Hearing the personal stories and experiences of successful women entrepreneurs, authors, innovators and mentors, told in their own words and spoken in their own voices, is both uplifting and inspirational. Here at LoA, we are constantly interviewing the most successful, inspirational and world-changing women entrepreneurs, influencers and authors, across the African continent and beyond. Listen, get to know them, and be inspired.
FEATURES
RECENT PODCASTS
Lioness Radio / The Business of Funding Podcast Ep.4
For Africa’s women entrepreneurs in both startup and growth mode, getting access to funding can be a tricky and often frustrating experience. That’s why a more innovative approach is required, and fintech has a definite role to play in creating more accessible funding platforms for women business owners. In Episode 4 of The Business of Funding, Sarah Dusek, co-founder of Enygma Ventures, shares her insights on how funding and investment support for growth oriented women owned businesses in Africa can be a game-changer. Also on the programme are two successful women business founders who are in the business of fintech, and both based in Zambia. So two fascinating conversations on the business of funding from a number of perspectives.
Lioness Radio / The Business of Funding Podcast Ep.3
There are 3.5 million searches a day on Google. If your business is not advertising on Google you don't exist to online customers. That is why Lionesses of Africa is collaborating with Adbot to change this. Adbot is giving away 1000 Free Google ads campaigns to 1000 women business owners, each to the value of R1000. The campaign runs until 31 January 2022.
Lioness Radio / The Business of Funding Podcast
In response to the challenges facing Africa’s women entrepreneurs in getting access to essential growth funding for their businesses, Lionesses of Africa has launched The Business of Funding Podcast series through its Lioness Radio division. This new quarterly podcast show aims to inform and inspire, and is powered by Enygma Ventures, a private investment fund focused on investing in women-led businesses in Southern Africa, and co-founded by entrepreneurs Sarah and Jacob Dusek.
This week saw Kenyan tech pioneer, Dorcas Muthoni, founder of Open World and creator of Open Business, sharing her thoughts on doing business in Kenya and the general lack of women in the tech sector in Africa as a whole, during a fascinating podcast interview with the Financial Times. Dorcas talked about the exciting new business opportunities in Silicon Savannah and also about how to avoid corruption in a country which has its challenges in the way that business has traditionally been done.
Listen to LoA’s interview with Shingai Nyagweta, founder of KuNa Kids, recorded at the Lioness Lean In Breakfast event in Johannesburg on 17 March where she was sharing her startup story with the audience.
Listen to Lionesses of Africa Founder and CEO, Melanie Hawken, in conversation with Lydie Hakizimana, serial entrepreneur and founder of the Happy Hearts Day Care and Nursery School in Kigali, Rwanda. The interview was recorded at the school during LoA’s visit to Rwanda for the Global Women’s Summit to celebrate International Women’s Day on 8 March 2016.
Listen to Lionesses of Africa Founder and CEO, Melanie Hawken, in conversation with Dr Monique Nsanzabaganwa, Chairperson of New Faces, New Voices, Rwanda Chapter, recorded at the Global Women’s Summit which took place on 8th March 2016 in Kigali, Rwanda, to celebrate International Women’s Day.
Lionesses of Africa shared some interesting insights on the subject of the rise of Millennial women entrepreneurs in Africa, and their innovative approaches to harnessing the power of digital to launch new businesses.
Most women entrepreneurs are stuck at the “mom and pop” level, just getting by, or in many cases, running out of cash. In her book Million Dollar Women, Julia Pimsleur shares her inspiring story of building her own company and raising millions in capital in a guide for women like her who have a great idea and need to find the resources to take it into the big leagues. LOA founder Melanie Hawken recently had the pleasure of chatting to Julia and finding out what women entrepreneurs in Africa need to do to become Million Dollar Women. A must listen interview!
The 9th IWEC International Women’s Entrepreneurial Challenge and Awards event took place last month in Istanbul, Turkey, and one of South Africa’s most respected and successful women entrepreneurs, Margaret Hirsch, co-founder and Chief Operations Executive of Hirschs, was invited to speak about her work, her philosophy on women’s economic participation and upliftment, and her own entrepreneurial journey. LoA spoke to Margaret about this amazing experience and what she learned from it.
The 2015 AppsAfrica Innovation Awards have just taken place in South Africa and the winner of this year’s Women in Tech Innovation Award is Emefa Kpegba, the founder and CEO of e-Technopole from Togo. Emefa’s OMobile Funding platform, which is a crowdfunding and microfinance platform for local technology innovators, won the award against stiff competition.
With the launch of the Choose Artisan campaign recently, the spotlight has been firmly shining on Africa’s amazing women artisans, particularly those producing world-class, luxury products. One such woman artisan attracting global attention right now is the talented Jaki Kweka, Director and Co-Founder of Chocolate Mamas Gourmet Tanzanian Chocolate Co. which is the country’s first and only indigenous producer of fine chocolate.
On 28 October in Berlin, social enterprise Abury, and creator of the first global contest in search of the best accessories design talent worldwide, the ABURY Design Experience, unveiled the first collection of handmade handbags made by artisans in Ecuador and designed by the winner of the 2015 contest, Zimbabwean designer, Pam Samasuwo-Nyawiri, founder of Vanhu Vamwe.
The Yswara luxury African tea and teatime accessories brand is a real celebration of the continent, with its essence created from the ingredients and narratives that are so unique to Africa. It is this essence that makes the Yswara brand so unique.
