the pride of Africa's women entrepreneurs
by Melanie Hawken, founder and ceo, Lionesses of Africa
The important role of investment and the power of partnerships to address the gender finance gap for women entrepreneurs in growth mode in Africa was a key agenda topic at the Start-Up Night Africa event on 11 July 2023 in The Hague. The event aimed to showcase high-growth, women-owned businesses from Africa and connect them to investment and new market opportunities in The Netherlands.
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Lioness Weekender Cover Story
Easy Solar, a fast-growing off-grid solar company in Africa powering over 1 million people
Nthabiseng Mosia is a trailblazing African social entrepreneur. She is the co-founder and Chief Commercial Officer at Easy Solar, one of the fastest-growing off-grid solar companies in Africa. Easy Solar distributes and finances high-quality solar solutions for those with limited access to the grid. Created in 2016, Easy Solar has powered over 1 million people, while creating jobs for more than 800 in Sierra Leone and Liberia.
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Shádia Gafur Chachine, founder, Mbira Advisory (Mozambique)
Startup Story
Shádia Gafur Chachine is the founder of Mbira Advisory, a consulting company specializing in people management in Mozambique. She has 15 years of professional experience, mostly in NGOs, of which 4 are in project management in the area of HIV/AIDS prevention and 11 years in the area of HR, people management. With this experience Shádia acquired an understanding of international standards, dealt with a diversity of people, cultures and different realities, always in close collaboration with those responsible for the departments/areas in the organization, to ensure that all tasks were carried out in compliance with organizational growth and challenges. It was in this context that during the COVID pandemic, when the effects of the pandemic were already being felt in the work area, she decided to create Mbira, with the aim of contributing to the well-being of people in the work environment.
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Diana Dwamena, founder and ceo, The Learning Nuggets Company Limited (Ghana)
Startup Story
Diana Dwamena is the founder and ceo of digital learning and transformation company, The Learning Nuggets Company Limited, in Ghana. She is a trailblazing strategist and tech-savvy innovator who has been shaping the digital transformation landscape for over two decades. With her impressive track record of pioneering impactful technology solutions, she has been featured in the esteemed UK History of Parliament Trust's “300 Years of Leadership and Innovation” commemorative album. She launched her business in 2007 and it employs 5 people.
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Leslie Kuster
Book Review
Entrepreneur Leslie Kuster, author of 7 Keys to 7 Figures: The Women Entrepreneurs' Guide to Money and Freedom, believes that many women seek the freedom that comes with entrepreneurship but struggle to turn that dream into a reality. The data shows that 90 percent of women who own and operate a business generate less than $100,000 per year. And 78.5 percent of women-owned businesses do not survive the first year. Leslie Kuster wants you to beat those odds!
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by Lionesses of Africa Operations Department
2,500 years ago-ish a chap called Plato (sound of a thousand University Professors spluttering into their morning coffee at the casual description of one of the world’s greatest philosophers, and as it happens, the ‘inventor’ of the University), wrote a set of books called The Republic, in which he took on the form of his teacher, the great Socrates (considered to be the founder of ‘Western’ Philosophy) to answer moral, ethical and philosophical questions. There are for us two major themes that run through these books, the first being the power of storytelling, or to be more exact, the importance of storytelling in building power.
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by Thembe Khumalo
In Africa, we talk a lot about the unbanked. In certain circles, this group is considered evidence of the opportunities for innovation that abound on the continent, and in others, they are considered a problem that we need to solve. What interests me most though, is looking at some of the reasons why these people are not choosing banks as their preferred financial partner.
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by Refilwe Sebothoma
Starting and growing businesses without many resources is very scary to say the least, and through my start-up years I learned the power of being vulnerable to the right people. Start-up businesses often carry the pressure of looking, talking and behaving like big businesses because they are worried that their weaknesses may disqualify them from opportunities. While this is true, I have experienced that there are corporates which are not looking for perfect suppliers and are willing to invest and support SMEs grow and become sustainable.
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by Lori Milner
Your thoughts are the turbines that generate the energy of happiness. Affirmations and positive thinking are 'part of the furniture' of personal growth. You can tell yourself you're terrific, but if you don't inherently believe it, there's always an inner critic inside whispering to you – what a load of rubbish, no you're not. If you can't always rely on positive thinking when you need it most, what if you experimented with creative thinking instead?
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by Rochelle Roos
Ten important tips for women in business
Rochelle’s advice for other women looking to find their niche in the tech and business world can be summarised in these ten simple points:
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Safia Shatta, founder and CEO, Mango Gate (Sudan)
Startup Story
Safia Shatta is the founder and CEO of Mango Gate in Sudan, a specialist language learning platform. She is an urban planner, education activist, and a passionate polyglot, and is also proud to be an alumni of Orange Corners Sudan, a member of Women in Africa (WIA) and eTrade for Women. Additionally, she has been recognized as a UNDP-4YFN women innovator and the winner of North Africa's Most Promising Entrepreneur Award at the AfricArena Summit 2022. Through Mango Gate, Safia is dedicated to empowering people through language learning and breaking down communication barriers. She started the business in 2020 and today it employs 12 people.
