They say you have to find a positive, even in the most challenging circumstances. So I thought I would share one of my positive take-outs from this new normal in business we find ourselves in. As a consumer, and as an entrepreneur, I am really enjoying getting to know the faces behind so many of the brands and businesses that I love and support. Why do I say that now particularly? Because ever since lockdowns across the world, I have found that business founders have reclaimed their positions as the faces and voices of their brands - no matter how big those businesses and brands have become. I have enjoyed hearing, at first hand, how so many of these inspirational entrepreneurs have had to deal with the challenges, both large and small, in their own businesses. I have been surprised by their honesty and openness about the negative impacts on their businesses and on themselves as people. I have gained valuable insights from hearing their thoughts on how the future of their own businesses and sectors might look in the coming months and years, and how they are having to rethink and re-evaluate their own strategies for success going forward. There is nothing quite as powerful as seeing the face behind a business and a brand, and to hearing their vision spoken in their own heartfelt words. So as women entrepreneurs, let’s step out from behind our brands, and let our customers know our faces and our voices as founders - after all, we are our own best brand ambassadors.

They say you should never be too proud to ask questions when you don’t know something, and you should never stop learning from others. In business, that is particularly the case. I was reading a really interesting article this week about Gwyneth Paltrow’s super successful lifestyle brand business, Goop, which is valued at around $250 million today. Now, your first reaction might be to ask, “what relevance can a famous actress turned entrepreneur have to my own life experience as an entrepreneur in Africa, when we come from very different backgrounds and industry sectors?” Well, it comes down to learning that, no matter what our personal entrepreneurial journeys are like, we still have a lot of shared experiences and we can always find something to learn. For me, the interesting thing she was talking about was how, in the early stages of building her business, she felt a sense of shame about asking questions - she felt ignorant - she had to lean into criticism and disagreement from the sector she was trying to break into. On reflection she says she wished she had given herself permission to be ignorant, to ask questions, and as a result, to avoid making a lot of mistakes. Now there is something we can all learn from.

How supply and demand dynamics can change in such a short space of time. If you had asked women entrepreneurs at the beginning of this year if they could have imagined themselves producing masks as integral parts of their collections, they would have said you were crazy. But look at what a difference a few months and a global pandemic can do to shift market dynamics. Women entrepreneurs who were in the business of manufacturing, particularly in the textile sector, rose to the challenge and started to shift their production and retail models to items needed in the marketplace, particularly face masks. If I look at brands in the Lionesses of Africa community that have made this shift to respond to market need, they include some well-known names - such as the popular Ledikana brand in South Africa. Known for their innovative clothing and accessory designs that incorporate traditional fabrics such as Shweshwe, they are now producing and selling these fabric masks that reflect their brand, and provide a public service. It is interesting to see how consumers are responding to the need to wear masks in public for safety reasons, choosing to make a statement through their buying choices, combining practicality with creativity.

It is truly inspirational to see how women entrepreneurs in our Lionesses of Africa community are rethinking and pivoting their businesses in response to the current economic crisis caused by the Covid 19 pandemic. And there is so much we can learn from one another at times like these. I want to share with you an example of how one tenacious Lioness in our community refused to let the lockdown of her industry sector result in her not being able to do business, instead she pivoted to survive. At our Lioness Lean In Webinar event on 1 July, one of our guest speakers was Thobile Nyawo, founder of Nyawo Construction in South Africa. Usually, her business employs around 160 people in the construction sector. When the sector went into lockdown, Thobile needed to think entrepreneurially, to look for a market gap, and then to pivot in order to keep the business alive and keep her employees working. She saw an urgent market need arising to deep clean and sanitize buildings in response to Covid 19, and built a new business operation to meet that need. She employed the wives and other family members of her construction workers in the new business, creating ways for them to earn a living. As a result, she now has two business revenue streams to rely on - that’s finding opportunity in adversity.

Can you believe it? We are half way through the business year already, and yet nothing has been normal about the past six months. I think we have all learned so much about ourselves as people and as entrepreneurs during this time. We have learned to be resilient. We have learned to innovate, often not out of choice but out of necessity. We have learned who our real friends are, and we have learned to lean on them in times of difficulty. Importantly, we have come to appreciate that time is a gift, and we need to use it in the best way we can. So now, it’s time to make the remaining six months of this year count from a business perspective. We need to make up those lost sales experienced during lockdown. We need to reconnect with our customers and get them buying from us again. We need to excite everyone about our brand once again. The past six months have been hard on all of us, but now we have an opportunity to make the next six months count. Let’s not waste a moment of it!