When two sisters and a close friend all met at school in Uganda many years ago, who would have thought their close friendship would lead to a series of highly successful business ventures in the future, one of which is Kinaya, a leading advertising agency in the country. LoA chatted to Nahida about the business, affiliations, new challenges and exciting times ahead for the company.
Olga Mugyenyi, co-founder of the highly successful and uber trendy Ugandan fashion brand, DEF.I.NI.TION AFRICA, talks about their latest collection launch with LoA during a visit to South Africa on 16 November. Their incredible new collection reflects their love of print and news headlines in some really original designs that are taking the catwalks of Africa by storm, produced in collaboration with a hot new design talent who is just 15 years old - prepare to be amazed!
Meeting young entrepreneurs in the agri-business sector from Africa is always a pleasure for Lionesses of Africa, and on 16 November, founder Melanie Hawken met with a young woman agri-entrepreneur who is a bright prospect for the future. Mavis Nduchwa of Chabana Farms, a family owned enterprise located in Semitwe Village, TutumweSub-district of Botswana, talked about the challenges of being a woman entrepreneur in the farming sector, and shared her aspirations for the future.
LoA's founder, Melanie Hawken, had the pleasure of speaking at the Ampion Venture Bus Tour Johannesburg stopover event on 16 November and meeting some amazing young entrepreneurs from around the African continent and the world. One agri-business entrepreneur in the making was Mosidi Modise of GroShoot in Cape Town. She spoke to Melanie about her business initiative and her aspirations for the future.
The Sanlam Handmade Contemporary Fair was the lively venue for a great conversation with Franschoek-based entrepreneur, Anthea Rutherford, the inspiration behind the Really Interesting Food Company. Her passion for cooking, food, and interesting and hard to find food items from around the world led her to start this amazing business.
LoA had the great fortune to stumble across a great new artisanal bread baker this week in the trendy neighbourhood of Maboneng, Johannesburg. Babette Van der Walt, the founder of Babette's Bread is using traditional French bread baking techniques to produce some of the most wonderful tasting and looking baguettes you will find outside of Paris.
LoA met with talented South African perfumier, Agata Karolina, to talk about what it takes to harness Africa's most evocative natural ingredients and create a truly exquisite and unique range of pure fragrances that each tell a story.
Listen to LoA’s interview with Rehmah Kasule as she speaks about her new book, From Gomba to the White House: The journey of an African Woman Entrepreneur. She shares some of the highlights of her entepreneurial journey and gives some great advice to other women entrepreneurs who are hoping to follow in her footsteps on the continent.
LoA had the opportunity to chat with Helen Andrews, the creative founder of White Rabbit Days, at the Sanlam Handmade Contemporary Fair in October. Her unique jewellery design company uses laser cutting techniques to craft astonishingly beautiful pieces from a range of materials from leather to brass.
LoA recently had the pleasure of meeting co-founders Hanneke Schutte and Karen Carr of Benji and Moon, a wonderful South African startup creating beautiful handcrafted products for your beloved cats and dogs. At the recent Sanlam Handmade Contemporary Fair in Johannesburg, LoA chatted to Karen who shared the exciting journey the pair are currently on in launching their great company and products. Listen to our interview….
LoA chatted to Bushera Bashir the creative founder of luxury accessory brand, Trebene, who are exciting the fashion world with their beautiful cashmere scarves, at the recent Sanlam Handmade Contemporary Fair in Johannesburg. She shared the exciting journey the brand is currently taking as she launches her 2016 collection globally to much acclaim.
LoA chatted to Lucy Beard, who is the co-founder of Hope on Hopkins together with her husband Leigh Lisk, during a busy day at their exhibition stand at the recent Sanlam Handmade Contemporary Fair in Johannesburg. She shared the roller-coaster ride that is the startup experience, and how becoming an entrepreneur has its challenges, but is well worth the journey from a personal, life-enhancing perspective.
LoA got to chat with Robyn Britz earlier this month at the Sanlam Handmade Contemporary Fair - she is one half of the creative mother and daughter team behind the Zana brand. Robyn shared the ups and downs of her entrepreneurial journey so far in the competitive world of homeware, accessory, fabric and furniture design, and how Zana is managing to stand out from the crowd.
Founded in 2009, Beloved Beadwork is a company of twelve women passionately committed to the preservation and elaboration of the beadwork tradition. LoA caught up with founder and designer Anna Richerby at the Sanlam Handmade Contemporary Fair in Johannesburg to learn about this inspiring venture. Listen to our fascinating interview.
Chinwe Ohajuruka, 52, lives in the United States and is of Nigerian heritage. Her 3 degrees in architecture and 3 accreditations in green building led to the creation of Comprehensive Design Services, a company that provides “comprehensive solutions to complex problems”, as Chinwe explains. She received her Cartier Women's Award in Paris on 15 October 2015 and in this interview she describes what it means to her personally and for her business moving forward.
The new podcast series, Business Funding Journeys, a co-hosted initiative by African Development Bank Group’s Affirmative Finance Action for Women in Africa (AFAWA) and Lionesses of Africa, shines a spotlight on how women entrepreneurs in Africa are approaching one of the most significant challenges - access to growth finance - and how they are successfully securing the funding they need to scale their businesses and drive economic growth.