the pride of Africa's women entrepreneurs
Yeelen Khan, founder, MJAY Criações (Mozambique)
Startup Story
Yeelen Khan is a Mozambican entrepreneur and the founder of MJAY Criações which launched in January 2022. MJAY is a company that creates and sells educational resources for children, with the aim of making learning moments joyful and light. MJAY has 2 workers and has partnerships for distribution in Maputo, Nacala and Beira. MJAY has an online store that can be accessed at www.mjaycriacoes.co.mz.
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Iara Muchanga, founder, FERMU (Mozambique)
Startup Story
Iara Muchanga is the founder of FERMU, a sustainable Mozambican jewellery and accessory brand founded in 2022 that is faithful to its identity and its passion for reducing the environmental damage caused by the fashion industry. Iara’s work is focused on sustainability, creating accessories from recycled solid waste such as fish carcasses, shells, cardboard plastic bottles, etc.
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by Blessed Agyemang
Are you hoping to start a business that relies substantially or even minimally on the flow of your products from make to use? As a startup, every aspect of your business requires careful planning and execution, and your supply chain is no exception. While often overshadowed by product development and marketing, a well-designed and efficient supply chain is essential for your startup's success. It can help you streamline operations, reduce costs, and deliver exceptional customer experiences. It is important to optimize your supply chain as a startup and build efficiency from the ground up.
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by Lionesses of Africa Operations Department
We often work with Lionesses who have come up against the usual funding brick walls (no need to repeat, regular readers will know what we are talking about. New readers? Do we have a treat for you - see here one of our many articles highlighting the iniquities of finance!), and who need a helping hand.
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Carole Mahoney
Book Review
In Buyer First: Grow Your Business with Collaborative Selling, author Carole Mahoney, who once struggled to pay bills and is now a top sales coach and influencer, says the reason so many of us are bad at selling is, well, we think selling is bad. She believes that winning new customers is the number one challenge 80 percent of entrepreneurs face, and a big reason half of small businesses fail within five years. Carole says it’s time to forget everything you think you know about selling.
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Erica Paiva
Since childhood, we're expected to have our studies wrapped up, chase our dream job upon reaching adulthood, and that's all cool. But what about life's challenges? The hurdles that pop up, who acknowledges those? Who explains that family dependency can mess with our procrastination habits?
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by Lori Milner
You get two kinds of people: someone who says they have twenty years of experience or someone who has repeated the same year twenty times. Do you know someone who constantly attracts the same situations yet responds identically and can't understand why they don't have a better result? This is truly the definition of insanity.
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by Tsitsi Mutendi
Africa, a continent rich in cultural diversity and abundant resources, has often been marked by political instability and military coups. These abrupt changes in leadership can have far-reaching consequences for societies, economies, and various sectors, including women in business. In this article, we will explore how coups in Africa influence women in business on the continent and offer strategies for navigating such turbulent times.
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Nomihlali Ntsunguzi, founder, Nissi Human Capital (South Africa)
Startup Story
Nissi Business Solutions (PTY) Ltd, trading as Nissi Human Capital and founded by entrepreneur Nomihlali Ntsunguzi in South Africa, is on a mission to provide customer-centric human capital solutions to its clients. The business exists to solutions that unlock the full potential (inborn ability) of people. It is Nomihlali’s belief that an organisational culture that nurtures individual diversity will thrive at each stage of its maturity when underpinned by the simple philosophy, “everybody has a role to play”.
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Zanele Matome, founder, Welo Health (South Africa)
Startup Story
Zanele Matome is the founder of Welo health, a Healthtech startup based in South Africa and launched in 2020. Prior to starting this business, she has been involved in different industries as an entrepreneur ranging from construction to mining. Now she is solving the problem of access to healthcare by merging technology with the human touch. Welo has close to 500 gig nurses nationwide and doctors working with them to deliver access to healthcare. Zanele's other passion is paying it forward to communities with her NGO Innov8 which provides maths lessons to rural schools in South Africa and Tanzania.
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Abimbola Adebakin
Lioness Weekender Cover Story
Advantage Health Africa, enabling access to quality and affordable medicines in Nigeria
Abimbola Adebakin is a Certified Performance Technologist (CPT), Pharmacist, management consultant and tech innovator who is keen to drive performance improvement in the African healthcare system. She is the Founder/CEO of Advantage Health Africa, a business launched in 2017 and today employing 86 people, focused on enabling access to quality and affordable medicines in Nigeria through tech, aggregation, digital health services and pharma products. She sits on the board of Safe Medicines Foundation, and mentors for WIMBIZ (Women in Business) and Google StartUp programme. Abimbola’s work at Advantage Health Africa has garnered global recognition, grants and awards from Bayer Foundation, Google, Ashoka, Boehringer Ingelheim, BMGF and the Jack Ma Foundation.
