Filipa Carreira
Our relationships determine the quality of our lives. Deep and meaningful relationships are crucial to our mental and physical health. Studies show that people with deep and meaningful relationships are more resilient to burnout and other mental health issues. Did you know that the feeling of loneliness causes the same amount of stress on our cardiovascular system as smoking 20 cigarettes a day? We are living in an era of unprecedented geographical mobility and social change but have our relationship skills kept up with the times? Does it matter? And how does this have any effect on the workplace?
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by Tsitsi Mutendi
This week we continue on our journey with Ms. Olivia Simbajena. Ms. Simbajena is a businesswoman whose business falls under the category of SME and MME. Hers also falls under the category of Family Business. As we have defined before, a Family Business is a business started by an individual for the benefit of his or her family and is then run by the individual to serve the interests of their communities as well as those of their family. A Family Business’s main characteristics are that a family owns the majority shareholding of the business. However, from the characters and their situations, although fictional, we are starting to see that there are dynamic intricacies that affect Family Businesses. Laying down a foundation by introducing our fictional business owners will help to establish context when we go in-depth and unpack more problems and solutions for Family Businesses.
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Mary Aboagye, co-founder, aiScarecrow Technologies (Ghana)
Startup Story
Mary Aboagye is a co-founder of aiScarecrow Technologies (Ghana), an Agritech startup focused on crop protection, helping cereal farmers successfully ward-off pest birds from consuming their crop. With her background as an environmental scientist, she established the environmental change agency, an organisation dedicated to environmental preservation. Her efforts got her enlisted as one of the top 540 women in Africa involved in the Agritech or Agribusiness space. She co-founded aiScarecrow Technologies in 2019 and has since then won several awards including the KIC Agritech challenge 2019, the ingenuity cup 2021, the Israeli green innovation competition 2022.
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Cleo Johnson
Lioness Weekender Cover Story
Nuecleo, a specialist marketing consultancy for hospitality and tourism businesses in South Africa
Cleo Johnson is the founder of Nuecleo, a hospitality marketing consultancy in South Africa. She is a seasoned marketing consultant and businesswoman with expertise in marketing and business strategy, e-commerce, and hospitality. A multi-award-winning businesswoman, she was recently recognized as Forbes Africa 30 under 30, the class of 2021 and has been named one of Africa's TOP 50 CEOs two years in a row. She has over nine years of industry experience and has improved the brand reputation, marketing, and sales revenue for various clients through strategic, innovative solutions and her collaborative mindset. Her business, Nuecleo was started in 2017 and today employs 6 people.
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Diana Mbabaali Miiro, managing director, KeyScapes Limited (Uganda)
Startup Story
Diana Mbabaali Miiro is the managing director of KeyScapes Limited, a pioneering company in Uganda specializing in landscaping, potted plants artistries and gardening supplies. She is an ardent gardener with a mission to encourage Ugandans to live a healthy natural lifestyle, growing their own food organically in the small spaces of their backyards as CSR (Community Social Responsibility) under the Backyard Gardeners Uganda, a forum she founded on social media platforms. Diana previously worked in the Information Technology & Change department with Barclays Bank, now ABSA Bank, as Head, Service Management before joining the world of entrepreneurship when she discovered that she could make a living from her passion. She is a Vital Voices Fellow, Vital Voices Leadership Journey, a female future program graduate and an Academy for Women Entrepreneurs Mentor.
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Relatório de eventos
Mais de 120 mulheres empreendedoras de todo o país reuniram-se online no dia 28 de setembro de 2022 para o mais recente evento da popular série Lioness Lean In Webinars, organizados pela Lionesses of Africa em parceria com o Standard Bank Mozambique e a Embaixada do Reino dos Países Baixos. O objetivo era que as empresárias do país partilhassem as suas experiências, inspirando-se mutuamente com as histórias das suas jornadas empresarias e criassem ligações para o sucesso empresarial.
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Book Review
In her groundbreaking book, The Path to Profits: An Entrepreneur’s Guide to Having It All…And Still Having a Life!, business profitability strategist Michelle Jacobik reveals why a powerful vision for your life is the most important tool for shaping and growing your business. In this fascinating new book, you’ll learn her signature Vision + Flow + Grow method for creating a profitable business structure while actually supporting and enjoying your one precious life.
