Igniting entrepreneurial spirit, investment and the power of partnership

July 25, 2023 Melanie Hawken

by Melanie Hawken, founder and ceo, Lionesses of Africa

Talk to the 1.7 million women entrepreneurs in our Lionesses of Africa community and they will tell you that reaching a new milestone on your business building journey ignites your entrepreneurial spirit and energizes you for the challenges ahead. So it was for Team Lioness on 11 July 2023 in The Hague when we launched Start-Up Night Africa, with support from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in The Netherlands and the Dutch Entrepreneurial Development Bank (FMO). Importantly, it also provided the platform for us to officially launch our new Lionesses of Africa Europe Office in The Hague! It marks another important milestone on our decade-long journey as social impact innovators, to realize our vision of empowering Africa’s women entrepreneurs to fulfill their potential.

Nicolene Schoeman-Louw, a South African entrepreneur making reliable legal information available to more people

July 23, 2023 Melanie Hawken

Nicolene Schoeman-Louw, co-Founder & Managing Director, PocketAdvisor (South Africa)

Startup Story

Nicolene Schoeman-Louw is the Co-Founder and Managing Director of PocketAdvisor in South Africa. She is also one of the skilled facilitators at PocketAdvisor. Nicolene’s involvement is a passion and means through which reliable legal information can be made available to more people. Nicolene is also the Founder and Managing Director of SchoemanLaw Inc in Cape Town, South Africa. She is an admitted Attorney of the High Court of South Africa, Conveyancer, Notary Public and Mediator with a passion for entrepreneurs and helping them reach their most ambitious goals. Nicolene has enjoyed the confidence of many successful entrepreneurs (both locally and abroad) over the years and continues to do so. As a trusted advisor she has actively contributed to the successes of many businesses, helped and continues to help many entrepreneurs build lasting legacies.

Robyn Keet, a South African management consultant accelerating business and digital transformation

July 23, 2023 Melanie Hawken

Robyn Keet, co-founder, BrightWolves (South Africa)

Startup Story

Robyn Keet is the co-founder and operations manager for the South African entity of a Belgian-based management consulting company called BrightWolves. Robyn is passionate about bringing together sustainability and entrepreneurship. After gaining valuable experience studying and working in Europe, Robyn returned to her roots to co-lead the international expansion of BrightWolves into South Africa with business partner Domien Agten. BrightWolves is a boutique consulting firm that specializes in providing end-to-end solutions, from strategy to implementation. The company covers the entire spectrum, from business advisory to digital transformation and sustainable value creation in companies. BrightWolves’ vision is to deliver positive and sustainable impact to its clients, to its team, and the South African economy.

Pauline Otila, a Kenyan apiculturist creating impact with bees

July 23, 2023 Melanie Hawken

Lioness Weekender Cover Story

Apiculture Venture Limited, a Kenyan social enterprise positively changing lives and food resilience through bee-keeping

Pauline Otila is a seasoned professional apiculturist and the founder of impact-driven social enterprise, Apiculture Venture Limited in Kenya. The business was founded in 2018, and today employs 19 full-time and 7 part-time people. She brings her strong working knowledge and over 18 years of experience in business operations in the modern beekeeping industry. She dared to venture into this male-dominated industry after 13 years of employment adopting the moniker, 'the Queen Bee'. She is passionate about enterprising in beekeeping and honey production. Through her business, Pauline extends her ambition as a socio-economic empowerment driver, particularly in the poverty stricken ASALs with high potential of honey production. Through her ‘Modern Beekeeping for Improved Livelihoods’ initiative, she aims at boosting household food resilience by reducing number of food insecure Kenyans.

Never Quit on a Bad Day: Inspiring Stories of Resilience - Thriving Entrepreneurs by Phebe Trotman

July 23, 2023 Melanie Hawken

Book Review

Everyone has frustrating moments and days on their entrepreneurial journeys, it’s normal, but in her new book, The Never Quit on a Bad Day™, Phebe Trotman inspires you to push through the tough days. The people she brings together in her book to share their own personal insights have faced challenges and struggles in their lives and. businesses, but importantly they didn’t quit.

