Beauty Monene, a South African plant hire business builder

February 19, 2023 Melanie Hawken

Lioness Weekender Cover Story

Monenebe Maintenance & Projects, a specialist cleaning plant hire business servicing South Africa’s mining industry

Beauty Monene was born and bred in Mamelodi in South Africa. She is the founder of Monenebe Maintenance and Projects, a business established and registered in 2006. She has a passion to define herself in business and giving opportunities to those in her community. Beauty is married with three daughters and has completed a BCom degree and a senior management diploma. She has worked in various entities in both finance and customers services, and her experience led her to establishing her business, Monenebe Maintenance and Projects. Today the business employs 39 people. In 2020, after the Covid pandemic hit, Beauty opened another manufacturing entity, and today she is mentoring her daughters in this business.

What’s Your Relationship with Money?

February 19, 2023 Melanie Hawken

by Emily Kandanga

One of the most key relationships that we need to nurture as women and business owners is our relationship with money. It’s impossible not to have a mental and emotional relationship with money because it’s around us and the driving force and motivator for just about everything we do.

Piercing the Trust Adding to the Accrual

February 19, 2023 Melanie Hawken

by Nicolene Schoeman-Louw

Trusts are valuable tools to safeguard assets, but in many instances, especially in divorce, that is not always the case. Yet, that is precisely what happened in PAF v SCF[2022] ZASCA 101 (22 June 2022). This Supreme Court of Appeal case is reportable. Therefore precedent-setting - binding in law.

Parents Work Experiences Have a Direct Impact on their Children

February 19, 2023 Melanie Hawken

by Paula Quinsee

Did you know parents experiences at work have a direct impact on their children’s development? Research shows that children’s developmental outcomes are directly and significantly affected by their parents’ work lives. Children of employees who had more-positive work experiences such as supportive supervisors and co-workers in their first years as parents, had better reading and math skills, better social skills, and fewer behavioral problems in their first grade.

Self-employed & Retirement: A Stumbling Block for Many

February 19, 2023 Melanie Hawken

by Ronel Jooste

Are you self-employed and feeling stressed about not having sufficient retirement savings? Plenty of business owners are still seen to be actively working years after reaching retirement age. They really love what they do, or they don’t have somebody reliable to take over or they don’t want to let go of their ‘baby’ are the common reasons provided to explain this situation. Yes, these can be valid reasons or reasons contributing to the situation, but for many business owners the harsh reality is that they cannot afford to go on retirement.

Dare to Launch - Mini MBA for First-Time Entrepreneurs by Anne Cocquyt

February 12, 2023 Melanie Hawken

Book Review

In a world of outdated entrepreneurship books and expensive MBA programs, startup founder Anne Cocquyt, author of Dare to Launch - Mini MBA for First-Time Entrepreneurs, combines inspirational examples of today’s entrepreneurs with practical steps you can immediately take to get results.

Bring that better future closer

February 12, 2023 Melanie Hawken

by Lionesses of Africa Operations Department

“Cry, the Beloved Country, for the unborn child that is the inheritor of our fear. Let him not love the earth too deeply. Let him not laugh too gladly when the water runs through his fingers, nor stand too silent when the setting sun makes red the veld with fire. Let him not be too moved when the birds of his land are singing, nor give too much of his heart to a mountain or a valley. For fear will rob him of all if he gives too much.” This from ‘Cry, the Beloved Country’, an incredible book by Alan Paton of life in South Africa in the years leading up to the iniquitous and horrific Apartheid laws that came in to being during the year 1948, the same year this incredible book was published. An immediate worldwide bestseller, it dealt with themes of fear, and from that darkness came hope, love and learning.

What You Can Do To Level Up In 2023

February 12, 2023 Melanie Hawken

by Thembe Khumalo

I’m hoping we are now over the initial “New Year Resolution Madness” where we pledge to do great and mighty exploits, only to find ourselves fading before the first month of the year is out. I’m not proposing any new resolutions to take up, just some ideas about what you could do differently (and why) to level up your business and your career this year.

Finance Professional or Artist? Well, I am Both!

February 12, 2023 Melanie Hawken

by Rewa Udoji

It has been a fortnight since I began my new role with my new family - Chapel Hill Denham. I think I am almost fully settled in and I’m absolutely loving being here. I am glad that I made the decision to join the team. It’s also been an interesting couple of weeks in so many ways. Something that I’m finding particularly interesting is the number of times people have asked me why I made the move and the more common question is, ‘are you still an artist?’

Want to Know the Secret to Better Days? Treat Your Thoughts Like Your Email.

February 12, 2023 Melanie Hawken

by Lori Milner

When you receive an email, you have three choices: You can read it immediately, save it for later, or delete it. Although you can’t control the volume of emails you receive, you can choose what to do with each one. There is also a plethora of software available for organising, managing and optimising your inbox.

