the pride of Africa's women entrepreneurs
Jill Celeste and Deborah Kevin
Book Review
Entrepreneurs Deborah Kevin and Jill Celeste, co-authors of the book, Your First Year: What I Wish I'd Known, believe that there is no one “right way,” to build a start-up and you will make mistakes. That’s part of growing. In their new book they bring together the insights, experiences and shared wisdom of fellow women entrepreneurs who have all got through their own business growing pains and emerged to find success.
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Sian Louw
Lioness Launch
The K3Y launches its new name and brand in Africa, with a unique customer offering that integrates cutting edge innovations with human centric business solutions to help individuals and organisations unlock results. A suite of powerful diagnostics tools, as well as solutions, underpinned with a cutting-edge technology platform, allows for tracking measuring and execution of strategy. The addition of The K3Y mind-setting interventions allow for the unlocking of potential for individuals and teams.
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Hadija Jabiri, founder & MD of GBRI Business Solutions (Tanzania)
Lioness Weekender Cover Story
GBRI Business Solutions, on a mission to be a leading horticultural company in Tanzania.
Hadija Jabiri is the founder and MD of GBRI Business Solutions in Tanzania. She is an entrepreneur committed to making agricultural production a sustainable and profitable business through empowering smallholder farmers. Hadija is an IVLP alumnae and holder of multiple awards and nominations for her work and business which is making a real difference in people’s lives.
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by Melanie Hawken, founder & ceo, Lionesses of Africa
Attention quite rightly gets focused on creating greater access to funding for Africa's women entrepreneurs in growth mode, but getting access to markets is just as important. After all, you have a sustainable business with a continual flow of customers and sales. We see many women business owners who have created world-class products and brands but need help accessing new markets, particularly in Europe. They need to get into the game of reaching these more significant markets, allowing them to expand their horizons and take their businesses to the next level. Start-Up Night Africa in The Netherlands is part of our strategic approach at Lionesses of Africa to create a gateway to important market opportunities in the country and across European markets for the high-growth potential women entrepreneurs in our 1.7 million-strong community.
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by Melanie Hawken, founder & ceo, Lionesses of Africa
The challenge of accessing much-needed investment, European markets, technical knowledge and strategic partnerships by Africa’s high-growth potential women entrepreneurs was a key focus for discussion at Start-Up Night Africa in The Hague on 11 July 2023. With first hand knowledge of the challenge, Lionesses of Africa, an impact driven social impact organization with over 1.7 million women entrepreneurs across the African continent, set-up the Start-Up Night Africa event in The Hague with support from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in The Netherlands and the Dutch entrepreneurial development bank (FMO).
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Goretti Kat, CEO, Minzoto Club (Democratic Republic of Congo)
Startup Story
Goretti Kat is the founder and CEO of Minzoto Club, an educational cultural centre for teenagers in the Democratic Republic of Congo. She has a degree in organizational and corporate communications and is a member of the global network of educators HUNDRED.org. She is also a facilitator and trainer in entrepreneurship, leadership and personal development. Goretti first worked for young people’s development as an activist for 5 years. During this time, she acquired 3 leadership certifications after helping to set up 4 youth support structures in universities. After that, she then set up Minzoto Club in early 2021. In 2018, she was awarded the title of "100 young pages of hope in the DRC", an annual diploma honouring the 100 country's most active young people of the year.
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Queen Uwabuofu, founder and Creative Director, CloveKids International (Nigeria)
Startup Story
Queen is the Founder and Creative Director of CloveKids International in Nigeria. Her business, founded in 2019, is focused on raising and building the African child for the future through a range of innovation products that promote black representation, inclusion, diversity, child education and sustainability. Queen is an award winning innovative entrepreneur with 12 years of experience in Business administration and handcrafting. She is a graduate of International Studies and Diplomacy from the University of Benin.
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by Melanie Hawken, founder & ceo, Lionesses of Africa
Women entrepreneurs are an incredible force for economic and social change in Africa. And why do we believe this? It’s simple: women entrepreneurs are powerful change agents.
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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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