Self Discovery - Exploring the Journey

July 23, 2023 Melanie Hawken

by Margaret Hirsch

It’s always been amazing to me that I have lived in this body for so many years, and had never thought about myself, my journey, or my personal growth. I think that growing up in a poor household we were focused on keeping body and soul together and the next meal became the most important thing that we could focus on.

Building consumer confidence in the Digital Economy: Ensuring trust and security

July 23, 2023 Melanie Hawken

by Nkemdilim Uwaje Begho

In today’s digital age, where human lives are intricately intertwined with technology, building consumer confidence in the digital economy is paramount. As individuals rely more on digital platforms for communication, financial transactions, and other essential services, it becomes crucial to establish a secure and trustworthy environment that safeguards user interests and protects their privacy.

You make or break your day in the first five minutes of waking up

July 23, 2023 Melanie Hawken

by Lori Milner

Your alarm goes off at 6 am because you promised to start exercising…again. When you reach over to turn off the alarm, your mind tells you it's cold and dark and you should hit snooze for another ten minutes. What do you do? These next few minutes will determine the trajectory of your day. If you keep your promise to yourself, you generate energy, self-confidence and a deep sense of self-trust.

Personal development is a continual, unending journey

July 23, 2023 Melanie Hawken

by Kathryn Main

As a small business owner, you bring an incredible amount of value to your business. To get a company up and running to the point where it is profitable is no easy feat. A business is something that requires you to devote a lot of attention and dedication to its success. Because it is so time consuming, you might get so busy running your business that you forget about yourself and the value that you can and do bring to the table. As your business grows and evolves, so should you. It's impossible to be a master of every aspect of business, so you will need to identify what aspects of your business you are least familiar with.

Leonilde Melembe Bene, a Mozambican artisan entrepreneur creating handcrafted accessories

July 16, 2023 Melanie Hawken

Leonilde Melembe Bene, founder Paphalati (Mozambique)

Startup Story

Leonilde Melembe Bene, is the founder of Paphalati, a handicrafts and handmade jewellery small business in Mozambique. She has a passion for accessory designs, recycling materials and home décor articles. Paphalati also restores old pieces of jewellery, giving them a second life. She founded her business 15 years ago, first it was only her and now she employs 3 people, one of them a local community seamstress. Professionally she also works as a Communication and Public Relations Manager. From a very early age she became interested in the world of arts and culture. She made her directorial debut with this short film and was the winner of the 2nd Edition of the Maputo Shortcutz competition (2022).

Zola Mhlongo, a South African entrepreneur building an exciting contemporary shape-wear brand

July 16, 2023 Melanie Hawken

Zola Mhlongo, founder, Undefined Shapes (South Africa)

Startup Story

Zola Mhlongo, better known as Zola Zee Lovin’, is an actress, singer and media personality turned businesswoman with a contemporary shape-wear brand, Undefined Shapes, based in South Africa. Born and raised in Durban, and pursuing a degree in Drama at the University of Cape Town, the stage has been her office until Undefined Shapes awakened her entrepreneurial spirit. In just two short years since its inception, Undefined Shapes has achieved remarkable sales success, consistently selling out multiple times. The business continues to thrive, cultivating a rapidly growing community of loyal customers.

Helen Keleta, a game-changing healthcare entrepreneur

July 16, 2023 Melanie Hawken

Lioness Weekender Cover Story

East Africa Hafeshawi Medical Centre, a high-impact business providing affordable healthcare to refugees in Uganda

Helen Habteslasie Keleta is the Founder and CEO of East Africa Hafeshawi Medical Center, a well-established health centre that was started in January 2018 in a convenient and highly accessible location in Kampala, Uganda. She is a mother of four, and an Eritrean Refugee living in Kampala since 2016. By profession she is an engineer and up until 2016 has been working with different family construction companies. After she came to Uganda she started living among the refugees in Kampala and noticed there is a language barrier amongst them and Ugandans. Especially when it came to health, this language barrier made it worse because 'right patient-right information-right care-at the right time' works well in life. This idea triggered Helen to invest in the medical care industry by getting different native professional doctors and nurses.