Conflict of interest under the spotlight

February 12, 2023 Melanie Hawken

by Nicolene Schoeman-Louw

A recent case from the Commercial Court in Gauteng, South Africa, was fascinating because it illustrates the far-reaching effects of conflicts of interest in companies and why they should be avoided.

Mariama Dia, a Senegalese entrepreneur transforming local fruits into natural retail products

February 12, 2023 Melanie Hawken

Mariama Dia, founder Delices Casamançaises (Senegal)

Startup Story

Mariama Dia is the founder of Delices Casamançaises in Senegal. She is married and the mother of two children, and holds a masters degree in geography. Being from Casamance, which is a forest region located in the south of Senegal, she witnesses every day the destruction of fruits resulting from overproduction. This is what led to her decision to launch her business, Delices Casamançaises with the aim of transforming the fruits to allow consumers to enjoy 12 months of the previously only seasonally available fruits.

Mona Al Adawy, a pioneer of energy data management in Egypt

February 12, 2023 Melanie Hawken

Lioness Weekender Cover Story

GeoEnergy Petroleum Services, a business providing data management and digitalization for the exploration data assets of Egypt’s petroleum companies

Mona is the founding owner and ceo of GeoEnergy, a company specializing in providing data management services and digitalization solutions for the exploration data assets of the petroleum companies. Bootstrapping it from a $1,000 investment, it is now a firm that generates $1M+ in revenue, with over 65 clients, 25+ employees, and 40+ project-based consultants. Mona is IFC Nominee Director & Advisory Committee Member. In 2020, she acquired her MBA in Strategic Management - School of Business and Society, from South Wales University in the UK. She is a certified corporate director from IFC, World Bank, and was awarded a certificate in women’s entrepreneurship from Cornell University in the USA. She has a Certificate in Applied Management from Global Enterprise Center, Babson College in the USA, and graduated from the Geology/Chemistry Departments, Faculty of Science in Cairo University, 2002.

Cash injection planner for entrepreneurs: A Fast-Action Guide for Bringing Cash Into Your Business in the Next 7 Days by Michelle Kulp

February 5, 2023 Melanie Hawken

Book Review

Michelle Kulp, entrepreneur and author of the book Cash injection planner for entrepreneurs: A Fast-Action Guide for Bringing Cash Into Your Business in the Next 7 Days, believes that The #1 responsibility of entrepreneurs is to make money. Yet the #1 reason businesses fail is due to a lack of cash flow. She says many of those failures are preventable…

Negotiation, let’s even out the odds!

February 5, 2023 Melanie Hawken

by Lionesses of Africa Operations Department

Garry Kimovich Kasparov (one of the greatest Russian Chess Grandmasters that has ever lived) was asked by The Economist magazine how to beat Putin (here) and he started by pointing out that where people get it wrong about Putin was that he was not playing Chess with the world, but Poker. Chess, he said was transparent, every single thing you need to know about the game is always in front of you. Nothing else. “Chess is a 100% transparent game. Information that is available for me at the board, is also available for my opponent and visa versa…A game that is far more consistent with Putin’s capabilities…is Poker.”

How to gain external validation to grow your confidence in your business

February 5, 2023 Melanie Hawken

by Felicity Cowie, author of Exposure

In my earlier blog for Lionesses of Africa, What Exactly is Media Relations, I said there are at least eight mega benefits of media relations for any business to consider:

Creating safe and reliable healthcare, by women, for women

February 5, 2023 Melanie Hawken

by Moyosola Kara

Meet Doctors Zara Isa Modibbo and Nabila Ado Wanka, creating safe and reliable healthcare, by women, for women. The pairing of Drs Isa Modibbo and Ado Wanka would please many within the field of life sciences due to their individual accomplishments within the sector. They have combined experience of over two decades in their respective fields, the former a celebrated clinical microbiologist, infectious disease epidemiologist and clinical researcher, and the latter, an accomplished Cytopathologist, Anatomic and Cancer Specialist. The award-winning pair who have maintained a friendship for over three decades have teamed up to partner on the launch of a service near and dear to them - the improvement of laboratory processes in connection to women’s health in Africa, beginning with their home country, Nigeria.

How to Turn Your Fear Into Fuel

February 5, 2023 Melanie Hawken

by Lori Milner

Would you ever choose to watch a bad movie twice? Probably not. Yet when it comes to something we dread or even something painful that happened in the past, we replay it repeatedly. Every time you play the movie in your mind, the picture gets brighter, and the sounds more intense. Some of us have been playing the movie for years, preventing us from making progress on what matters most. So what can you do about it?

The Ethics of the Hopeless Case

February 5, 2023 Melanie Hawken

by Nicolene Schoeman-Louw

In a recent labour court judgement, the legal nature of resignation was considered. It was also considered whether, and if so - how it could be revoked. We are currently in a great resignation globally, for reasons including but not limited to employees seeking to access provident fund benefits. Employees want to start their businesses. Short working time was never adjusted, leading to searching for greener pastures, regardless of the chances that you could face several resignations this year. You must avoid ending up in court over it.

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