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Kara Laws
Book Review
Don't Suck at Business: How to build a formidable business with speed, strategy, and a healthy dose of sarcasm, written by Kara Laws, is a business book for the brave humans who want to create a successful business but have exactly zero idea how to make said money and hold onto their sanity. This book is for the people who don't know ridiculous terms like COA, ROI, CRM, KPI, CMS, TOF, etc. This book is for the average small business owner who isn't sure they know what they are doing or how they thought they could start a business anyway. Most small business owners feel a little lost and in over their heads. Welcome! You are not alone.
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Nomalanga Sitole, Lioness Enterprise Ambassador, Lionesses of Africa
by Nomalanga Sitole, Lioness Enterprise Ambassador, Lionesses of Africa
It was an honor to be invited to the WE4D Women’s Economic Empowerment For Africa’s Green Transformation Regional Conference, to speak firstly in my role as the Enterprise Ambassador for Lionesses of Africa, the social impact organisation with a rapidly growing community of 1.7 million women entrepreneurs across the African continent; and secondly as an entrepreneur myself who has first-hand experience that when women entrepreneurs in Africa are empowered to fulfill their potential and succeed, then the continent as a whole will succeed.
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Awards & Accolades
The South African sustainable luxury product design brand, The Joinery, based in the Cape Winelands and founded by Natalie and Kim Ellis, has just been recognised as a gold award winner at the Eco-Logical Awards. The brand picked up the Gold Eco-Logic Award in the Eco-Fashion and Lifestyle category, sponsored by Pick n’ Pay Clothing. This latest accolade is a testament to the Joinery team’s unwavering commitment to sustainability. Renowned for its beautifully designed range of sustainable products, use of responsible fabrics, and ethical production, The Joinery has won fans around the world for many years for its passionate belief in being kind to our planet and fair to our people, one plastic bottle at a time.
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Event Report
The final Lioness Business Agility Webinar of the year in South Africa, as always hosted in partnership with Absa, took place on Friday 17 November, with a special focus on the theme of “Celebrating Women Entrepreneurs as Job Creators”. The event, which brought together 150 women entrepreneurs from across the country, aimed to recognise and support the work and commitment of women entrepreneurs who are helping to drive economic growth. Not only are these inspirational women entrepreneurs creating much-needed jobs in South Africa with their businesses, they are also creating sustainable impact too.
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by Marilize Jacobs
I want to tell you two things: I like you! I know how you feel! Those are words we ALL need to hear more often. I often wondered if there was a “science” to being more likable and develop rapport with people, thereby making them feel that you like and understand them and ensure the feeling is mutual. That is exactly where the Emotional Quotient (EQ), also known as Emotional Intelligence (EI), plays a crucial role.
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by Lori Milner
There is always a gap between where you are now and where you want to be. What separates them are the bridge of apathy and the bridge of action. The bridge of action is scarier to cross than apathy. It’s longer, appears to have more steps and looks quite unappealing from the outside. However, once on the path, there are people who support you, and there are hidden rewards along the way. All you have to do is walk a little further, and they appear. Progress, no matter how small, creates rewards on this bridge.
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by Manini Mbongwa
As we are nearing the end of 2023, it is important to look back and take note of the good things that were achieved and to take note of all the things that didn’t meet our expectations. It is my wish to share with you the four lessons that I learned this year.
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by Thembe Khumalo
When you’re passionate about entrepreneurship, about working in the digital economy, about monetizing your knowledge, and you want to show other people that they don’t need to be afraid, it can be very tempting to present the whole endeavor as something that’s easy and fun and exciting. Well, it is all those things. But, like any worthwhile pursuit, it does have its dark moments — and in 2018, I had two of them.
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Ana Maria Panait, founder, Rrraw (South Africa)
Lioness Launch
Fine chocolate lovers in South Africa already know that what makes Rrraw stand out in the world of chocolates is its unwavering commitment to quality. Founded by entrepreneur brand builder, Ana Maria Panait, Rrraw is winning a growing fan base for its combination of exciting flavours which celebrate Africa's food cultures and unique ingredients. This month sees the launch of two new taste sensations in the brand’s growing product range: Rrraw Red Tart Chocolate - in a Coconut White base and part of the African flavours range, this is an homage to West Africa and its sweet and sour bissap /hibiscus tea; and Rrraw Spekboom Chocolate - the only Spekboom chocolate in the world. Spekboom is an indigenous South-African plant with rare and unique qualities, favoured by black rhinos, elephants, and kudus. Its leaves are edible, have a zesty lemon-like taste and are also surprisingly high in Vitamin C.
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