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Emi-Beth Aku Quantson, Founder & CEO, Kawa Moka Coffee Company (Ghana)
Startup Story
Emi-Beth Aku Quantson is the Founder, CEO and Chief Caffeination Officer at Kawa Moka Coffee Company, Ghana's leading social enterprise coffee company and roaster, where she drives investment and growth. She has raised over $200,000 in debt and equity investments; created over 250 jobs in coffee through farmer partnerships and employment of marginalized groups; and established Accra's largest roastery, supplying major supermarkets and cafes across the country and internationally. Emi-Beth has been recognized by the President of the Republic of Ghana, President Akuffo Addo. Prior to founding Kawa Moka in 2015, Emi-Beth worked as a tax consultant and transfer pricing expert at PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) in Ghana and Kenya.
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Media Release
17 August 2023
Getting access to funding can be a real game-changer for women entrepreneurs looking to grow their businesses to the next level. It can help them to take control of the future trajectory of their businesses and fulfill their potential. Yet, applying for funding support from a bank can be a daunting process for many women entrepreneurs. But it doesn’t have to be, according to Lionesses of Africa, a fast-growing community of 1.7 million women entrepreneurs on the African continent. This month sees the launch of the latest in the series of digital Playbooks, this one titled, Get Your Business Funding Ready. Produced by Lionesses of Africa, in partnership with Absa, the new Playbook helps women entrepreneurs to prepare their businesses to be ready for those important funding conversations with their bank or other financial organizations.
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Event Report
The fourth in the series of Lioness Business Agility Webinars for 2023 took place on 16 August, hosted by Lionesses of Africa in partnership with Absa, and attracting an audience of 160 women entrepreneurs from South Africa. The theme of the webinar focused on “Business growth and getting funding ready,” and provided a focal point for National Women’s Month commemorations in South Africa. The aim was to celebrate women entrepreneurs who are helping to drive economic growth and create much-needed jobs with their businesses, recognizing that when their businesses grow, so too does the country’s economy. The event shone a particular spotlight on the important topic of business growth and how women entrepreneurs can get their businesses funding ready to support that growth.
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Cátia Siueia, founder, Smart Energy Initiatives (Mozambique)
Startup Story
Cátia Siueia is the founder of Smart Energy Initiatives in Mozambique. She is an entrepreneur extremely passionate about technology. Her business distinction lies in offering totally environmentally friendly and economically sustainable solar cookers to low-income women. At the end of 2021, Smart Energy Initiatives was created for the purpose of reaching women who do not have access to energy. The company currently has four employees who promote this impact driven initiative.
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Yolanda Matine, founder, MomlifeMarmitas (Mozambique)
Startup Story
Yolanda Matine is the founder of MomlifeMarmitas in Mozambique, a business idea inspired by her two daughters. Yolanda has taken various entrepreneurial routes in the past 10 years, but has now arrived at her destination, doing what she loves the most, which is cooking. She is using this love to help caretakers (moms, dads, grannies, aunties, uncles, helpers) to make healthy lunchboxes (with less processed food) for their children, while at the same time creating incredible food memories. MomlifeMarmitas offers courses with weekly menus, recipes, weekly shopping lists, lunchbox set ups, bento boxes, accessories, and an eBook with more than 25 recipes, tips on food storage, and lunchbox plans.
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Rozelle Abramson
Lioness Weekender Cover Story
Fynbos Fine Foods, an agro-processor adding value by turning ethically grown South African produce into bottled, natural and vegan products
Rozelle Abramson, founder of Fynbos Fine Foods in South Africa, has always been passionate about food, creating recipes and loving layered flavours. She studied early childhood education, specializing in teaching children with learning difficulties. While teaching she worked for various catering companies on the weekends and in the holidays to supplement her income and to feed her passion for cooking and creating delicious food. In 1996, Cape Hot House Vegetables was formed. She began farming Greenhouse Coloured peppers. In that same year the business launched its first value-added product which was a Chilli Ginger Jam, made with red peppers which would have gone to the compost. Within a few years the business was farming for manufacturing! The rest is history! Today, the business employs 130 people.
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Liz Elting
Book Review
In her new book, Dream Big and Win, Translating Passion into Purpose and Creating a Billion-Dollar Business, for the first time ever, entrepreneur, philanthropist, and Forbes' Richest Self-Made Woman Liz Elting shares her story on how she co-founded and grew TransPerfect, the billion-dollar translation and language solutions company that began as a dream in a NYU dorm room. This is the story of how every entrepreneur can turn a passion and a big vision into a business success.
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by Lionesses of Africa Operations Department
London, February 2020 and a few days before, Melanie had just given her closing speech at our ‘Start-Up Night Africa - London evening at the UK/Africa Summit (said to have been the best event at the summit by the well respected Chatham House - no surprise to us. As usual, Melanie had brought together an incredible group of inspirational Lionesses to showcase to the UK Government and their closest 400 friends from the business and finance world), and together as a team we had started to notice a strange lack of handshakes taking over our follow-up meetings. We had even been introduced to the by now familiar ‘elbow-bump’ in one international bank’s boardroom, but by then all knew of the shock, speed and horror with which Covid was racing across Italy and rushing fast to all international airports and capital cities.
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by Nkemdilim Uwaje Begho
In May, I had the honour to speak at the 1st Annual Corporate Governance Triangle Annual Colloquium with the theme “Diversity and Inclusion; Adopting A Multi-Stake holder approach in the promotion of good governance”. I spoke on a panel with the focus on Breaking Barriers: Advancing Diversity and Inclusion in Leadership Roles, which is a topic that is close to my heart both as a woman and as an advocate for equity and overall good corporate governance.
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