Sometimes it takes an enforced pause, in our personal lives and our businesses, to take the time to really think about our goals. If you are anything like me, I have certainly used this moment in time to stop, think and revisit all my goals. I have spent time looking at my personal and business journey so far, and considering how I want the next part of the journey to look, what I want to achieve, what my goals should be going forward. And some of them have certainly changed - my priorities have shifted, I have re-evaluated what really matters, and reset my goals accordingly. During such a time of uncertainty, you might find yourself doing the same. You may be re-evaluating your own personal and business goals, and acknowledging that both your short and long-term goals have changed. This can be a positive, life-affirming process, and one that helps to refocus and re-energize the mind and spirit, at a time when both are in need of a boost. Re-setting those goals can also be a good way of invigorating the business, it gives you and your team the opportunity to really focus on the priority outcomes you would like to achieve moving forward.

Are you a fan of vision boards, of imagining your goals and aspirations for yourself and your business, and then committing them visually to paper? They can be powerful ways of keeping us focused and motivated, particularly when we are navigating tough times. I was having a virtual catch last week with my good friend, the inspirational entrepreneur Margaret Hirsch, founder of hugely successful retailer Hirsch’s in South Africa. The subject of vision boards came up in conversation. Margaret has always been a huge fan of vision-boarding and truly believes that “if you can picture it, you can be it.” I have to say I agree with her about this approach to life and business. Our conversation made me think about how vision-boarding could be a useful tool to help women entrepreneurs come through these current tough times, as the world and business adjusts to this new and challenging environment. So, this morning, start your day by imagining yourself in one year’s time, as you look back on how you and your business survived the Coronavirus crisis. The clearer you can picture this image, the more clearly you’ll be able to see your way through to the other side - and that’s where vision-boarding is so useful. As Margaret always says, let’s spend more time picturing success!

There is one phrase that I have seen repeatedly used during these past months as people have been feeling anxious about this pandemic and its devastating impact - “This too shall pass.” People use it to instill calm, to remind each other that there have been times like this in history before, that there will be a time when things will change for the better. It is such a small but reassuring phrase, and it made me think about where it came from. So I researched it and thought I would share with you what I found. Historians suggest "This too shall pass" is a Persian adage, originally written by medieval Sufi poets, and then translated and used in multiple languages over the centuries. It reflects on the temporary nature of the human condition and has since been expressed in wisdom literature throughout history and across cultures. Wherever it is used, it encourages people to imagine that, although things are difficult or painful in the moment, a better time lies ahead. It is a reminder about the power and healing potential of words, and how ”This too shall pass” is just as reassuring today in these difficult times as it was all those centuries ago.

It is not surprising, given the unprecedented times we are living in, that my email inbox has been filled over the past weeks with lots of articles relating to entrepreneur mental health and stress management. One particular article caught my attention. It talked about how many entrepreneurs are currently suffering from feelings similar to post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). It comes from having to struggle with the reality of not feeling in control of what is happening - and control is the foundation to solid mental-health. The pandemic and the resulting lockdowns have meant that so much has been out of our control. When that impacts on all aspects of our lives and our businesses, it can simply feel overwhelming. For some entrepreneurs, the ability to find mental clarity amidst all the uncertainty could make the difference between having the strength to keep the business going, or having to close. And for all those of us who have had a failed business at some time in their lives, we all know that if feels like a personal loss, a form of grief. As we emerge from lockdown, there will undoubtedly be those who are deeply scarred by the experience. The one thing we must ensure, however, is that we don’t allow our own trauma to deter us from trying again - or indeed, the next generation of young women entrepreneurs from trying to realize their own business building dreams in the future.

Last Friday, we hosted the latest in our series of Lioness Business Agility webinars for South African women entrepreneurs, and it was good to see so many women entrepreneurs from our community attending. In the absence of our popular in-person events, it was just good to feel connected again and to see familiar faces in the virtual room. It is a powerful reminder of how important it is to feel part of a community, to share stories and experiences, to get advice when needed, and just to feel you belong. The current pandemic has made it even more important for us to come together and support one another. We know that being an entrepreneur can be a lonely business at the best of times, so when we experience tough times, we need our fellow Lionesses around us. They are there to listen to our challenges, to informally provide support and mentorship, to boost our confidence when we are doubting our decision-making, and to just be there with a virtual shoulder to cry on during those tough days. That’s the Power of the Pride - that’s our Lionesses of Africa community.