Lioness Launch / South Africa’s one-stop language shop, EditA Services, launches its new venture, Jomi Books

July 16, 2023 Melanie Hawken

Mignionette Fair, founder, EditA Services (South Africa)

Lioness Launch

South Africa’s EditA Services, a one-stop language shop for business, has announced the launch of its new product arm, Jomi Books! Founder Mignionette Fair says there is so much more to discover about her business under this new venture, with the first "discovery" being a children's ebook called ‘It's Time’. This colourful story is the perfect addition to bedtime and especially for families who are expanding. There are hopefully many more books to come from Jomi Books, so watch this space!

The Pocket Guide to Product Launches: Get Confident, Go to Market, and Win by Mary Sheehan

July 16, 2023 Melanie Hawken

Book Review

If you and your business need to take a new product launch from zero to sixty in no time flat, then you need to get some essential insights from The Pocket Guide to Product Launches: Get Confident, Go to Market, and Win by Mary Sheehan. Written by one of the industry’s leading product marketers—for product marketers, The Pocket Guide to Product Launches sets you up for success whether this is your first launch or you’re a seasoned pro.

To truly understand what the Lionesses of Africa is - You have to understand the heartbeat of our ‘Why’

July 15, 2023 Melanie Hawken

by Lionesses of Africa Operations Director

And so the 5th of our Global ‘Start-up Night Africa’ events came and went. Having been to London, Berlin and New York, here at last we had found a home in Den Haag, The Netherlands, to celebrate the opening of our new European Office and of course to showcase some of our incredible Lioness community members.

A surprisingly simple take on personal branding

July 15, 2023 Melanie Hawken

by Thembe Khumalo

For ambitious executives, personal branding is like the stock exchange. Some stocks are valued higher than others, and the goal of every owner/investor is to see the price of his shares go up and stay up. Highly valued stocks mean more money and a better return on investment.

How to automate for success

July 15, 2023 Melanie Hawken

by Kathryn Main

What is automation, and why do I need it in my business? Automation simply means that you take some of your business processes and automate them. Automation is an important concept in business. It allows you to, for example, automate many functions in your business, such as finance and sales. By reducing the risk of human error in common daily tasks, automation enables you to manage configurations in a predictable and repeatable way, resulting in increased consistency and increased speed of change. Automation gives us more time to work on the business and less in the business.

Resolving Disputes: Choosing Collaboration over Conflict

July 15, 2023 Melanie Hawken

by Nicolene Schoeman-Louw

Disputes and conflicts are inevitable in human interaction, often arising in both personal and professional settings. In business, resolving disputes in a timely and amicable manner is crucial for maintaining healthy relationships and fostering long-term success. Traditionally, conflicts have been addressed through the adversarial process of litigation. However, an alternative approach that has gained significant recognition is mediation. In this article, I explore the key differences between resolving a dispute in court versus mediation. I argue that mediation offers a more favourable approach to maintaining good relationships, which is essential in business.

Are you pacing in your own cage, not knowing how to get out?

July 15, 2023 Melanie Hawken

by Eldari Visser

At a typical game farm in Africa animals roam free, well free within boundaries that is. This means the owner has a piece of land or property that allows his animals to experience life in a carefree way. Many animals have to be kept like this due to human activities and urbanisation, herds for homesteads and unfortunately poachers. These animals are not really free, they have boundaries or fencing, even cages. They see electric wires and gates. There are timestamps, branding, chips and permits that gives you this “freedom”. They are free to move around within limits of the boundaries. The big cage.

Unleashing HER: Redefining Success for Female Entrepreneurs by Dr Kimberly Olson

July 9, 2023 Melanie Hawken

Book Review

As a seasoned coach in the online space, Dr Kimberly Olson, author of the new book Unleashing HER: Redefining Success for Female Entrepreneurs, saw a trend emerging. She noticed that women were setting unrealistic expectations for themselves and getting stuck in the comparison game. In order to truly shift this paradigm, she decided to gather 40 amazing female entrepreneurs together in one book so they could share their stories of what unleashing your potential can look like.

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