the pride of Africa's women entrepreneurs
Tessa O’ Halloran, founder, plasticity (South Africa)
Lioness Launch
Discarded plastic waste is a problem for the planet and for humankind as a whole, and the need to find sustainable solutions to transforming that waste into useful products has never been greater. In South Africa, ecopreneur Tessa O’ Halloran, founder of plasticity. is playing her part in finding those solutions. She is launching a great new Work Tote as part of her business range of upcycled products.
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by Lionesses of Africa Operations Department
This is a three-part look at the fund management industry as it pertains to our inspirational 1.7 million members of Lionesses of Africa. We start by looking at the current state of play. Then we will look at what everyone says is the obvious solution (such as more women in decision-making positions within the fund management industry) and then finally offer some of our suggestions as to what the solution might look like, or at the very least, what tools we need to move the dial forward. As usual, these are not academic articles, as we inject a more chatty approach to life. However, where necessary, we do direct to the source (many are academic and so peer reviewed) for your interest. We do not suggest that for one minute we have all the answers. However, if our views bring about #lesstalkmoreaction (our evening prayer), and actually start to close the funding gap, or increase the investment into the ‘missing middle’, we shall sleep a little easier. We would welcome your feedback, suggestions and even offers of assistance, because the current situation has been allowed to fester for too long, constricting too many inspirational businesses. Enjoy!
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Lungile Mbhamali, founder, (ban-twa-na) Craft (Eswatini)
Startup Story
(ban-twa-na) Craft, founded by entrepreneur Lungile Mbhamali in Eswatini, began 2017, a small, handcrafted business which collects and recycles plastic packaging waste from supporters and friends of (ban-twa-na) and also collecting in areas where waste pollution is to be found. After collecting the waste, (ban-twa-na) constructs various craft items such as bags, coin purses, key holders, laptop bags, make up pouches and also backpacks, mainly using recycled chocolate wrappers, chip packets and maize meal bags. Founder Lungile has been recognised for her entrepreneurial recycling efforts and featured in Forbes Magazine in October 2018, and also CNN. She has had the chance to train differently-abled women and men on toy and doll making, under the organization Palms for Life, has undertaken and delivered a few corporate orders, and also exported goods to South Africa and England.
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Bontle Tshole, founder, Baaa Health & Luminary Thrivist (South Africa)
Startup Story
Bontle Tshole is a healthy eating and responsible food advocate, and the founder of Baaa Health & Luminary Thrivist in South Africa. She started her entrepreneurial journey early on in her life through the time she invested in assisting her mother in the family business at age nine. Over time she grew to love business and the endless opportunities it offered to her. It was during her tertiary studies that she began what was then called Baaa Smoothie Bar, now Baaa Health, in 2017 and has grown its reach and capacity since then. Baaa is a health bar that is changing the narrative of access to healthy eating by promoting responsible food choices through the provision of healthy quality food, addressing UN Sustainability Development Goal 3.
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by Kathryn Main
The shift to a work-from-home culture due to the pandemic has brought up new questions about taxes, expenses, and deductions. In this article, we'll explore how the new work environment affects your tax return and what you need to know to stay on top of your taxes.
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by Kathy Mann
I burnt out in a spectacular fashion a few years ago. It broke my life dramatically and the experience took me by surprise. It acted as a catalyst to evaluate why I got so sick and what was wrong with my life. Of course, burnout is usually multifaceted and doesn’t have one simple source. I believe that one of the contributing factors was that my work was not aligned to my strengths.
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by Carla Wasserfall
We are all given and sometimes create a set of circumstances which is defined as “a fact or event that makes a situation the way it is” according to the online Cambridge dictionary. Often, we let the circumstances determine the outcome and results, this is due to our own limitations and giving up too soon. However, thanks to pioneers and inspirational leaders that have led the way to defy the circumstances, we now know there is always a new or different path.
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by Sonya Skipp
Artificial Intelligence tools are advancing, and they’re advancing fast. Across all industries and positions, AI tools are muscling in and managing to successfully do pieces of our jobs. But how does that translate to human resources? Can artificial intelligence tools take over the human factor we are so reliant on? Should HR professionals be concerned? We don’t think so.
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Alyssa Morton
Book Review
Serial entrepreneur, Alyssa Morton, author of Welcome To The Room, Mama: The Mompreneur's Guide To Getting Out Of Your Head, Ditching The Mom Guilt, And Building A Successful Business, knows from first hand experience about the balancing act of entrepreneurship and raising a family. She knows these conflicting thoughts and limiting beliefs all too well. On her journey from desk job slave to successful businesswoman, she had to overcome barriers of imposter syndrome, scarcity mindsets, time mismanagement, fear of failure, and so much more. Now on the other side, she looks back on mothers everywhere who have so much to offer and achieve, but never take the leap.
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Ebele Ezeamakam
Startup Story
Ebele Ezeamakam is a versatile, creative and innovative musician and personal development coach from Nigeria. She believes in the power of music and its ability to induce progressive, positive transformation in an individual. Ebele continually strives for excellence in music compositions, music performances, interpersonal relationships by involving music training, coaching programs and Talk Shows. In the process, she inspires, influences, motivates and helps to raise a generation of people that thrive in Spiritual Development, Personal Effectiveness, Stress Management and Social Etiquette.
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Tania Morgan, founder, MiQuann (South Africa)
Startup Story
Tania Morgan and Britt Marki are cofounders of MiQuann! a South African feminine wellness business focused on female self-care, hormonal health and ageless lifelong sensuality. This dynamic team are developing a community platform to empower women to make lifestyle and self-care choices to optimise their hormonal health enabling a better quality of life and lifelong sensuality.
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Beauty Monene
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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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?’
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