I love it when a good plan comes together, and for me, there is nothing quite as exciting as seeing women entrepreneurs creating partnerships by pairing their products and services in order to reach new markets. Let me give you a great example - in Johannesburg, South Africa last year, I saw two women entrepreneurs from very different industry sectors collaborating for mutual business success (Vicki Bain of Chocoloza, a handmade luxury chocolate brand, and Clare Appleyard of Katannuta Diamonds, a handmade diamond jewellery manufacturer). Both of these hardworking creative entrepreneurs saw the potential of pairing their highly individual products as a way of helping couples to celebrate their engagements and marriages. Bespoke rings were accompanied by a box of beautiful handmade chocolates decorated to look like gemstones as part of a promotional campaign that benefited and gave exposure to both brands. It was a win-win for both businesses - and ultimately, customers loved the highly personal, special occasion, paired brand experience. So, how will you ignite your own pairing spark?

Women entrepreneurs are tough, I know this from personal experience, having met thousands of inspirational women through the Lionesses community over the years. Yet as tough as we think we are, nothing has prepared us for the impact of Covid-19. My heart goes out to the many women business owners who have had to take really hard decisions to put their businesses into dormant mode, temporarily laying off employees, until the crisis is over. I have taken many calls from stressed women entrepreneurs over the past few weeks who are in this mode right now. Such decisions test the emotional capacity of the toughest women entrepreneurs, but when it is a matter of long-term survival for the business, there is often no other choice. To be able to reopen when the crisis is over means taking the tough decisions now. It means re-envisioning what the business could look like in this new economy in the future. It means pivoting where necessary to break into those gaps in the market when it opens again. It means re-thinking business and marketing strategies to reflect new customer demands. Basically, it is like starting a brand-new business.

Remember when we all started the year feeling that everything was possible, this was going to be a year like no other, full of exciting plans and goals? Then life and nature throws you a curveball like no other - who saw a pandemic like this one coming? But as that famous baseball quote says, “When life throws you a curveball, just hit it out of the park!” In that spirit, we have been chatting to women entrepreneurs in the Lionesses of Africa community to find out how they are revisiting their goals and ambitions for this year. It has been interesting to hear how many are pivoting their business models, rethinking their priorities, and understanding what they are looking to achieve and work towards as we get ready to embark on the second part of the year. This has been a challenging few months - but on the positive side, a time to reflect, revisit strategies and thought processes, and prepare to move forward. So, have you pressed your own reset button and got your big audacious goal in place to guide you and your business for the balance of this year?

Hands-up how many of you are becoming experts in virtual team meetings and making them work for you? Importantly, how many of you are actually enjoying leading your teams in the digital space instead of in the usual workplace? I have been speaking to quite a few women entrepreneurs in the Lionesses of Africa community this past week to get their personal insights and experiences of transitioning into the virtual team-building space - their feedback was quite fascinating. It appears there are definitely both advantages and challenges when it comes to making virtual team meetings work for you. On the plus side, according to many of you, virtual team meetings are shorter, meaning they take less time out of the working day. They are also more focused, more output oriented, with activity tracking and reporting documented digitally prior to meetings meaning less time wasted on duplicating information. On the negative side, that personal interaction is missed. Many women entrepreneurs miss the human side of in-person meetings and the camaraderie that is built in teams. What everyone shares in common in their feedback is that communication is key to the success of virtual team building. So, when did you last make all your virtual team members feel valued?

Probably like most of you, I am doing a lot of reading at the moment around the global business impact of the Coronavirus pandemic and understanding how that might translate practically in the African economy. I read a fascinating article this week, published by global consulting firm Bain & Company, which examined the massive behavioral shifts that have happened as a result of this crisis. There were some truly mind-blowing statistics to grapple with. For example, almost 10 million new buyers of all ages started shopping online in the US since the start of the pandemic, a trend that has been replicated in many other countries around the world. As people have retreated into their homes to shelter, work, study, and undertake leisure activities, the way they have traditionally spent their time and money has dramatically changed. What is uncertain now, as countries begin to emerge from their lockdowns and enter the ‘new normal’ business environment, is how reluctant many people will be to return to activities involving human proximity. Until effective global vaccines and therapeutic treatments emerge in response to this pandemic, it may well be that this Great Reluctance Period is here to stay for some time yet. As entrepreneurs, we need to be ready to respond to this new potential reality.