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by Lionesses of Africa Operations Department
We have often warned in the past of cold winds rushing across from the West towards Africa. With one foot in the UK/EU and one foot firmly in Africa we have been lucky enough to see early the impact of various events in both regions and have been able to react quickly to warn our membership. Just in the last few years we have had articles at the early stages of Covid when we saw the tragic events unfolding first in China and then in Italy; and then when businesses rushed to go online, when home deliveries became the only answer, when the supply chains started to clog up, when the US yield curve inverted, when the war started in Ukraine and when inflation started to rear its ugly head. How we respond to such events define our lives and our businesses for many years, but (and this is why we send out these warnings) to respond early or to plan for such events gives us a massive advantage.
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by Tsitsi Mutendi
We have been following the journey of Transport Businessman for a few weeks now, and by so doing, we have scraped the surface of the SME, MME, and the Family Business in Africa from one of its players. These characters and their situations, although fictional, are putting in place a bird’s eye view of some of the intricacies that affect Family Businesses. Laying down a foundation by introducing you to these characters will help to establish context when we go in-depth and unpack more problems and solutions for Family Businesses.
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by Phindile Tapula (Ndlovu)
by Eldari Visser
This might sound like an awkward story to you, but it is very relevant for this group of go-getter women. You are all wonderful, fantastic women, wearing your brand every day in this modern society. It is indeed this society that expects from you to be top of your game, to be exotic, different, yet covering their needs. You have to be the forerunners, be excellent, be good, be able to see what the next best thing is. We can name many more requirements that come along. What is needed from you is to survive in this environment.
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by Bronwynne Wiehl
If you think LinkedIn is the new “Facebook for Professionals”, you’d be right. And so what? Here’s why I think it's exactly what we all need right now. As the world plunged into hard lockdown in early 2020, my business transitioned from managing social media accounts to social media coaching. There was a demand to build personal brands online, and more specifically on LinkedIn. Every interaction was suddenly online. Our time, both work and play, was in front of our screens. People were losing jobs and loved ones, even work colleagues. Industries were crumbling. New ones were springing up. The boundaries between work and home were shattered. And this was reflected in the content shared on the different social media platforms.
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Priscilla Museng, founder, Entomo Farm ( Zambia)
Startup Story
Priscilla Musenge is a Climate Change activist and a budding entrepreneur, who is the ceo and founder of Entomo Farm in Zambia, a business launched in 2018. It has since created jobs for 7 people. She was one of the top 10 Finalists of the inaugural cohort of the Academy for Women Entrepreneurs in 2020, a White House Initiative. Additionally, in the same year, Priscilla’s start-up also received a grant in sustainable waste management from United Nations Development Program (UNDP) in Zambia. Most recently, she also won 2nd prize in the world’s largest green business ideas competition - the 2021 Climate Launchpad business competition and was one of the recipients of the inaugural 2022 ZANACO (Zambia National Commercial Bank) awards in Zambia.
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Anotida Nyowani, co-founder, Luxury Junkies (Zimbabwe & Mozambique)
Startup Story
Anotida Nyowani is an entrepreneur and the co-founder of Luxury Junkies, a natural skincare company in Zimbabwe and Mozambique. She is also a physiotherapist by profession, with a talent and a passion for formulating natural, cruelty free skin and haircare products. Her sister Chido Mhindurwa has a psychology degree with years of human resources management and business development experience under her belt. Together they teamed up to create a luxury non-toxic skincare company that runs in Mozambique and in Zimbabwe. Their drive is to offer sustainable, healthy and clean skincare at an affordable price.
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Lee Billy Chisale
Lioness Weekender Cover Story
Belle Afrique, a market leader promoting healthy lifestyle and beauty treatments in Malawi
Lee Billy Chisale is the founder and ceo of Belle Afrique in Malawi, a business that promotes healthy lifestyle and beauty treatments. She is an experienced entrepreneur with a focus on promoting wellness in the pan-African market. She founded the business over 20 years ago in 2001 and now employs 15 people. She is a stomatologist with a background in accounting and business management. Today, Belle Afrique provides outstanding clinical and client relations skills for delivering advanced services in aesthetics wellness and training education in the wellness and hospitality industry.
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