I have definitely found myself questioning all my existing consumer habits over the past few months, and I am sure I am not alone in this. Being unable to enjoy shopping, entertainment, and leisure in the way I have always done has meant I have shifted my own consumer thinking in a major way. The latest consumer trends research indicates that there has been a huge shift to digital shopping. It is anticipated that although some people will return to physical stores once lockdown is over, many will not (I am one of those people) and will continue to shop online. It has been interesting to see how some of my favourite brands have raised their game in terms of digital marketing and communication to ensure I stay loyal. Regular weekly newsletters written in a highly engaging and often amusing way, keep me reading and feeling part of a brand community. Interesting to me has been how founders and ceos of some of my favourite brands have taken to digital marketing to really reach out to me and make me feel connected, make me feel we have shared values and interests. As a result, I feel like a valued customer and much more likely to continue my online shopping experience with them.

There is a quote that says, “You know who your real friends are when things get tough.” As entrepreneurs, when we encounter difficulties and hurdles that need to be overcome in our businesses and our lives, we look to those we trust, those who know us well, and those who have our best interests at heart. What I have seen and heard through the Lionesses of Africa community is women reaching out to one another, as friends, to ask for advice, a helping hand, or just a shoulder to cry on when things have been at their most challenging. And, it’s in tough times like these, that we learn who our real friends are. They are with us through good times, and through bad times. They don’t judge us when we are experiencing hardship and emotional turmoil; instead, they roll their sleeves up and ask how they can help. Real friends share in our frustrations, our pain, and the difficulties of our journeys. They don’t disappear when it gets hard. It is at times like these that we learn to really value our friends, those fellow women entrepreneurs who are genuinely on this journey with us. We will remember those friendship long after this current global crisis is over.

This week, I read a powerful essay written by the Man Booker prize-winning author, Arundhati Roy, called “Pandemic Is a Portal,” from her forthcoming book Azadi. You may have read her famous book, The God of Small Things which was published back in 1997. She is a longtime activist for antiglobalization movements and an outspoken critic. Her thoughts on the current pandemic are really insightful and thought provoking. She says, “Whatever it is, coronavirus has made the mighty kneel and brought the world to a halt like nothing else could….Historically, pandemics have forced humans to break with the past and imagine their world anew. This one is no different. It is a portal, a gateway between one world and the next. We can choose to walk through it, dragging the carcasses of our prejudice and hatred, our avarice, our data banks and dead ideas, our dead rivers and smoky skies behind us. Or we can walk through lightly, with little luggage, ready to imagine another world. And ready to fight for it.” It will be interesting to see which path the human race chooses to take.

Over the past few weeks, particularly when talking about life after lockdown, I have found myself using lots of words that begin with ‘re’ - relaunch, rebuild, reboot, reengineer, in relation to business. Do you find yourself doing the same thing? In reality, we have no idea what the post-pandemic world will really look like or what it means for business. So it is more about being open to change, to react (there’s another ‘re’ right there) to whatever this new future has to offer. Change can be a positive thing, and the good news is that it takes on average just 30 days for a new behaviour or habit to form. It might be a change of attitude or outlook on life - perhaps this enforced period of slowdown has made you think about the frantic pace of life you have been living as an entrepreneur. You might have been getting the same amount of work done during this time without feeling you are always running and under pressure. When we do finally emerge into the post-pandemic world of business, we may have changed the way we think and operate - a little slower and more measured perhaps?

We all know how challenging this pandemic has been on our lives, and the impacts will be felt for the foreseeable future. But even though so much has changed, there are still reasons to try and find a bright side in this situation. For example, I love the clean air in the middle of the city due to less cars travelling, and certainly less airplanes in the sky. Now I acknowledge that the aviation sector has taken a huge hit during this crisis, and that is difficult for all those whose businesses depend on it, but on a human level it is still good to look up in the sky and breathe in cleaner air. The birds are also happier, and my local park is full of birdsong - cleaner air means happier wildlife. I have also noticed that people are kinder, more understanding, more willing to help one another, and that is another wonderful thing for humanity. We have also developed a much greater appreciation for those who work in the global health community. Not just the courageous doctors and nurses who save lives each day, but also all the unsung heroes who work behind the scenes. That’s what it means to look for the bright side in a crisis!